A modern digital centre was opened in "Sava Dobroplodni" Regional Library - Sliven

A Digital Center was officially opened in "Sava Dobroplodni" Regional Library – Sliven on December 16, 2013. Guests were Krasimir Hristov – a  Regional Manager of the Program "Global Libraries - Bulgaria", Desislava Taneva - a member of the parliament from "GERB" party /Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria/, Ivan Slavov – a Deputy Mayor of Sliven Municipality, journalists, students, taking part in the program "Student practices”, held on the operational program "Development of Human Resources", librarians.

The Digital center is equipped with funds from a project under the program "Global Libraries - Bulgaria" and with library’s own revenues and includes specialized book scanners - "e-Scan tm Agate” Ä3 +, specialized scanners A3 model Brother MFS J6510DW and Mustek A3 2400Pro, scanners A4.

The director of the library, Rosica Petrova - Vasileva, presented to the guests a presentation entitled "Protection of literary heritage in "Sava Dobroplodni" regional library- state and prospects". She outlined the main objectives of digitization related to the protection of the literary heritage stated in the National Strategy and Conservation Programme for Bulgarian literary heritage in libraries and for providing access to it in the Cultural Heritage Act. The objects of literary heritage for digitalization were also presented: manuscripts, books /1806-1878, serials / 1844-1878 / (magazines, newspapers) , 1878-1944 serials (magazines, newspapers), archival documents, photos, portraits and postcards, other collections - autographed books, personal collections of public figures, etc.

Special attention was paid to the two main priorities of the “Sava Dobroplodni” Regional Library related to the implementation of national strategies and programs for the protection of literary heritage in libraries and access to the following: Priority 1. Digitization of the literary heritage by creating a digital fund, permanently archiving of digital objects and the national and international electronic presentation of them, and Priority 2. Development of human capital - a guarantee for the implementation of the program, by providing the required number of qualified specialists in conservation and restoration; specialist in identification and bibliography processes of different types of literary documents; specialists in digitization and management of these activities. Parameters of the equipment and working stations in the library were presented, as well as the results achieved in the field of digitization. Special attention was given to the library's participation as a partner in the project "Student practices" on the operational program “Development Human Resources". “Sava Dobroplodni” Regional Library contracted with the Technical University - Sofia, State University of Library Studies and Information Technologies and Engineering- Pedagogical Faculty of Sliven at the Technical University - Sofia. Fifteen students from the Technical University of Sofia and Engineering- Pedagogical Faculty of Sliven at the Technical University – Sofia will gain experience on the position of Assistant in digitization and digital libraries. Student placement on the position starts at «Sava Dobroplodni” Regional Library on December 2, 2013. There special working stations prepared for the training with adequate computer equipment and peripherals for digitization. There are practical exercises and training for working with technical tools. At the end of the practice it over 150 valuable books included in the program for digitization of “Sava Dobroplodni” Regional Library are expected to be digitized, and students to gain a qualification for specialists in digitization and digital libraries.

Finally Rositsa Petrova-Vasileva said that the digital center in "Sava Dobroplodni" Regional Library- Sliven is a first step towards the implementation of collaborative projects with archives institutions, museums and community centers for the protection of literary heritage in Sliven region.

The Regional manager of the program "Global Libraries - Bulgaria" highlighted the innovative qualities of the project of "Sava Dobroplodni" Regional Library - Sliven for creating a digital centre as a reason to received financial support from the program and stressed that one of the most important tasks of modern libraries is digitization and presentation of the growing amount of information in electronic format.

After the presentation, guests visited the digital centre and saw the specialized equipment and special working stations for digitization.