Harghita Librarian Reaches Out, Finds New Library Visitors

During her 20 years as a village librarian in rural Harghita County, Maria Otilia Barsan has been searching for ways to reach out into her community and offer services for all her constituents. Despite budget setbacks and the many challenges faced by rural libraries, Barsan’s library recently joined the Biblionet program, bringing public access computers for library visitors and a government-funded internet connection to the library.

Partnering with two teachers from the local school in late 2008, Barsan visited the patients from the neuro-psychiatric rehabilitation and recovery center in Tulghes village, bringing along a collection of books from the library. She described the visit as part of her responsibilities as a librarian, to “bring an ounce of joy to these people who spend their lives within the walls of a social hospital.”

Shortly after this visit, Tamas Benedek, a patient in the rehabilitation center came to join the library. “He wanted a library card so he could borrow books, not any books, but books on science, mathematics, physics, astronomy, philosophy,” Barsan remembers.

Benedek grew up in a Romanian orphanage, but was forced to leave at age 18. After wandering through the Harghita Mountains, “I was found there, almost frozen and thus both my both legs were amputated. My nightmare life continued, until I found shelter in the neuro-psychiatric rehabilitation and recovery center in Tulghes.” he said, recalling how he ended up in the rehabilitation center. (Tamas Benedek)

After discovering the library during Barsan’s visit, Benedek visited the library through a regular transportation service provided by the hospital. Once he was released, he continued visiting the library daily, no easy task given his physical limitations.

Benedek helped welcome the library’s new computers and internet service earlier this year. “He was very impressed when I handed him the invitation to the inauguration” said Barsan. Today, Benedek enjoys using the library’s computers and public space—he often stays for 3-4 hours a day, using email and discovering new information on the internet.