Nearly twenty-five years since the Republic of Moldova gained its independence from the Soviet Union, Moldova’s media landscape still faces significant challenges that hinder the country’s development. Many stem from the domination of numerous media outlets by particular individuals and interests seeking influence. Citizens are far from defenseless, however. On the contrary, it is increasingly important to ensure that they have the skills to analyze media content, discern biases or disinformation, and form their own opinions based on reliable information. Public libraries are helping them do just that.
There is no better place to learn how to access and analyze a wide assortment of media content - print, video, radio and online - than the community library, already established in communities countrywide, guiding citizens toward reliable and relevant information.
In partnership with the Novateca – Global Libraries Moldova program’s network of newly modernized public libraries, the Strengthening Independent Media and Media Literacy Program (SIMML) is training librarians across Moldova in media literacy, thereby providing citizens with knowledgeable “infomediaries” who can facilitate greater access to information and to new tools and approaches for making informed decisions and producing citizen journalism.
The SIMML project selected and trained a group of more than 50 librarians from all over Moldova who will organize similar media literacy trainings for an estimated group of over 6,000 librarians, students, and Moldovan citizens in both Romanian and Russian-speaking regions.
Using a specially developed curriculum and employing interactive methods – such as questionnaires, simulations, role-playing, brainstorming, and team activities – librarians engaged in a spirited exchange of opinions, experience, and knowledge.
“I learned a lot of useful information about manipulation, propaganda, disinformation, and the information war,” mentioned Cornelia Catarau, a librarian from Hirtopul Mare village who completed all stages of the training. “The session about how to write news and how to promote information was especially useful.”
After participating in the training, some librarians see media literacy as a survival skill or necessary defense mechanism in order to be a thoughtful consumer and an effective citizen in a new media age. “Media literacy is an antidote to manipulation and propaganda,” said one participant at a media literacy training in Taraclia raion.
In order to ensure that public library visitors have uninterrupted access to information about the key elements of media literacy, SIMML and Novateca have partnered to establish dedicated media corners in a select group of Novateca libraries. These corners, created in Anenii-Noi, Ungheni, Taraclia, and Telenesti public libraries, were equipped with computers and furniture and given subscriptions to both print and online news resources, which interested visitors can access for free at any time.
U.S. Ambassador James D. Pettit attended the recent inauguration of the media corner created at the Telenesti Raion public library. “The library - the window to the world of information, the ‘casa mare’ of the community - is precisely the place where we can all become well-informed citizens, sort good information from bad, and learn about ourselves and each other in ways that better enable us to work together and get past differences,” he remarked.
Some public libraries have even taken it upon themselves to increase their own local news offerings by creating their own newsletters and newspapers. The Bravicea public library, with support from Novateca and local public authorities, began writing, publishing, and delivering a weekly newspaper for the village so that local citizens could be better informed about events and activities happening in their town.
”I noticed that our community lacks a local source of information to keep citizens updated about the latest community news,” said Angela Zatic, Bravicea Public Library’s director and editor of its volunteer-run and -operated Bravicea Currier. “There is no better place than our library for this newspaper to be developed. We are at the center of our community and know people's needs and interests. And in the library, we have all the necessary tools - computers, publishing software, and volunteers who help us edit and distribute the newspaper to various local organizations.”
Media Literacy training and better access to a wider range of information are just a few examples of new offerings at Moldova’s public libraries. With support from the SIMML and Novateca programs, as well as increasing support from local government officials, civil society organizations, and other international programs and donors, public libraries are bringing new resources, knowledge, and perspectives to communities. While libraries and librarians cannot solve all of Moldova’s media challenges, they can help citizens access and use more sources of information, analyze and understand the forces that influence them, and develop the skills and habits that are required to succeed in the modern information age.
Novateca – Global Libraries Moldova is a five-year program, implemented by IREX and supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). It provides Moldovans with access to information and modern, locally tailored services through modernized public libraries. The Strengthening Independent Media and Media Literacy Program (SIMML) is funded by the U.S. Department of State and administered by IREX Europe.