Seniors Find Community and Opportunity at Romanian Library

Services for the aging population are a priority at many Romanian libraries. In difficult economic times, many seniors are struggling with reduced pensions and trying to keep in touch with family members who have moved away in search of work. In Medias, a training program called BuniNet has gone beyond its initial purpose to teach seniors basic technology skills and become a community unto itself, where its members celebrate birthdays, teach each other skills, and learn how to generate income that can supplement their retirement.

“The idea for “BuniNet” came to me in 2007, when I lived abroad. My parents didn’t know how to access the Internet, they didn’t have e-mail addresses and they didn’t communicate through Yahoo Messenger. That’s why I decided to teach them how to use electronic messaging and the internet. Step by step, they took notes and began to practice. Thus, they became my first “BuniNet Citizens,” librarian and project manager Antonela Sofia Barbu recollects. The vision for the program was to provide training for senior citizens to develop their computing skills to earn additional income and access information in the virtual world. The students learned how to create a blog, fill in a CV, and use the internet to find another job or promote their hobbies. Two found teaching jobs and twenty have been able to capitalize on their interests through activities like selling crafts.

Demand grew, and some seniors needed help with tasks like setting up an email address and searching the internet for information. So the library asked their participants to apply to be peer tutors and selected 10 volunteers to support the project. By creating “The BuniNet Kindergarten” the volunteers have helped their peers with important first steps like handling a mouse and trained them for more advanced activities.

BuniNet has become a community phenomenon. Some people greet each other using their Facebook names. The senior citizens talk, smile, and exchange their experiences; they are active, helping other library users and even other libraries in Sibiu County by collecting books and sending them to those in need. Popular group activities include playing Facebook games together and creating movies with Windows MovieMaker.

“It doesn’t matter what you did before you retired, what sort of family you were born in, the ethnic group you belong to or how old you are, you can use computers,” says Antonela Sofia Barbu. The BuniNet family has created bonds that surpass technology to create lasting friendships.

“BuniNet – senior people learn to communicate via Internet” is the winner of the first edition of the Biblionet “Train your community” contest. Biblionet is a five year IREX program funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that equips libraries with computers and helps librarians implement new services.