Based on the belief that American popular culture is shaping a new global environment which each day looks more hegemonic, the National Library of Venezuela has decided to fight back. Under the direction of Fernando Báez, the National Library of Venezuela will now try to fight what they believe is a global commercialization of world libraries, an effort, they believe is spearheaded by the Library of Congress in the USA. This project wishes to expand the country’s network of public libraries, promoting nation-wide reading, and build a National Digital Library.

Fernando Báez is the author of the world wide best seller “Historia universal de la destrucción de libros,” (Universal History of the Destruction of Books) and “La destrucción cultural de Iraq” (The cultural Destruction of Iraq) which made him a persona non grata in the USA.

Granted that this program could just as well limit local diversity, it is interesting to see a formal attempt at preserving local flavor. We’ll have to keep an eye on this one to see how it unfolds.

You can read the press release (in Spanish) from the National Library of Venezuela here.