Partnerships allow libraries to provide more to their users than they could alone. By establishing successful relationships with local public authorities, organizations and community members, libraries can increase their understanding of community needs, and deliver better services.

This is the case of the Ialoveni City Library, where librarians responded to children’s interest in robotics in a pro-active manner, applying for the “Ialoveni Youth Foundation” NGO grant to purchase additional robots and T-shirts for the library robotics team.

“Witnessing the amazing results of the public libraries in Greece and learning about their project writing successes, we decided to concentrate our efforts on ensuring sustainability for our library robotics service and apply for this grant,” explained Lidia Rusu, librarian at Ialoveni City Library. “The successful cooperation with the Ialoveni Youth Foundation serves as a proof that libraries can be a great partner for NGOs, especially in providing modern services to community members,” she added.

To support this initiative, the local public authorities invested an additional $200 as cost-share to the project, contributing to the overall purchase of 2 sets of robots (Lego Mindstorms EV3 and Lego WeDo 2.0 ), worth about $500, which are used to train the beginners in robotics.

“Following our robot presentation at the Ialoveni City’s Day, we attracted 20 new members to our roboclub, and organized a local robotics competition, which was actually one of the requirements when applying for the grant,” explained Victor Homelco, the leader of the Ialoveni Public Libray robotics team.

The library’s application met all the requirements of the grant, including innovation in work related to youth, consistency in terms of regularity, community impact targeting youth, sustainability of the service (meaning support from public authorities and other partners), replicability, efficiency, cost-efficiency, and community participation (community members, NGOs, mass-media etc.).

“These grants are specifically awarded to youth that can prove they are actively investing in the sustainable development of our locality. We wish them good luck and strongly encourage them to apply to other community projects,” applauded Victor Pletosu, representative of the Ialoveni Youth Foundation.

Novateca is delighted to witness this success and encourages all librarians to develop partnerships that open new opportunities for their communities and enable libraries to share resources, reach new audiences, and expand their services and programs.