Changes and developments in Greek libraries

Greek libraries have experienced a tremendous evolution towards modernizati on during the last few years. The lack of tradition in libraries and the ex istence of an educational system based on the single textbook did not favor until recently the development of libraries in Greece. However, the Europe an Community action aimed at enabling European libraries to play an importa nt role in the information market, and the Community Support Framework, thr ough which libraries could be funded at the national level, allowed for a d ynamic set of actions for Greek libraries. All types of libraries, academic , public and school are moving ahead - 500 school libraries were establishe d in secondary schools alone. In the academic libraries, the horizontal act ion can be proud of the creation of a consortium called HEAL LINK that shar es journal subscriptions and will also operate a Union Catalog of bibliogra phic records. Library-related organizations such as the National Documentat ion Center and the National Book Center, offer additional support in this m ovement of progress. This paper describes these initiatives and others.