1. Ass. Prof. Krassimira Anguelova
LIBRARIES AND DIGITAL ACADEMIC KNOWLEDGE IN BULGARIA. NEED FOR DIGITAL COMPETENCE DEVELOPMENT IN LIS EDUCATION
Ass. Prof. Krassimira Anguelova
Sofia University, Faculty of Philosophy,
Department of Library and Information Sciences and Cultural Policy
Workshop Parma, October 2005

2. Overview Online archiving systems in Bulgarian Universities
Problems connected with the digitalization of academic knowledge in Bulgaria
Development of homogeneous infrastructure for electronic access to academic information. National standardisation and unification
LIS Education in Bulgaria and development of “digital competencies” for graduates and working professionals.

3. Developing of contemporary online archiving systems in Bulgarian Universities
Sofia University : ARCADE (Architecture for Reusable Courseware Authoring and Delivery) system
Medical University – Sofia : Flexible Problem-solving oriented Web based e-learning system
University of Plovdiv - PeU (
Technical University – Rousse. A Virtual Center „e-Learning Shell”

4. Development of homogeneous infrastructure for electronic access to academic information. National standardisation and unification
Creation of universal standards and national legislation
Virtual Chair in Computing – 2002
Virtual Faculty in Information and Communication Technologies
Establishment (by 37 Bulgarian universities) of the Bulgarian Virtual University (BVU) – Dec.2004
Virtual Euro-Faculty in computing to the GEANT pan-European data communications networks
Regional virtual universities
Creation of a high-speed information highway

5. Problems connected with the digitalization of academic knowledge in Bulgaria
Implementation of knowledge management practices (technological and human orientated)
at the level of the organization (its vision, management, culture and practices)
at an individual level
Insufficient quality and reach of the level of electronic publishing, of e-learning, e-teaching and e-archiving of the academic texts in universities

6. Problems … Lack/shortage of funds Rigid management.
Need for training all kinds of users of digital platforms and systems
Resistance of some of those users to the idea of being trained and taught

7. Problems…
digital archives or digital libraries related project initiatives in Bulgaria up until now have been started, initiated not by the libraries but outside them
Situation of divergence between libraries and digital libraries than convergence

8. Problems due to…
Lack of highly qualified, resp. expensive professionals
Need for professional development and cross-training
Need for increasing the number of knowledge management, IT and information-related courses offered in colleges and universities

9. Most of the problems are due to:
Librarians’ lack of knowledge about:
Global networked economy
Identifying and implementing technical solutions for digital archiving and preservation.
Modern software tools for creation and maintenance of databases
Development of e-services and e-management in libraries
Intellectual property rights and especially copyright issues regarding digital materials
Legal deposit of digital materials
Competition with commercial operators for digital archiving and preservation etc.

10. Need for forestalling Role of LIS Education
Characteristics of the status and evolution of Bulgarian LIS schools:
the depth and range of their programs (9 LIS schools)
the program perspective
“old fashioned” government requirements for certification of professional librarians

11. “State of the art” at LIS Education in Bulgaria
A slow shift towards competence oriented courses and practical skills mastering in:
A) selection of Internet resources, organization of Internet resources, interfacing Internet resources, adaptation to users and use of Internet resources.

12. “State of the art”… B) Internet navigation;
Internet information organization;
Internet information development;
Internet information consulting service.
C) copyright and intellectual property rights for electronic resources;
D) Web design;
E) Managing Electronic/Digital libraries;
F) Database management and processing;
G) Database design and development etc.

13. Continuous education and lifelong learning
University Center for continuous education for librarians and information professionals (UCCELIP)- established in 1999
internal workshops at libraries in the country for developing additional skills, different programs
professional current awareness program for Bulgarian librarians – Technology day

14. Conclusions
The development and maintenance of digital libraries, digital archives of knowledge or of digital platforms for e-research or e-learning are still isolated “pockets of excellence”
Libraries and librarians are not always involved in the process of development of academic knowledge digitalization projects due to lack of digital competencies and skills and no pro-active behavior and self confidence…

15. Our common task:
To take actions together to avoid the danger for libraries turn into “info-poor places in the info-rich world”!

16. Thank you for your attention!
You are welcome to contact me for more information or comment at: