On August 7-11, Novateca in partnership with the Library Association of Moldova hosted the 2nd edition of the Summer Academy for Young Librarians. The non-formal event aimed to strengthen the system of young librarians’ professional development and boost their leadership skills.
Twenty-two young librarians representing national, municipal, raion, town and village libraries have explored new perspectives and modern library concepts, and became familiar with innovative management practices and tools that help them develop attractive modern services for library users.
During the 5-day event, participants have learned best practices based on the Moldovan and American library examples and grasped new skills in implementing modern services that satisfy community needs. To find out what are the citizens’ interests, librarians conducted a community needs assessment outside the library walls. The young librarians have also developed skills in initiating fundraising campaigns and tested innovative strategies and tools to attract additional funding to libraries.
“These workshops are very useful for our professional development, as they boost our confidence and encourage us to become active leaders in our communities,” highlighted Tatiana Ciornii, Mereseni Public Library. “The interactive approach of this event allowed us to better communicate with each other and collaborate in order to bring meaningful changes in our home libraries.”
Another important component of the Summer Academy focused on teaching young librarians how to create attractive non-formal spaces for library users. During this workshop, participants explored the concept of library space and developed their design skills by creating thematic exhibitions for library users.
The advocacy workshop was of particular interest for the young librarians eager to explore new marketing concepts and learn how to promote their libraries in the physical and online environments. During this workshop, librarians learned to draft targeted messages for different categories of library users and to create attractive promotional materials using Canva and Piktochart applications. The facilitators of the workshop stressed out the importance of using statistical data when communicating library successes to the community and library partners, and provided a list of recommendations to improve promotional activities in libraries. They also shared important insights on how to ensure the development of a rural library while having limited financial resources.
The 12 library innovators, who have recently returned home after exploring and learning the best practices of American libraries, have familiarized the young participants with the FISH philosophy and shared the main ingredients for attracting new library users. The participants acknowledged the importance of bringing fun and passion in their everyday library activities, and build on strong relationships with library patrons.
Along with the workshops and interactive sessions, the agenda of the event included visits to TEKWILL, EFES Vitanta and an outdoor cinema, which added an extra level of excitement among young librarians and offered them the opportunity to get to know and interact with each other in a friendlier atmosphere.
To ensure sustainability and make sure participants apply these new skills in their everyday activity, the Library Innovators Leadership Initiative participants committed to coach the young librarians on implementing new initiatives in their libraries and ensure library modernization. Novateca is happy to witness the enthusiasm, creativity and energy spread by the young generation of librarians and shows great confidence in their leadership skills and abilities to promote innovation and adopt modern library trends.