On September 17, 2013 the Orhei Public Library hosted the launch of the governmental online payment service: M-Pay. The event was attended the Pime Minister Iurie Leanca, Dorin Draguțanu, the Governor of the National Bank of Moldova, Ion Ştefîrţă, the President of the Orhei Raion Council, Lidia Sitaru, the Director of the "Alexandru Donici" Public Library, as well as other partners and guests. The Orhei Raion Public Library is one of the six regional training centers of the Novateca pilot network, and serves as a training center for the Orhei village libraries and adult population, as well as a free internet access point for the entire Orhei community.
During the visit the prime-minister Iurie Leancă learned about the new and innovative services that the Orhei Public Library offers to the community. Lidia Sitaru, the library director, shared with the prime-minister about the on-going training activities of the center, specifically about the one-of-its-kind IT course that the library delivered to retired community members.
Prime Minister Leancă said during the meeting: "I think that it is very important that a library has been selected for the launch of such a useful and important service for the community,". "I hope that the excellent conditions that the library benefits from, will motivate both children and adults to open the doors of this institution more often," continued Mr. Leancă.
As government information, services, and resources move online, public libraries have the potential to serve as critical community centers that can connect citizens to electronic services.
Larisa Dahnovici, an elderly Orhei inhabitant, was the first to try to use the online payments service within the library. "I have received the desired result very quickly. The service is very convenient. There is no need to stand in line, and if I will encounter any problems, I know whom to address: the librarian," the woman said.
Public libraries become an essential connector between government and people. As a result, the Government can use the already existing resources instead of establishing new governmental service points to promote the E-gov services at the level of the community.
”The previous e-Gov service launches were held in Chisinau, critics saying that all the efforts are mainly concentrated on the population of the capital, whereas the rest of the Moldovan citizens are neither ready nor able to use the modern electronic services” says Stela Mocanu. That is why we chose to launch the MPay service in Orhei public library. Today we witnessed different age groups, including elderly people, successfully performing on-line payments for governmental services.
Novateca encourages other partners to use the libraries to promote different programs and deliver content, ideas and products to communities throughout Moldova.
