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The reading practice of Library and Information Science students at the University of Havana is studied in a first approach, with emphasis on their reading habits and interests, such study is part of a research that will be followed during five years at the Faculty of Communication. The study results are preceded of a reflection on the role of the librarian as a written culture promotor, as well as an active mediator of cultural and scientific communication, hence the importance of his training as a good reader is considered. Some measures are proposed for influencing on the consolidation of the future librarian reading practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To the aim of promoting the development of governmental libraries the Institute of Scientific and Technological Documentation and Information (IDICT), of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment of Cuba, (CITMA) convoked to a meeting , in October 1995, to some governmental and not-governmental libraries and information centers, that managed political, social and economic information The purpose of the meeting was: to create a working group to promote de development of such type of centres in the field of social sciences, in order to obtain a better accessibility and disponibility of existing technological means and information services in this field. To this end this group should promote a closer relationship among the centres and the development of collaboration projects, stimulating partnership, cooperation and coordination of specific tasks. 1 After the creation of a coordinating board to this end as well as some specialized working groups in main areas, the committee began to work under the name of Comité de Coordinación de los Centros que manejan Información Política y Social, COIPS. The Committee actually is integrated by 32 centres. The functions of the Coordinating Board were the following: • To promote cooperation activities among the centres • Focus work to social priorities. • Identify problem areas present in the centers in their way to serve under the new conditions of the Information Society, and contribute to its solution promoting the establishment of strategic alliances among centres. • Stimulate the systematic use of new technologies promoting thetraining in the use of them. • Disseminate broadly the existing information in the different specialized centres of the country.• Facilitate the access to this information through the cooperate production of information products and services, based in new technologies. The aims reached are decribed through the activities, such as: • To increase the social impact of the centres through the broad dissemination of the specialized governmental information. • Contributing to share documental and individual knowledge • A broad exchange of experiences among governmental and no-governmental centres, and to share solutions to common problems. • The establishment of strategic alliances among the centers at a global level and of programs addressed to increase individual knowledge needed to have an efficient performance at the working place. Governmental and no-governmental libraries and information centres involved in this project are listed as well as the collections of documents and publications that each one manage. The communication refers the activities organized by the Group in a period of time, addresses to the development of governmental libraries with the collaboration of non governmental centres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]