On March 27, the Electronic Governance Centre participated in the event related to the launching of Novateca National Program. The project extending at the national level was rationalized and at the same time boosted by the success and knowledge acquired during the pilot period. 

During the two years of pilot program, 68 public libraries from 12 districts of the country were endowed with roughly 300 computers and peripheral equipment and more than 400 librarians were trained on computer use and developing new library services. 

The extending of the program at the national level represents an important step in achieving the main objective of digitising about 1000 libraries in the country of the 1380 existing ones, turning them into community centres and thus contributing to the harmonious development of a modern information society. 

During this event, the eGovenrment Centre participated in the debate session with the topic: the value of libraries for the community. The discussions focused on the libraries’ defining role in ensuring citizens’ free access to information technologies, implying electronic services. The agenda of the e-Government Transformation turns libraries into communication epicentres between Government and citizens, while libraries become regional access points to electronic public services. 

Moreover, the digitising of such a large number of libraries contributes to reducing the information gaps between localities, which boosts the achieving of the concepts of government accessibility and governance transparency.  

“Novateca” program was launched in May 2012 after the partnership memorandum was concluded between the Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications, the Ministry of Culture and Global Libraries Moldova with the aim to modernize libraries, to endow them with computers and to ensure free Internet access. The project is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.