By: Dino Salkić, senior librarian
Maglaj Public Library, BiH
IALL bursary recipient 2024
Seen from the Balkans, a windy and war-torn area, limited by constant renovations of destroyed and often completely lost cultural, scientific, and even legal heritage, Norway seems like a fairytale land in the far north.
What you may remember from some general education is the story of the land of a thousand lakes and the same number of fjords, about the wonderfully different change of day and night, which is comparable to the change of seasons here. You remember Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” and you know that Knut Hamsun is one of the Nobel laureates.
The most beautiful connection you can establish with Norway from here is the stories about the Vikings, for us in Bosnia, it is the story of mysterious and fearless warriors, brave sailors who faced the wild ice seas discovering new worlds. And, yes, from today’s Bosnian perspective, Norway is a country of prosperity where many of our compatriots have found a new home.
©Adnan Šahman
I was extremely happy and delighted with the news that I am the winner of the scholarship awarded by IALL and that I will participate in the work of the Annual Course. I express my sincere and deep gratitude, because otherwise I would not have been able to participate in this important event.
I come from a small town that, for thirty years now, has been trying to compensate for the terrible time of the war. I am a senior librarian and Head of the legal section, and I am at the service of law students, our respected researchers, scientists, local court officials, and the general public. In their efforts to gather as much knowledge and information as possible, all with the aim of performing their profession as well as possible.
Participating in the IALL Annual Course brought me a world of new knowledge, opened new avenues for personal development and made me even more useful to my community.
The friendliness of the President, board members and all members of the local organizing committee is incomparable, and I really appreciate their efforts to make this event perfectly organized in every detail. We had the honour of visiting some of the most important institutions, such as the City Hall, the courthouse, and the university. I made a special effort to visit the Norwegian National Library. The National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina has never recovered since 1992, when the Serbian army set fire to the building and the entire fund, the entire treasure of our nations. We know that thanks to the kindness of the Norwegian people and the country, many things have been restored in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Among other things, the library where I work – in 2014. The library was destroyed in a flood and thanks to the support of the embassy of the Kingdom of Norway, it is today known as one of the most prestigious institutions of its kind in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
But let’s return to the world of Vikings and Artificial Intelligence. Congratulations to the lecturers who took us through a thousand years of Norwegian history based on the history of law and who showed us the development of legal science through so many specific elements. In a way, I got to know the Sami people, who were completely unknown to me until then, but I saw how it is possible to successfully approach the resolution of the status of national minorities. I also find the lectures on copyright protection in the world of artificial intelligence very interesting, as well as solving the protection of personal data through research work.
It was a really great experience and I look forward to meeting my IALL friends again soon in Houston!
This Blog contains entries by members of the International Association of Law Libraries on issues germane to the Association’s areas of focus. Views expressed in an individual entry only represent the views of the author, and not those of the International Association of Law Libraries or the author’s employer.