Celebrating 20 years of the School Libraries Network (Rede de Bibliotecas Escolares ),RBE, which creates and supports school libraries throughout Portugal, the “Forum 20 anos RBE: a story with a future”, was held at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. Serageldin was invited by RBE to be the main keynote speaker at the conference to give “qualified advice to stimulate the curiosity and the urge for knowledge as well as the respect for human values and the cultural diversity of the new generations”. Serageldin gave a speech entitled “Libraries for Tomorrow”, where he envisaged the transformation of the role of the libraries in the future. The speech was very well received by all.
Attended by about 2000 participants of school librarians, teachers, members of school boards and librarians of public libraries, the purpose of the meeting was to discuss the challenges of reading and the rising of literacy levels amongst the new generations, and to honor all contributors to the creation and development of RBE.
During his visit to Lisbon, Serageldin was also invited by The Philosophical Club Al-Mut’amid, to a meeting organized by them at the Lisbon Mosque. Open to the public, this special occasion meeting was held on the subject of “Citizenship, Dialogue and Peace”.
