Public library in central – eastern city of Moldova presents modern services for benefit of community

Chisinau, 06 September /MOLDPRES/ – The Novateca programme, in partnership with Rezina district Council and the City Hall, organised today a presentation of modern services offered by Public Library Mihai Eminescu in locality.

The robot programming hours for children and adolescents, community development workshops, seminars to promoting a healthy lifestyle to virtual reality – these are just a few of the services offered by the nominated library.

During the library tour, those present participated in modern courses and services offered by the Public Library Mihai Eminescu in Rezina. Especially, because the institution is the only library in Moldova that has a virtual cinema, the participants had the chance to test virtual glasses, but also try robots along with children and adolescents at the robotics club.

Present at the event, Mayor of Rezina, Simion Tatarov, thanked the development partners for the positive changes made to the library and, not least, to the whole society, noting that "such projects as Novateca represent an important step in development of community as it offers visitors which come to the library new possibilities for both personal and professional growth. I am delighted to see that in our technology era, our libraries keep up with innovations."

The district Public Library Mihai Eminescu is one of over 1,000 public libraries that have been upgraded throughout the Novateca programme, so besides a virtual cinema equipped with virtual glasses and 3D picture books, the library hosts a robotics club for children, teens and classes, deliver workshops and training on healthy living and digital inclusion, as well as support for homework and other modern services that meet the needs of community.

"Today, when we talk about libraries, the thought must immediately lead us to modern and accessible public services for everyone. We try to do it daily, find out what the needs of community are and make every effort to meet them. Our library has diversified its range of services with robotic sets, virtual glasses, tablets, computers and free Wi – Fi access, and we are becoming more and more attractive to visitors which go beyond threshold," said director of Rezina Public Library Mihai Eminescu, Galina Davidic.

Funded by the Bill&Melinda Gates Foundation and implemented by IREX in cooperation with USAID over recent five years, the Novateca Programme has facilitated the transformation of Moldovan public libraries into community centres by equipping them with IT, training of librarians, developing modern services according to the needs of community members, partnerships and advocacy.

(Reporter N. Roibu, editor M. Jantovan)