October 1- 4, 2008 - These were the dates of the 9th International Conference of Librarians where the World Bank Public Information Centers (PIC), Regional and Depository Libraries from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan took part. This event helped participants to assess and compare current situation with libraries in different countries, share experience and plan for the future. World Bank was represented by EXT/PIC staff from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan Country Offices. Indian summer in Issyk-Kul welcomed participants of the conference with full variety of colors of trees, vastly blossoming fall roses, transparent air, calm lake and warming caressing sun.Indian summer in Issyk-Kul welcomed participants of the conference with full variety of colors of trees, vastly blossoming fall roses, transparent air, calm lake and warming caressing sun. The whole atmosphere was saying "This is a time to assess results, find out what was right and wrong, where are the missing ends, and surely think about future plans". So the timing for Central Asia PIC retreat arranged in line with the International Conference of Librarians was perfect. The conference brought together about 80 participants from different countries including Latvia, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan. Participants were from the variety of libraries - from small college one to the grand national library. Among them 14 people were from the all libraries that partner with the World Bank within the PIC and Depository/Regional Libraries Programs in Central Asia. Libraries presented in the conference also had different status - they were educational libraries, public ones, American corners, resource centers. In terms of funding they were different, too, - receiving public funding, fundraising ones or functioning on purely charity basis.
The conference this year was a ninth one in a row - almost a jubilee! That means that the comfortable and regular place for librarians to meet, share, speak up is in place! Participation in the conference of the Kyrgyzstan Parliament Deputy and Deputy Minister for Culture and Information attached significance for the event. If you go through the agenda of the conference you can find plenty in this very tight three days schedule: official reporting on the status of librarian affairs in Kyrgyzstan; their legal aspects; presentations on library's activities to stimulate research; new methods of storing resources and new sources of information; how to make user access easier; problems of specific libraries; innovative methods and many others. The main message of the conference was to make the environment "library sensitive" so that the public has a place to come for information, and not only, as libraries in this complex time became also a place for advice, consultations, sharing information and knowledge and even a place to meet friends.
"It was a rare chance for me to attend an international event of such scale. Thanks to the World Bank for combining the International Librarians Conference and the PICs retreat. I enjoyed the open-air sessions that provided learning in a more relaxed manner. My wish to everyone is to maintain our relations within our new network," shared Elena Degtyareva, Head of Department, National Library of Tajikistan (WB Depository), Dushanbe, Tajikistan. The World Bank was allotted the whole session in the first - main - day of the conference. The session was organized so to provide maximum information on the Bank, its information resources, public information services, approach to disseminate information and ways to cooperate with libraries. The representatives of the World Bank Depository, Regional Libraries and PICs from four Central Asia countries presented their experience and insight of the Bank-libraries cooperation. Quiz on the library and development issues stirred up the interest of participants during the session and Bank rewards created open atmosphere for discussions. "We started partnering with the World Bank in 2004 in the status of a regional library. We regularly receive key publications. Apart from that, we help World Bank representatives in organizing outreach events when they visit our city," said Gulshat Daribayeva, Deputy Director of the Regional Library of Eastern Kazakhstan oblast (WB Regional Library), Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan. "My library is grateful for organizing this retreat. During the last three days new ideas came to my mind. As a manager I started critically assessing our work in the library and this must give a new impulse to improve it. I very much enjoyed this networking opportunity and learning from colleagues. " "When we first started working with the World Bank as a depository I was skeptical about the future work. But then we started seeing everyday an increasing number of visitors and great interest in World Bank publications. We also jointly organize many events. These things, certainly, influence the prestige of our library and even our profession," said Roza Sultangazieva, Director of National Youth Library (WB PIC), Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. "I hope we will have more Regional Libraries in remote rural areas. I also thank the World Bank for its openness and transparency."
Central Asia PIC retreat was an integral part of the conference. World Bank partners (PICs, Regional and Depository Libraries) had several sessions assigned along with the conference. These were - taking stock of outside PICs' work, defining urgent issues, find common problems and solutions to them, sharing experience and innovative ideas. These sessions showed great interest to sharing experience and networking. The outcome of that was that several problems found their solutions during group work in a special session. Participants were also offered brief courses on making effective presentations and managing relations with clients. In the end they have expressed their appreciation of the interactive sessions which were conducted in professional and friendly manner, emphasizing transparency of the World Bank as an institution and made some wishes for future. Among those wishes are technical seminars for librarians, resolving the problem of local and Russian language publications and allocation of a budget for establishment and maintenance of Central Asia regional PIC web-site for depository, regional libraries and PICs. "Apart from being a good opportunity to meet and communicate with my colleagues from Central Asian countries and the World Bank, this retreat was an eye-opening event for me. It helped me understand my tasks better and see what has been done in a wrong way," said Rimma Muhtarova, Lead Specialist, Development Resource Center and Library (WB PIC), Tahskent, Uzbekistan.
"I appreciate this chance to build our capacity and to understand the problem areas of our work. We all are good professionals. However, we gained new skills during the sessions with psychologist. Learning presentation and conflict resolution skills is crucial for our work. We are much better librarians after this retreat," commented Gulnara Mukasheva, Director of Ton Library (WB Regional Library), Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan. "It was a great opportunity to get away from our routine and realize that there is still a lot to do for improving our work and services," shared Ludmila Kutsenko, Head of Department, Regional Library of Pavlodar oblast (WB Regional Library), Pavlodar, Kazakhstan. "I agree with all constructive ideas of my colleagues and invite everyone including the World Bank staff to cooperate much closer as a regional network for better results." |
