engleski

Library and literature services to ethnic and linguistic minorities in Croatia : with special emphasis on the region of Slavonia and Barannya

As a consequence of globalization developments and the forming of European Union, with the national borders opening up and allowing free flow of people, multiculturalism has become one of the major characteristics of modern societies. Althogh Croatia is not a part of this community oficially yet, its society is undoubtedly a multicultural one. According to 1991 census as much as 21.9 % of the population was comprised of different ethnic and cultural minorities. This paper will look into the library services offered to multicultural community in the region of Slavonia and Baranya, in the east of Croatia, where several ethnic and linguistic minorities (Hungarians, Austrians, Germans, Slovak) coexist. The attention will be given to the overall availability of literature in minority languages in Croatia as well. Furthermore, we will try to see how Croatian legislature on ethnic and linguistic minorities influences the success of library services offered. The results will be compared to experiences from selected EU countries.

libraries; library service; multiculturalism; minorities

nije evidentirano