Aula
9. 9. 2025
keynote
16:00
Make Democracy Thrive Again – Libraries must save the world
Democracy is in decline in many parts of the world and without it there is no freedom. Libraries’ roles and positions in society gives us who work there a great opportunity to be a force for promoting democracy for all, we must take care of this opportunity and lead the world away from darkness. We need to make the world and society a better place. How can public libraries be a place of hope where democracy thrives and flourish all over the globe?
Martin will talk about how we can work with questions of democracy and participation in public libraries and what it can lead to. He will talk about example from Sweden and beyond to give inspiration on how libraries can save the world by reproducing and creating democracy every day.
Martin Memet Könick is the Library Director of the city of Landskrona in the South of Sweden. He is also a Board member of the Swedish Library Association, an elected member of the IFLA Public Libraries Section SC and appointed by Sweden’s Department of Culture as 1 of 2 experts representing Sweden in authoring a report on Public Libraries’ multiple roles in society, commissioned by the EU.
Martin works with questions of Democracy on a local, national and international level through his different positions within the library field. Martin has talked about democracy at conferences in various places, for example Barcelona, Spain and Sofia, Bulgaria. Before Martin entered the Library world he wrote about culture for different magazines and organized cultural events at different venues in Sweden.
Martin believes that we, the library field, can save the world and society. Engage!
