The Novateca [5] program will gain an in-depth understanding of the opportunities for providing wide scale public access to the internet through the existing public library network. While implementing the two-year planning and pilot grant supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID, IREX will network with a wide range of stakeholders, provide training to librarians, and pilot public access to the internet in a number of libraries.
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The goal of the project is to learn how to approach national library reform and development by establishing a pilot network of modern public libraries in Moldova, characterized by their interest in and pursuit of ways to use access to information to enrich lives. Novateca will accomplish this goal by:
• Assessing physical readiness of public libraries to offer computer and internet services and learning best practices for procuring and distributing equipment.
• Learning about the potential and necessary components of a sustainable professional development system for librarians and identifying primary training needs.
• Understanding the existing capabilities and gaps in library leadership and outlining the best methods for addressing those gaps.
• Identifying partners in local and national governments able to generate the necessary will and momentum to modernize libraries.
• Exploring and testing the potential for NGO/public private partnerships to contribute to the development of the public sector and public access to information.
This grant follows an intensive assessment of the public library landscape in Moldova [8], also funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. A summary of assessment activities was published in March 2012.
Additionally, through the five-year Global Libraries Programs in Romania [9] and Ukraine [10], IREX and its partners are expanding public access to technology and developing modern public library systems in both countries.
• Novateca will equip five regional training centers and 50-60 libraries with technology to support public access to information.
• Novateca will work with Moldovan partners to develop a curriculum to train 12 librarian trainers and approximately 90 librarians in technology skills, managing computers in libraries, and modern library services.
• Novateca will test methods for empowering librarians, with a significant focus on developing community assessment and strategic planning skills, so that librarians can develop and realize their own vision of modern librarianship.
• Novateca will leverage its power as an intermediary to help key national stakeholders and local librarians build partnerships with relevant private sector actors, such as telecoms, technology firms, educational initiatives, cultural figures, and others, as well as with the donor and NGO communities
gl@irex.org [11]