Library Network Support Services: modernizing libraries in Armenia, Moldova and Belarus through library staff development and reforming libraries (LNSS)

Program website: https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/node_en

Project website: https://lnss-projects.eu/amb/

Project status: finished.

Project partners: 

• Academy of Public Administration of the Republic of Armenia - project coordinator;

• Limerick Institute of Technology, Limerick, Ireland;

• University of Crete, Rethymnon, Greece;

• Pyramid Group, Ulm, Federal Republic of Germany;

• University of Transylvania, Brasov, Romania;

• Goris State University, Armenia;

• Yerevan State University of Languages and Social Sciences named after V.Ya. Brusov, Yerevan, Armenia;

• Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Moldova, Chisinau, Moldova;

• Balti State University, Balti, Moldova;

• Consortium of Digital Libraries of Armenia;

• Consortium of Libraries of Moldova;

• Belarusian State University;

• Academy of Management under the President of the Republic of Belarus;

• Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno;

• Brest State Technical University;

• National Library of Belarus (associate partner).

Overall budget: 57464.0 EUR

YKSUG budget: 7600.0 EUR

Duration: 36 months

The wider objective of the project was to: 

• Reinforce & modernize libraries & improve the level of competencies and skills of library staff in HEI’s in Armenia, Moldova and Belarus by developing innovative libraries as a support to education and lifelong learning;

• Develop a library staff development strategy focused on improving standards &  quality of library performance in Armenia, Moldova & Belarus so as to improve the quality of library services & higher education generally, enhancing their relevance for the labour market and society;

• Enhance the management, governance, innovation capacities & accessibility of libraries in Armenia, Moldova & Belarus through strategic planning and policy development;

• Establish & maintain an Eastern Partnership Library Network Support Services (LNSS) Network for the future dissemination, sustainability & exploitation of project results both nationally &  in the Eastern Partnership Region for the sharing of knowledge, experience, training and expertise in the Region.

The specific objectives of the project are:

• Implement English for Specific Purposes (Libraries & library terminology) training for all target groups;

• Undertake in depth training needs detection and assessment with competency mapping;

• Implement an innovative Train the Trainers programme as part of an LNSS Curriculum  incorporating a suite of quality, relevant & modern library staff development modules addressing the most urgent training needs of 21st century librarians and library staff in the Information Age;    

• Develop and implement Information Literacy & Research Skills training programmes in libraries to help learners  identify, locate, evaluate, and effectively and ethically use information in their daily lives for lifelong learning and the Knowledge Economy;

• Carry out Library Training Seminars & Workshops involving all Stakeholders  for exchange of experience to improve the competencies & skills of Librarians;

• Develop a Consortium Strategic Plan for the effective future development of libraries in Armenia, Moldova and Belarus -for each partner organisation in the project;

• To implement the Consortium Strategic Plan during the lifetime of the project to ensure sustainability of project results;

• Conduct a needs analysis regarding Electronic Library Services & develop and implement a Digital and Electronic Strategy for the enhancement of Electronic Library services;

• Explore the development & introduction of innovative  library services – particularly online services;

• Develop initiatives to ensure access to & democratization of libraries for people with disabilities;

•To create a printed handbook of HR materials with the results of the training & the Library standardized processes;

• Develop a Framework for a Library Collection Development Policy to meet the needs of academic staff and students in each Institute/University in the project.

The Project results are:

• Purchased modern machinery and equipment for the library;
• Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno took part in organizing and conducting the National Days of Informing on the Activities of Libraries (Minsk-2017, Brest - 2018).

• Director of the Scientific Library of YKSUG N. Grinko - project coordinator, Head of international project activities department E. Knor and Deputy Head of the Department - Head of the Project Development Sector I. Antonova took part in the kick-off meeting on the LNSS project, which was held on March 7-10, 2016 in Brasov (Romania). The meeting specified the most important tasks and activities of the project. In addition, the partners got acquainted with the requirements for the preparation of supporting documents and reports on the implementation of LNSS, the peculiarities of the financial management of the project, the experience of the initiation and implementation of projects in partner universities of the consortium.
• On May 12-13, 2016, a seminar and training "English for special purposes" for employees of the university’s Scientific Library was held on the basis of Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno. The seminar and training was conducted by European partners - Angela Repanovici, professor at the University of Transylvania in Brasov (Romania) and Manolis Kukorakis, director of the library of the University of Crete (Greece).
• From August 21 to September 3, 2016, the Head of the department of library information technologies Pogorelaya O., the librarian of the department of library information technologies Kuradovnts M. took part in a series of trainings for library workers, which took place at the Limerick Institute of Technology (Ireland). The purpose of the trainings was to study the experience of information services user, to get acquainted with the modern areas of computerization of university libraries. November 21-23, 2016 2 employees of the Limerick Institute of Technology took part in a pilot training on module No. 6 “Electronic Library” as part of the LNSS project. The training was attended by employees of the Scientific Library of Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno, as well as employees of the libraries of universities in Grodno (25 participants).
• March 1-3, 2017 оn the basis of the Technical University of Dresden (Germany), a working meeting of project partners was held, which was attended by the director of the Scientific Library, project coordinator N. Grinko and the Head of the international project activity department, project manager E. Knor. During the meeting, partners from Belarus, Armenia, Moldova, Ireland, Romania, Germany and Greece analyzed the results of the first year of the LNSS project, provided financial statements, discussed the training modules developed by universities and the results of pilot trainings to improve the skills of library staff. Particular attention was paid to the National Library Day, which was scheduled for May 19 in Minsk at the Belarusian State University.

• From December 5, 2017 to January 30, 2018, classes on module 4 “Information Literacy and Research Skills” were held on the basis of the Scientific Library of Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno. The module was developed by the library staff as part of the LNSS project and included 8 lessons on the following topics: “The use of metric systems” (what are metric systems; the difference between scientometrics and bibliometrics; what is webometrics and altmetrics; the main indicators in scientometrics / bibliometrics); “Electronic catalogs and search strategy” (types of catalogs, access to information, search and retrieval of information, principles of operation of electronic catalogs of large libraries of the world); “Electronic database of libraries” (using databases (databases) of electronic libraries for research; principles of building and generating databases; indexing in databases; open access databases, history of its formation and development, popular open access database platforms) “Copyright for libraries” (what is copyright, specificity of copyright in the Republic of Belarus, plagiarism and anti-plagiarism); “Creation and use of questionnaires in the study” (quantitative and qualitative research methods, what is a survey, questionnaire, questionnaire; types of questions, as well as typical errors in the preparation of questionnaires; online services with which you can create questionnaires). Representatives of the Pyramid Group Valery Racheyev and Margaret Chauffer from Germany, who came to Belarus to monitor classes on modules that were held by Belarusian partner universities of the project, made a working visit to Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno. At the end of classes, participants were awarded certificates.