with her capacity for analysis, reflection and redaction was centrally important in the creation of these essays.
In November, 2003, the ex Chief Librarian of the Library, Ms. Ximena Feliú, received the Medal for Distinguished Service from the Senate of Chile, while, in August, 2004, our Integrated System of Territorial information was singlad out for international recognition by the global service software company ESRI.
I am very happy to be in the Library of the National Congress because I have found it to be a valuable synergetic locus of persons, talents and information and technological resources, and I am grateful to each and every one of the professionals and collaborators in the Library who are dedicating their best efforts and wealth of experience to the sweeping transformation we have undertaken.
Soledad Ferreiro Serrano
The Librarian of Congress
The Library of the National Congress of Chile: Brief historical background.
Five thousand years ago, with the appearance of writing in Mesopotamia, recorded on clay tablets by the Sumerians, information and knowledge took the form of texts that recorded the political, commercial and social commitments people made with each other and their futures. The first public libraries, in Greece and Rome, inherited the cultural heritage of the Library of Alexandria that, centurias before the birth of Christ, was a lighthouse to the ancient world, that, fueled by the wisdom of those who studied and wrote in that library, illuminated the political, economic and religious dynamics of Western cultures.
