A new bill by the Minister of Education to change the National Library is criticized by thousands of researchers, who sent a letter to the Prime Minister warning: “The proposed change threatens the functioning, status and future of the National Library as the national institution that treasures the memory, culture and opinion of the Jewish people”
A new front against the government: thousands of researchers and academics today (Friday) sent Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu a letter against the change planned by the Minister of Education in the National Library.
According to the change promoted by Minister Yoav Kish, which will be introduced in a bill, The National Library Directorate will be subordinate to the Minister of Education. A change that is met with opposition even within the National Library itself.
Over 1500 researchers united and sent a letter to Netanyahu, “The proposed change threatens the function, status and future of the National Library as the national institution that treasures the memory, culture and opinion of the Jewish people”.
The signatories mentioned that “the drafters of the 2007 Library Law, which was drawn up following the recommendation of a public committee headed by retired Chief Justice Yitzhak Zamir, made sure to place the library and its institutions far from any political consideration and the mechanisms of power that could sabotage the professional considerations that determine the collection, preservation and access processes.”
“Among the national intellectual and cultural assets that the library curates: the manuscripts of Maimonides, Franz Kafka, SH Agnon, and Atzg. The collections were built with diligence and dedication over decades, by generations of researchers and librarians who saw the values of research and culture, and in them alone, the criteria for collection and preservation,” it reads. “In addition, the library is expected to move in the coming months to a new and very beautiful abode, which was built with great effort with the help of donations from benefactors and donors “.
According to them, “Minister Kish’s bill kicks this noble legacy. The subjugation of the library council and the board of directors, which is obligated to guard the library’s activities despite the Minister, will fatally damage the library’s independence and damage its collection irreparably.”
They also claim that: “There is a serious fear that even donors will refrain from contributing to the foundation of the library.” They write at the end: “We call and call on the government: leave the national library in the loyal hands of the researchers and librarians!”.