Contemporary Library and Its Role in the Community

Revista Română de Biblioteconomie și Știința Informării = Romanian Journal of Library and Information Science, 2019

The article is based on the dissertation Biblioteca Națională a României în slujba comunităților: o analiză calitativă pentru identificarea nevoilor utilizatorilor spațiilor libere pentru lectură [The National Library of Romania in the service of communities: a qualitative analysis to identify the needs of the users in the free reading spaces], held in June this year, at the final stage of the Master Program Management of Information in Contemporary Society. The research took place in 15 th-26 th of April, 2019. Our approach is unique, as the official activity reports published by the National Library are lacking the qualitative studies which would have helped establishing the directions of development of the services dedicated to different types of users. The quantitative reports officially reveal that the users tend to favor the free reading spaces in spite of the reading rooms. These statistics lead us to the idea that the library must operate changes in its public policies, considering new services and healthy conditions for 54,000 free spaces users per year. Who are these people? Where are they coming from? What do they need? What caused the change in their preferences? What does the National Library offer in these spaces to help people and what must it continue to do, to maintain its active place in the knowledge society and a determined role in the Romanian culture? The aim of our work is to answer these questions, or at least to approximate them.

2021

This collection presents current themes in the field of modern libraries and their users, united under a common title: “Library and Society: Contemporary Challenges.” The texts have already been published in different Bulgarian sources. They are now published in English in this edition with minor changes. The included publications present the author’s interest in contemporary problems and challeng- es facing the library community. The lecture format is intentional, as it gives the opportunity for the edition to be used for work with an audience of students. The lectures are accompanied by presentations in English that are not part of this collection. The topics of the lectures are as follows: • Technology and the human factor in the formula for effective- ness of the modern library • The role of users in the preservation of cultural heritage • The attitude of libraries towards users determines the present and the future of the institution • The value of the library in the modern dim...

International Journal of Advanced Statistics and IT&C for Economics and Life Sciences, 2016

The public library plays a vital role in the communities it serves, being the main institution that provides information and documentation services in various forms and in different contexts. Thus, it contributes to the personal development of its users through formal education, through lifelong learning, through afterschool activities, information literacy, leisure, skills development and access to public information. Another aspect covered by a public library is linked to social cohesion, institution space transformed into a meeting place and center for community development. The culture and local identity are problems with a significant impact of belonging to the community which is served by the public library and the imagination and creativity develop people's interest in cultural activities. All these situations are the most convincing evidence that a public library plays a very important social role for the community.

2016

In the present society libraries are not only an active component of the process of acquiring, processing, communication, preservation and archiving of information resources. Developments in information technology and communications turns library into a public space for communication. In the information society development of library led to the establishment and redefining its roles: information, enlightenment and socialization are the main features of contemporary library. Library become an educational, cultural and social center and also a tool for promoting research experiences and a means by which community members can participate in the social life. One of the fundamental issues that need to consider when talking about the role of public space of communication and library must assume is the understanding that the user needs have changed. Moreover, increasing and diversifying social needs manifests itself as a service request, and, to this end, one important characteristic of co...

ECER 2010 (The European Conference on Educational Research – Education and Cultural Change, Helsinki, Finlanda, 25 – 27 august 2010

The present work has the goal to depict a real image concerning the present functioning conditions of the Romanian Rural Libraries – an important institution of adults’ education in rural environment. The elements of the legal nature are presented in a slight opposition that resides or should reside at the base of organizing and functioning of this institution. Because, while making this research, the traditions of the Rural Libraries have drawn our attention in a positive way; we also considered necessary to present them in this work, because this deserves and it has to be a part of the present through their reminiscent power. Rural libraries cannot operate at national and European standards required by the legislation in force due to lack of premises, equipment and personnel. This library crisis is so advanced that some of the rural libraries have started to disappear. Lack of financing, as highlighted in the statistic analysis of indicators, has placed most Romanian librarians into such an involution state that computerization of libraries is regarded as a utopia. On the other hand, due to precariousness of nowadays libraries it is impossible for the common citizen to have free access to information and training through written and digital documents in accordance with European democracy standards. Rapid acceleration of all sorts of problems (lack of new books, newspapers and magazines, personnel cuts) specific to librarians requires profound and professional content interventions from those responsible or able to provide solutions.

The National Library of Romania (NLR) ensures the creation, processing, preservation, management and valorisation of the national documentary patrimony. With its highly valuable collection, the NLR is part of the European cultural heritage, a real cultural wealth for future generations, and therefore it will endorse the role of coordinator of the digitization process at the level of the national system of libraries. The National Library of Romania is involved in international projects aiming at the creation of digital content relevant for the European Culture: The European Library-TEL and ENRICH-European Networking Resources and Information concerning Cultural Heritage, projects coordinated by the National Library of the Czech Republic. The National Library of Romania has contributed to the projects Manuscriptorium / ENRICH by ancient Romanian books from the 16 th-17 th centuries.

The public library plays a vital role in the communities it serves, being the main institution providing information and documentation services under various forms and in different contexts. Thus, it contributes to the users' personal development through formal education, lifelong learning, after-school activities, information culture, leisure time activities or access to information. Another aspect covered by the public library is related to social cohesion, the area of the institution becoming a meeting place and a community development center. Cultural identity and local identity are problems with a significant impact on the community and which need to be publicized by the public library, and imagination and creativity increase the interest of the public for cultural activities. All these demonstrate that a public library plays a special social role in the community, and the services offered by it foster the accomplishment of this role.

From the viewpoint of the library functions, the present paper focuses on the changes that had been made in the activities of the specialised personnel and in the services provided to the users, changes that occurred due to the introduction of modern computing and communication technologies. All these aspects are exemplified by applying them within the Central University Library in Cluj. What the libraries can do in order to support the education and research fields is briefly presented, ideas that represent staring points for projects that must be attained at a national level. The conclusions can represent marks for the people who unfold their activities, but most of all for the people who can influence or even decide the fates of the institutions whose importance is not fully appreciated.

2010

In the context of information globalization Romanian libraries must define their unit role in society, namely to capitalize on and preserve the national intellectual heritage by organizing, processing, access, preservation of national documentary heritage in various types of media. Promoted principles, like the principle of freedom of information and universal access to information, preserving national intellectual heritage, intellectual property rights, sharing information and documentation resources, promoting the role of libraries and librarians in society, promoting specific legislation, promoting national and international professional cooperation, promoting a multicultural and multilingual information context and new models of information and documentation, all these are milestones that any info-documentary structure must take into account. The basic objective of digital library initiatives in Romania has been to preserve the culture and heritage of this country being still in early stage.