21. 20.134 participanț
i
» IRRT PRECONFERENCE ANAHEIM 2012
» China and the United States: Playing a leadership role in International
Collaboration – Experiences from a Grant Project, presented by
Shuyong Jiang, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
» Kenya National Library Service and Maria's Libraries: Notes from
Kenya: testing innovative approaches and leapfrogging technologies
through a network of libraries, for the social, political, and economic
development of communities in resource-poor settings, presented by
Ariel Schwartz, University of Texas at Austin; Eva Kaplan, Maria's
Libraries, Kenya
» Nepal, India, Egypt, Guatemala and Tanzania and the United States: A
Solution in Sight: A Global Partnership to Improve Access to
Ophthalmic Information in Developing Countries, presented by
Pamela Sieving, National Institutes of Health Library; Suzanne Gilbert,
Seva Foundation; Bette Anton, University of California at Berkeley;
Katherine Judson, Seva Foundation
» Romania and the United States: Romania's Impact Group A Success
Story: Evaluating IREX's Biblionet Program and Seeking
Sustainability, presented by Constantin Mituca, Gorj County Public
Library, Romania
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25. International poster session
IV - 16 IREX’s Impact Group: Developing the Sustainability of Romanian Public
Libraries at Work
Constantin Mituca, Gorj County Public Library, Tîrgu Jiu, Romania (pipimituca@yahoo.com)
Biblionet, the Global Libraries Program funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,
implemented in Romania by the IREX Foundation, will end in 2014. The IREX’s
initiative is composed of 15 Biblionet County Coordinator volunteers. Their mission is to
create viable conditions for future sustainability of public libraries after Biblionet is
completed; they are therefore referred to as the Impact Group. The major objective of
this group is to improve community life through the services of efficiently run public
libraries. Some of their current actions include collecting computer usage statistical
data, identifying the unique ways local communities utilize technology to resolve every
day issues, celebrating public libraries success stories about their impact within local
communities, recognizing other unique uses the community might have for current
technology while minimizing replication, and creating library guides to train peer
librarians on how to respond to users’ needs while staying within the current budgetary
guidelines during these uncertain economic times. It is important for Romanian
librarians to present their libraries as places for everyone in which solutions for everyday
issues can be found. The Impact Group works at marketing the Romanian public libraries
and selecting the information to share with local public authorities to develop funding
and local support.