32 participants present 26 reports at the XXII national scientific conference “Libraries – reading

32 participants present 26 reports at the XXII national scientific conference with international participation “Libraries – reading – communications”, which was officially opened in RB “P. R. Slaveikov” in Veliko Tarnovo

This year it is dedicated to the topic of standardization and methodology in the digital conversion of cultural and historical heritage.

It will address the problems and obstacles for cultural institutions and, in particular, for libraries in carrying out the digital conversion of literary cultural heritage, specifically in Bulgaria, where there is a lack of clear guidelines, standards and methodology for carrying out these processes.

The participants were welcomed by the director of the library, Prof. Kalina Ivanova.

“Through digital technologies and digitization, institutions are given the opportunity to reach a wider audience, create new models of content presentation and at the same time make it more attractive to be perceived by the modern audience that has grown up in a digital environment. The problems for cultural institutions, in particular for libraries, when carrying out the digital conversion of the literary cultural heritage in Bulgaria, where there are no standards and methodology for carrying out these processes, are not few,” shared Associate Professor Kalina Ivanova.

The participants will have the opportunity to learn about the large-scale project of the Ministry of Culture “Digitization of museum collections, libraries and archives – Investment C11.17 of the National Plan for Recovery and Sustainability”, presented by the project coordinator Mariana Prodanova. A plenary report on the topic will be presented by Prof. Dr. Vencislav Velev, a lecturer at the University of Library Science and Information Technologies – Sofia. The forum includes representatives of the large regional libraries from Plovdiv, Ruse, Shumen, etc. cities to present their practices in the field of digitization of library collections and to share their experience in implementing projects in this area.

This year’s international participation is of representatives from libraries in Serbia, who will also present their experience in the field of digitization.

During the conference, the digital platform Proquest will be presented and what are the benefits for scientific circles in Bulgaria from its use. An important highlight of this year’s conference is the presentation of certificates to the trainees in the “BIBLIO” project.

The conference continues on November 17 and is jointly organized by the Regional Library, the University of Veliko Tarnovo and the University of Library Science and Information Technology.

Mikhail MIHALEV

Sn. the author