The document discusses modern services provided by the Geo Milev District Library in Montana. It outlines the library's goal of providing access to information resources and acting as an intermediary between users and information. The library provides services like internet access, electronic databases, reference services, and training in computer and information literacy. It aims to transform from a book storage space into a community center that meets the needs of diverse groups.

1. Modern Services in Geo Milev
District Library, Montana:
Good Practices, Challenges and
Prospects

2. NOW WHAT?
• Year 2000 and society – KNOWLEDGE BASED
SOCIETY
• March 2000 – the Lisbon meeting – EU
member states find out that Europe’s
economy gets increasingly digital and identify
a new goal – BY 2010 THE EU SHOULD BUILD A
COMPETITIVE AND KNOWLEDGE BASED
SOCIETY

3. GOAL AND MISSION
• EBLIDA – THE INDIVIDUAL’S INDEPENDENCE in
the acquisition of knowledge is crucial and
libraries can play a fundamental role in the
formulation of a strategy for continuing
education development and self-improvement
of individuals and society as a whole

4. 3 pillars of information provision
• Access to information – global resources
• Searching and finding information – librarians’
special skills
• Quality of information – huge amount of
information – the librarian provides expert
guidance in the identification of resources –
effective and relevant use of world wide web
opportunities

5. The Contemporary Image of
Public Libraries
• The library as a learning place
• The library as an intermediary
between users and information
• The library and cultural heritage and
diversity
• The library – a public defender

6. 2007 - … “global chance”
The Glob@l Libraries – Bulgaria Program is a joint
initiative of the Ministry of Culture and the
United Nations Development Program. The
program aims to facilitate the access to
information, knowledge, communication, e-
content and services for communities through
the network of public libraries and, in five years’
time, enhance the degree of library use across
the country and help Bulgarian citizens become
part of the global information society.

7. Geo Milev District Library
• Package 1 – 24 workstations, 1 server, 1 color
printer, 1 multifunctional device, 1
laptop, projector, router and switches
• Training facility
• Computers for free access of users

8. We will continue to…
• Address groups and communities, their needs and
information demands
• Transform the library from a book storage space into a
living organism with an agile and constantly developing
identity
• Focus even stronger on the resources of local
history, archives, genealogy
• Foster the library’s main mission of a crucial public space
for communication and community development

9. THE PUBLIC LIBRARIES ACT AND
PUBLIC LIBRARY SERVICES
• Art. 51. (1) Main library services include:
• 1. usage of library collections in and outside the library;
• 2. provision of verbal bibliographic and factographic information;
• 3. access to own traditional and electronic databases and internet access for
education, social and research purposes.
• Art. 52. (1) Specialized library services include:
• 1. provision of written bibliographic information;
• 2. provision of retrospective bibliographic searches;
• 3. provision of library documents from the country and abroad;
• 4. access to external network resources and databases;
• 5. copying of library documents;
• 6. publication of issues.

10. THE NEW “GLOBAL” SERVICES –
possible due to:
• ICT equipment;
• Training in information computer technology;
“New Library Services” meetings;
• New knowledge and skills acquired;
• Enhanced readers’ needs; dynamics – reader’s
new image;
• Librarians’ enhanced self-confidence and
feeling of mission.

11. GEO MILEV DISTRICT LIBRARY SERVICES
• Provision of basic bibliographic and factographic
information
• Internet access for education, social and research purposes
• Access to electronic catalogues
• Access to specialized annotated catalogues
• Ready electronic bibliographies
• Electronic access to databases of municipal councils
• “Ask the Librarian” virtual reference service
• SMS book return reminders
• Email invitations to library initiatives
• SMS invitations to library initiatives
• Electronic census.

12. SERVICES…
Electronic access to local institutions, agencies, organizations, companies, etc.
- Municipality
- Health institutions – Regional Public Health Inspectorate
- Schools, universities, colleges
- Kindergartens
- Job vacancies
- Job vacancies abroad
- Vocational education
- Social services
- Day centers for disabled people
- Institutions for elderly people.

13. SERVICES….
Surveying and cartography services; local taxes and charges
Monuments of culture of local importance
City celebrations, festivals and local attractions
Tourist sites and itineraries
Hotels, guest houses
Churches
Museums, galleries, archives, historical and societies of fellow countrymen
Sports facilities and complexes
NGOs, associations, civic initiatives
Hotline for women victims of violence
Hotline for children victims of violence
Anti corruption hotline
Lawyers, notaries
Projects

14. SERVICES…
• Electronic access to government and European institutions
• State Gazette
• National Assembly
• Government, ministries
• Government agencies
• President
• Ombudsman
• European Union
• European Commission
• European programs and projects
• National Statistics Institute
• National Revenue Agency
• Commercial Register
• Commission for Protection against Discrimination
• Union of Consumers

15. SERVICES…
• Book borrowing from other Bulgarian and foreign libraries through electronic
request
• Compilation and provision of written bibliographic information
• Provision of retrospective bibliographic searches
• Access to specialized resources and databases
• Document filling assistance
• Scanning and electronic provision of documents
• Copying of documents
• Design and preparation of advertisements, invitations
• Recording and re-recording of music pieces
• Preparation of multimedia presentations
• Processing of digital pictures
• Compilation of databases of schools, organizations, companies, etc.

16. Education services, courses, training
• Work with electronic catalogues
• Work with databases
• Email account registration
• Filling in documents and forms
• Independent preparation of bibliographic references
• Information search in State Gazette
• Work with Ciela products
• Access to local, national and European legislation
• Work abroad
• Bank information search
• Health and social insurance checks
• Utility bills checks
• Preparation of job applications (CVs, motivation letters, etc.)
• Filling in forms, tax returns, etc.

17. School Goers
• Access to electronic collections
• Lists of recommended reading as per
school curriculum
• Direct access to education portals
• Presentation of authors of children’s
books

18. Teenage Zone
• Direct access to education portals
• Electronic collections for school final exams
and university entry exams preparation
• Seminars and discussions on topics of current
interest
• Projection of presentations, movies, etc. in
support of the school process

19. PROSPECTS
• GROUP OF PEOPLE WITH SPECIAL NEEDS
• GROUP OF PEOPLE AT RISK
• “RESTLESS” GROUPS – YOUNG PEOPLE WHOSE
READING HABITS WE SHOULD ESTABLISH AND
TO WHOM WE SHOULD CLARIFY THE ROLE OF
MODERN PUBLIC LIBRARIES

20. HOW WILL WE RESPOND TO THE
“NEW READER”?
• Young people want to access the whole library stock from a distance, from their PCs at home.
• When reading a book, they want to have access to all auxiliary sources (reference
books, dictionaries, bibliographies, magazines and newspapers, card-indices and catalogues).
• When in a reading situation, their interior should include all technical aids or “extensions” –
PCs or laptops, mobile phones, internet connection, flash memory devices, printers and
copiers.
• They need food, drinks, music or silence.
• Their reading bodies need furniture of suitable sizes, personalized temperature, lighting, air.
• Their reading bodies need accessories – not only the so called book wardrobe, but also an
armchair or a chaise-longue, a pillow, a bed, a soft floor mat, a foot stand or just a book/
newspaper/atlas rack.
• Young people also practice non-reading actively – they alternate between half an hour of
reading and half an hour of non-reading and in the pauses, they insist on watching or
listening to something, having a walk or a work-out in the gym, communicating.

21. THE NEW READER
• The reader perceives the documents accessible only in the library
(non-digitalized) as something obsolete and archaic.
• The reader sees the library as something antique and elevated
which they observe but is it necessary in the modern world? Why do
young people still think that the library is a quiet and elevated place
where only complicated questions are answered and silence is
imposed?
• Young readers also cultivate a negative attitude toward the fact
that someone else tells them what to read; dissatisfaction with the
fixed library open hours. They say they want the library open until
22.00 and on weekends.
• The changed reader has invented many ways of circumventing the
“order in the system” by “stealing” the full texts through their
mobile phones’ cameras.

22. Transformation... from a library to a
community center
• Differences, integration, opportunity, participation
• Universal access
• Without limitations
• For all
• Modernization
• Building a new image
• Provision of a free package of services to visitors
• Computers and internet access, online information, e-content of
local importance, training in computer and information literacy
• Implementation of community based projects, space for work and
community events, solutions of the needs of specific target groups
(children, unemployed, immigrants, etc.)
• Enjoyable physical environment

23. Leverage and Tools
• Integration
• Interaction
• The library and the local community
• Cohesion and partnerships
• Ethnic groups and integration
• Volunteers

24. We will continue to…
• Address groups and communities, their needs and
information demands
• Transform the library from a book storage space into a
living organism with an agile and constantly developing
identity
• Focus even stronger on the resources of local
history, archives, genealogy
• Foster the library’s main mission of a crucial public space
for communication and community development