Over 50% of the population, especially in rural areas, has no Internet access. Thus, for many citizens the economic and social benefits of Internet access are not available, such as e-government services, finding employment, health information, online banking and business administration or communication with relatives abroad. Through the program, over 2,000 public libraries in Romania will receive computers for public access to the Internet through a competitive selection process and more than 3,000 librarians will participate in training courses to help them use the full potential of new technological resources for community benefit.

The National Association of Public Libraries and Librarians (ANBPR) was founded in 1990 to provide professional direction for libraries and the library profession in Romania. The ANBPR has over 3,000 individual members and library chapters in nearly all of Romania’s counties.  The ANBPR has taken the lead in representing Romanian librarians’ interests on a national level, conducting training in new areas, publishing professional development materials and advocating for changes in national policy.

ANBPR’s general objectives are:

• To protect and promote the social status and prestige of the librarian profession;
• To elaborate public policy strategies, projects and programs in the cultural, educational and informational areas;
• To create an infrastructure for communication meant to ensure the free circulation of information and ideas at the professional community level, as well as for library users;
• To facilitate an active and effective exchange of professional expertise, opinions and information between the Association’s members at the national and international level;
• To establish issue related working-groups dedicated to work on different services and library projects;
• To stimulate the research on library and information science;
• To promote the new library management norms, criteria and techniques;
• To promote professional development training programs in library and information science and related areas;
• To provide professional competences and specializations accredited;
• To assess users’ needs and develop public policies on library services related issues;
• To participate in the professional evaluation of the public libraries personnel
• To participate in the development, planning, amending and coherence assurance of the specific legislation, as initiator or partner;
• To initiate and participate in the evaluation and accreditation of the libraries and library science institutions;
• To be an active partner in the process of curriculum accreditation for library-related professions.

EOS provides training services for 82 librarians through the professional training program for the occupation of Trainer, accredited by the National Council for Adult Education that will help librarians to introduce and develop innovation in the public library system Romania and computer training courses for 1,500 librarians, so as to offer guidance for library users in the use of new technologies.

Following a partnership between Biblionet and Intuitext, the leader on the Romanian modern educational products market, the company has made a donation of 4,500 educational packets to the libraries included in the program. This is the most significant contribution of a private company in Romania for the modernization of the public library system. Therefore, hundreds of thousands of children, especially from rural areas, will be able to prepare for school in good conditions, like their colleagues in the cities. Each packet contains 19 computer lessons for 5 school subjects, covering all the school curriculum from first grade to high school. The packets are installed on two computers in each library.

There are currently nearly 3,000 public libraries in Romania serving a population of more than 21 million, though fewer than 10% currently have public access internet computers.

The National Association of Public Libraries and Librarians from Romania (ANBPR) is the largest professional organization in the area. ANBPR’s aim is to associate the persons and organizations that by profession, responsibilities and interests are involved or are actively supporting the librarian profession, library development and library, information and documentation science.

EOS – Education for an Open Society is a non-governmental organization whose mission is to alleviate the digital discrepancies by providing opportunities to all community members in order to acquire skills and abilities for using new technologies.

Intuitext is the educational software company of Softwin Group and one of the most innovative international computer lessons producer. The electronic educational products developed by Intuitext are adapted to the learning requirements of the new student generation, converting abstract notions and theoretical information into attractive multimedia content.

IREX is an international nonprofit organization providing leadership and innovative programs to improve the quality of education, strengthen independent media, and foster pluralistic civil society development. Founded in 1968, IREX works in more than 50 countries with a staff of over 500 professionals worldwide. IREX has received funding to implement Biblionet in Romania from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The foundation’s Global Libraries initiative is working to open the world of knowledge, information, and opportunity to many more people. Part of the Global Development Program, Global Libraries works with select countries that demonstrate a need and a readiness to help public libraries provide free access to computers and the Internet, and training on how to make full use of these tools. The initiative is helping transform public libraries into vital resources that can help improve the lives of millions of people.

Microsoft Corporation is donating software worth approximately 15 million dollars to the libraries included in the program, as part of the global initiative to endow communities with accessible and useful technology.