The Raoul Wallenberg Institute has published a unique, free resource to help library staff around the world work with human rights in a library setting. It’s open-source and available for download today.
The 130-page “Developing a Human Rights Library” resource covers lots of ground, from an introduction to basic human rights and the role the human rights library can play to more detailed chapters on how to search for human rights material, acquire materials for the library and use open source resources to the benefit of users.
“We see both a clear need and great potential in supporting staff and managers at academic, justice sector, and national human rights institutions to build strong libraries that can support their functions and mandates for human rights promotion,” says Helena Olsson, Programme Office and co-author of “Developing a Human Rights Library.”
The resource is based on the experiences of the library at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute and lessons learned in the last decade from libraries around the world that the Institute has helped to set up, strengthen or collaborate with.
“I am especially proud to share the stories and experiences of a number of human rights librarians we have had a chance to work with in or way or another over the years,” says Lena Olsson, co-author and Senior Advisor on Library and Information to the Institute.
The resource also sets out to empower library staff to better understand and utilize open access resources, open source software and linked data, says Karl-Adam Tiderman, librarian at RWI and co-author of the resource.
“With the vast amount of high quality, free materials available today on the Internet, a better and more thorough understanding of these concepts can make a human rights library more effective without increasing the budget,” he says.
“Developing a Human Rights Library” is available in a digital version found on the RWI website. In addition to this English text, the Insitute will soon publish a version in Russian and Turkish, both available in a digital version.