On July 31 – August 3, the Library Association of Moldova, supported by Novateca Program, hosted the 3rd edition of the Summer Academy for Young Librarians – a non-formal event aimed to strengthen the system of young librarians’ professional development and boost their leadership skills.
Nineteen young professionals representing national, municipal, raion, town, village and university libraries have explored new perspectives and modern library concepts, and became familiar with innovative management practices and tools that help them develop attractive modern services for library users.
Graduates from the Library Innovators Leadership Initiative and the European Library Innovators Program, as well as former participants of the 2016 and 2017 editions of the Academy joined the event and led trainings on innovations and IT, Advocacy and outreach, partnerships, PR and visibility, and library management, facilitating the young librarians’ integration to the network.
“I am excited to join this new edition of the Summer Academy as a facilitator, and share my experience and successes in modernizing my library with the younger colleagues,” mentioned Marina Rusu, young librarian leader from Orhei and graduate of the Summer Academy 2016 edition. “I believe that sharing real examples of change that have been brought in libraries by someone who was just as young and novice to the domain as they are now, builds in more confidence and helps them explore new initiatives in their own libraries,” she added.
Attending practical sessions on robotics and coding, learning how to use FabLab equipment, and engaging in interactive tours at LAM and Novateca partner organizations “Tekwill”, “Bestseller” and the Republican Center for Children and Youth “ARTICO”, the new group of young librarians, some of whom have been in their jobs for only a matter of months, became familiar with the latest trends in library modernization and explored innovative management practices to apply in their own libraries.
“The facilitators of the workshops and all the partners who welcomed us in their institutions helped us acknowledge the importance of bringing fun and passion to our everyday activities, and building on strong relationships with library patrons,” mentioned Elena Casapciuc, participant from the Telenesti Raion Library.
The communication and visibility workshops were of particular interest for the young librarians, who were eager to explore new marketing concepts and learn how to promote their libraries in the physical and online environments. During this workshop, librarians learned to draft targeted messages for different categories of library users and to create attractive promotional materials using Canva application. The facilitators of the workshop stressed the importance of using statistical data when communicating library successes to the community and library partners, and provided a list of recommendations to improve promotional activities in libraries.
The academy was as a great opportunity for the librarians to bond, share best practices, communicate with each other and collaborate in order to bring meaningful changes in their home libraries, and consolidate the network of young library professionals as Novateca begins to wind down.
Novateca is happy to witness the enthusiasm, creativity and energy spread by the young generation of librarians, that is also part of the young wing of LAM, and shows great confidence in their leadership skills and abilities to promote innovation and adopt modern library trends.
