Government Decides to Dissolve the Republic's Second Largest Library: Garnik Danielyan

The government has decided to dissolve the Republic's second largest library, which holds over 22 million literary items in its archives. This was announced by opposition MP Garnik Danielyan on his Facebook page.

“The Scientific and Technical Library of the National Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship is a deposit library for scientific and technical documents, providing library and technical services to more than 8,000 registered readers, as well as serving about 100 organizations through electronic delivery services. It is unique as a specialized library,” he stated.

The library's rich collections include specific types of technical documents such as licenses, normative-technical documents, technical specifications related to production, industrial catalogs, as well as a variety of documentary rich funds covering scientific and technical fields, including books, periodicals, electronic publications, abstract journals, and dissertation abstracts. The library has been operational for over 60 years, and since 1991, it has been under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Armenia.

According to a decision by the Armenian government on April 23, 2009, the National Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship was established as a state non-commercial organization, within which the formerly republican scientific and technical library continues its activities. The ministry has decided that the 60-year-old giant must cease operations on June 2, and the library and its storage buildings have been put up for auction based on a decision made on December 28; presumably, there is an appetite to construct multi-apartment buildings in the library’s location.

Not only will the library in Yerevan close, but also the four other branches operating in the Republic, located in Gyumri, Vanadzor, Hrazdan, and Kapan. A total of 72 employees in Yerevan and regional branches will find themselves unemployed.

The employees have begun a fight for survival to preserve this immensely important institution. Instead of placing the Scientific and Technical Library under state support, these individuals have opted for dissolution, continuing their political agenda of dismantling education and science. This is a tremendous mistake, an unacceptable decision, the implementation of which will deal a serious blow to Armenia's science, economy, industry, and scientific-technical advancement.

The government regularly emphasizes the vision of a knowledge-based economy; however, how can one imagine a knowledge-based economy without scientific and technical information? In connection with this issue, I plan to send letters to the Ministries of Economy and Education, Science, Culture, and Sports demanding an explanation for such a decision,” he wrote.