The American Library At C.A.S.
One of Europe’s largest, all-American libraries.
Ever since it was founded in 1991, CAS has been investing in children and youth, attempting to develop an awareness of the dignity of man, his right to live, be free, be safe, exercise his freedom. Many different programs followed suit: the Anglo-American nursery, which has meanwhile grown into a veritable state licensed English kindergarten ‘Little Star’; the Youth Club with two sections for primary school pupils and high school students, and our international award winning Debate Club. In addition, the public library and reading room opened in 2001 as the only all American Library in this part of Europe.
There are currently more than 1500 titles in the Library, which are divided, thematically, into five different sections:
The reading room has been intended to serve the purpose of a meeting ground, of a place where people would socialize, exchange their opinions, talk. Various American publications are at one’s disposal (National Geographic, The New Yorker, Scientific American, Time, U.S. News, Newsweek, etc.). In the library we organize lectures on popular subjects and project presentations, but we also plan on having various workshops, both for children and adults. The “Thursday in Action” program has also been active since 2002 – Thursday lectures and debates that are open to public. Thus far we have spoken on the subjects of globalization, sustainable development, human rights, medicine, computer science, astronomy, art.
Special Projects:
Distinguished Croatian Scientists In The World
The main goal of this project is the introduction of renowned Croatian scientists and their work to the national and international scientific communities. The scientists included in this publication, such as Miroslav Radman, Eduard Prugovečki, Vlasta Bonačić-Koutecky, Davor Solter, Krešimir Krnjević, Ivo Derado, Zvonimir Janko, Stjepan Marčelja and others, were born and raised in Croatian communities worldwide and embraced their cultural, historical, traditional, and educational heritage which helped them achieve success in science in their new communities. For that reason their science, which is American, Canadian, German, or French, is also Croatian. However, this is not evident from their work because their papers have been published by institutions outside Croatia. Therefore, it is our mission to introduce this part of top Croatian science to the world and make a permanent record of its existence.
The program was established in 1996, when the first round table on expatriate Croatian scientists was organized. In 1997 the first book of DISTINGUISHED CROATIAN SCIENTISTS IN THE WORLD, part onewas published, and in 1999 part two was published.
Three additional books of DISTINGUISHED CROATIAN SCIENTISTS IN THE WORLD were published, parts one through three, and part four of the series is to be presented in October 2008. The total of 61 scientists have been honored for their work. Six publications under the titles of DISTINGUISHED CROATIAN SCIENTISTS IN AMERICA andDISTINGUISHED CROATIAN SCIENTISTS IN THE WORLD were published with entries on approximately 50 renowned scientists. Some of these books can be found in the Library of Congress (Washington, DC), British Library (London), the libraries of the Yale University, University of Stanford, University of Toronto, McGill University, University of California, and other universities, as well as almost all Croatian libraries in the area of natural science. At this moment there are approximately ten renowned scientists living outside of Croatia to be processed, be written about and included in a special edition (book). According to our experience this will take approximately three years.
