On 17 December, Global Libraries Bulgaria Foundation hosted a webinar on Digital Transformation and the Modern Library Ecosystem as part of the TELL – Trans-European Learning Libraries project.
The webinar was led by Spaska Tarandova, project coordinator, and Associate Professor Aneta Doncheva, member of the project advisory board. They presented the findings of the expert report, TELL for Digitalisation, Artificial Intelligence and Libraries. The members of the National Expert Group who authored the report were also present on the webinar: Associate Professor Elitsa Belcheva-Lozanova, Head of the Department of Library Science, Scientific Information and Cultural Policy in the Faculty of Law, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”; Associate Professor Dr Kalina Ivanova, Director of the Sts. Cyril and Methodius National Library and Chair of the Board of the Bulgarian Library and Information Association; Silvia Pavlova, Director of Hristo Botev Regional Library in Vratsa; Desislava Ivanova, Director of Mihalaki Georgiev Regional Library in Vidin; Petya Georgieva, Library Director at the Agricultural University of Plovdiv.
Participants discussed the digital transformation and how AI is affecting library processes and user services in different types of libraries; the digital strategies that public libraries need and how they can be implemented; and the specific training needs of library specialists.
The webinar also presented the main results from the information and media literacy trainings in the project partner countries of Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Romania, France and Croatia. It was noted that although Bulgaria is the second-to-last EU Member State in the DESI index for digital skills, our libraries are leaders as centres of information and media literacy training, especially for those aged 55+.
The TELL: Trans-European Learning Libraries project is being implemented by a consortium of eleven organisations from seven countries, led by ANBPR in Romania. It is a 24-month project with a total budget of 400,000 EUR, financed by the Erasmus+ programme of the EU.
