Flanders Heritage Library receives the Flemish Award for Cultural Heritage 2012-2013
We are delighted that Europeana content provider the Flanders Heritage Library has received the Flemish Community Award for Cultural Heritage 2012-2013 from the Flemish Minister for Culture. We've reproduced their press release below.
The presentation took place in Bruges, during the annual consultation and meeting of the Flemish cultural heritage sector.
Flemish Minister for Culture, Mrs Joke Schauvliege: 'The Flanders Heritage Library is a network of six prominent heritage libraries that, spurred by a young, dynamic staff, has acquired a spot for itself in the field of the Flemish heritage libraries. With them, our paper cultural heritage is in expert hands.'
A Joint Venture in Support of Its Field
The Flanders Heritage Library (or Vlaamse Erfgoedbibliotheek in Dutch) was created at the end of 2008 as a network of six partner libraries (the Heritage Library Hendrik Conscience in Antwerp, the Bruges Public Library, the Limburg Provincial Library and the university libraries of Antwerp, Ghent and Leuven), but our activities are aimed at the entire field of heritage libraries.
We are very proud of the recognition our network organisation received from the Flemish Community last week. But most of all, we are grateful to be working with so many libraries and colleagues who support our collaborative efforts so wholeheartedly, with ongoing enthusiasm and countless contributions. We gladly share this award with them.
The chairman of the Flanders Heritage Library and the chief librarians and directors of the six partner libraries. FLTR (top) Martine Balcer, Trudi Noordermeer, Pierre Delsaerdt, Sylvia Van Peteghem, (bottom) Leen Speecke, An Renard, Veronique Verspeurt | © Flanders Heritage Library
From the Jury's Report
According to the jury, the Flanders Heritage Library provides a clear illustration of the part that a small intermediary organisation can play in tearing down the walls between the different heritage institutions. In a short space of time, the Flanders Heritage Library developed into a respected supporting organisation. It succeeds in having highly different types of libraries (in museums, archives, monasteries, universities, public libraries...) work together. The communication is dynamic and uses the new media in an intelligent manner.
In November 2012, the Flanders Heritage Library launched the user-friendly portal site Flandrica.be* with digitised materials from Flemish heritage libraries. It includes a fifteenth century red leather volume of mystical love poetry by Hadewijch, a first edition of Reynard the Fox and a collection of poems from 1981 by (then very young) Flemish writer Tom Lanoye. The site truly is a treasury, presenting valuable manuscripts or works by literary giants, but also song lyrics, cookery books and other everyday documents. By means of Flandrica.be, the organisation attracts attention to the added value and significance of digitisation, one of the great challenges for the entire cultural heritage sector. Making materials accessible in a digital form ensures that everyone, without limitations, can become acquainted with magnificent works from our history. In addition, it benefits the conservation of the original documents.
Another commendable initiative is Boekensteun* ('book support' or 'adopt-a-book'), a pioneering pilot project in which the Flanders Heritage Library, together with a number of partners, explores the possibilities of external fund-raising ('crowdfunding') in the cultural heritage sector.
Culture Awards Flanders
A jury of experts pays tribute to individuals or an organisation that in the course of the past season made a notable contribution to cultural life in Flanders. A cash prize of €12,500 is connected to the Culture Award. Each laureate receives the bronze statuette 'La ultima isla' by Philip Aguirre.