Houses of Books

Bulgarian libraries have been given a new lease on life through an internationally sponsored project. by Jan Buruma 23 February 2006 Bulgarian libraries have always been much more than just a storage for books. But that public libraries are vibrant today, following a dip in popularity after the 1989 demise of the communist state, is mainly thanks to a project called Chitalishta, or “reading houses,” initiated by the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture and the UN in 1997.

Indeed, Chitalishta brought libraries back into the mainstream of society.

Bulgarian libraries had been an important transmitter of national culture since medieval times. Especially during the centuries of Ottoman rule, they kept a tradition going that, following independence in 1878, provided building blocks for the newly created state as its elites endeavored to construct a unified national identity.

Under the communists, libraries became vehicles for a different sort of political propaganda, and when democracy came in 1989, many Bulgarians had decidedly mixed feelings toward them. On the one hand, libraries were cherished as the bearers of traditional Bulgarian culture; on the other, distrusted as tools of a hated regime.

In 1997, the UN Development Program (UNDP) thought the time had come to change that latter perception. “In 1997, we decided that the bad situation had taken its course,” Krassimir Benevski said. Benevski was then the project officer with the UNDP responsible for the project. “Libraries were funded by local authorities, and they had very limited cultural budgets. They had to be modernized drastically; otherwise, they would not survive the new times.”

The UNDP took up the challenge and developed, together with the Ministry of Culture, a major project that came to be known as Chitalishta. A Dutch government program and the U.S. Agency for International Development cofinanced the project, initially with $500,000 for a three-year period.

The timing seemed perfect as Bulgaria was undergoing its own belated “Velvet Revolution.” Zhan Videnov’s Bulgarian Socialist Party, the successor to the Communist Party, was forced from power amid public unrest in February 1997. Early elections in May gave Ivan Kostov’s liberal Union of Democratic Forces a decisive victory. The new government sought deeper integration with the West.

But Chitalishta’s start wasn’t easy, according to project leader Emilia Lissichkova. “People were sticking to old habits,” she said. “They had been working in the same way for decades. It was quite clear that our project would set their world upside down.”

But the initial skepticism was soon overcome. The UNDP set up a project unit at the Ministry of Culture, whose first task was to select around 40 libraries out of a total of 4,000, mostly in small towns, to avoid unfair competition with other cultural institutions. Each participating library worked on a distinct one-year project that was based on its own tradition and possibilities as well as regional and local conditions.

INTERNET AND TOURISM

In Svishtov, a port town on the Danube, the library wanted to bring modern means of communication to the local population. Project leader Lissichkova explained that the library already had an ongoing communications technology program and that an Internet club was seen as the most appropriate way to achieve the project’s aim. “We decided to work together with the local university’s economic department,” she said. Students from the department built a website for the library.

“One of Chitalishta’s goals is to get rid of the picture of the library as a stand-alone institute,” Lissichkova said.

With the Internet, the whole wide world came to Svishtov for the first time. Says Benevski, “That is nowadays normal, but in 1997 it meant that the town opened itself to the world and became part of it.”

The project also helped stimulate entrepreneurship. Doctors and engineers used the Internet to look for medical or technical information, while lawyers got up to date on the most recent legal texts. The library organized computer courses in which around 600 people took part. The unemployed looked for new jobs on the Internet. Altogether, four news jobs were created at the library. The people of Svishtov were enthusiastic about the project – and about the library.

The town of Koprivshtitsa, famous for its folk-music festival and with excellent tourist potential, saw similar results. Its project, called “Koprivshtitsa-21st Century,” focused on traditional arts and crafts as well as on tourism, and included opening a tourist office at the library that didn’t just provide information about sight-seeing to tourists but also administrative services to local residents. The library worked together with the city council on a promotional campaign for Bulgarian and foreign tourists. The project created six jobs at the library, helped it get its funding in order, and generated good contacts with local institutions and businesses. All of this has made the library a place that residents like to visit.

In Sliven, in foothills of the Balkan Mountains, the project took a social direction by providing services to Roma. As in all Balkan countries, Bulgaria’s Roma face serious discrimination as well as everyday difficulties in accessing public services, including education. But there was a growing recognition that Bulgaria would not be able to enter the EU unless it resolutely tackles casual as well as systemic discrimination, and the project in Sliven is an example of a local remedy put into action.

In coordination with Roma leaders, Chitalishta set up an education center and a counter for administrative services. Roma children were taught basic skills, like reading and writing, and Bulgarian and Roma culture. They were also assisted in preparations to continue their studies: the center helped them buy books and organized training sessions toward exams. Performing arts were also part of the curriculum.

In the administrative center, staff helped Roma adults in practical matters such as filling in official forms and documents, and with literacy, in close cooperation with the local authorities.

A GOOD INVESTMENT

The pilot projects were very successful. Chitalishta’s Lissichkova says, “Our approach worked. People started to respect us. Most were initially rather skeptical, but [then] acknowledged the good work.”

Chitalishta showed that libraries had a greater function in society if they were brought closer to the people and their daily needs. But seeking dialog and cooperation with local authorities and other cultural organizations was important, too. “The most important, however, is that we took Bulgarian libraries back to the heart of society,” says the UNDP’s Benevski.

The pilot projects were expanded into new areas, and today the project runs 25 Internet centers, six regional centers with coordinators, and a monthly information bulletin in Bulgarian and English.

The second project stage, which lasted from 2001 to 2004, got underway with a budget of about $2.5 million. Officially it was titled “Civil development and participation by means of a chain of libraries,” but the working name Chitalishta endured since it had proven so successful.

The cofinancers were happy as well. An official from the Dutch Embassy in Sofia, Bert van Geel, had high praise for the project, “We have financed many projects in Central and Eastern Europe after 1993 to support civil society. Chitalishta is certainly one of our very best investments.”

For the second stage, around 400 libraries were selected but the basic approach remained the same.

Information centers similar to the one in Koprivshtitsa were opened in several towns dealing with issues important to, for example, young people, the unemployed, or people with disabilities. Tourist projects were successfully set up in towns such as Zheravna and Kazanluk.

But the second stage also ran into difficulties. “We were the victim of our own success,” said project leader Lissichkova. “We had so many project applications that we had to be very strict in the selection.” In fact, Chitalishta didn’t simply select projects for financing but closely followed them from selection through final evaluation. And representatives from the national office would meet with the project leaders to monitor progress.

Bulgarians are not said to be known for their strict scheduling, but the UNDP’s Beneveksi was positively surprised at the eagerness of his local counterparts. Referring to keeping a tight schedule, he told TOL, “that is probably one of the most positive things about Chitalishta – it has proven that Bulgarians can do so. Of course, the foreign financing and schedules were very helpful, but in the end our people did it themselves.”

In 2004, the project was changed into a foundation. Financing now comes from various sources, such as the European Cultural Foundation and UNESCO, and the foundation assists as a conduit for project applications by libraries and for funding by donors.