On September 13, the Ministry of Culture in partnership with Novateca, launched the National Public Library Awareness Campaign called “See you at the library”. The campaign aims to inform the general public about the new opportunities and innovative services offered by modernized public libraries throughout Moldova.
The Budesti Public Library opened its doors and warm and friendly atmosphere to the public to present its modern services, developed with the support of the Novateca Program. Minister of Culture Monica Babuc, Novateca Program Director Evan Tracz, local mayor Nina Costiuc and supporters of the campaign, the “Akord” musical group, launched the National Library Awareness Campaign and toured the library to witness modern library services.
At the library, the guests attended English classes organized by a Peace Corps volunteer, watched teenagers taking notes on “vlogging” from the young vlogger Amalia, via a skype call. They also joined a group of young mothers and fathers in a training on leading a healthy lifestyle and witnessed library patrons using library computers to search for information, access online services, and connect with their families and friends via social networks.
“Libraries have become active community centers that offer modern services to different categories of library users,” said Monica Babuc, Minister of Culture. “This campaign invites everyone to visit and discover new activities and resources available at their local library.”
Over the past 4 years, more than 800 public libraries have joined the Novateca network in order to become modern institutions, willing and able to provide high quality services for their communities. Since 2012, librarians have done a great amount of work to transform public libraries into community centers and enrich the lives of Moldovan citizens.
“The return on investments indicator shows that each leu invested by local public authorities in the process of library modernization generates an added value of over 5 lei for raion public libraries, and 2.30 lei for village public libraries,” mentioned Evan Tracz, Novateca Program Director. ”These figures show that a modern public library adds real value to its community,” he added.
Nowadays, a great number of library users show interest towards online resources and media content. To keep the pace with the ongoing demand and satisfy the local needs of the community members, public libraries have shifted their focus to modern services and technology. Each library user can benefit of free access to internet and e-services, trainings in IT, health, agriculture and foreign languages, educational activities for children and teenagers, as well as various communitarian initiatives.
The campaign will be run until December 2016 and will cover public libraries from all over the country. The Ministry of Culture and Novateca program encourage everyone to visit their local public libraries and sample its offerings. Right now something is happening at the library!