Mosaiko

$1,000,000 to the Veria Central Public Library

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The Veria Central Public Library was awarded with the “Access to Education” award by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, for creative use of services of information and technology to satisfy economic, educational and cultural needs. The award was accompanied by $1 million. The Library’s President, Mr. Ioannis Trochopoulos met with us and discussed this distinction as well as the innovative work that’s been done at the library.

This year, and for the first time in the Gates Foundation, a Greek library is being awarded; The Veria Central Public Library. This is a huge distinction. What exactly does this award represent?

This award represents, as the program’s director Ms. Jacobs said, the dynamic of creativity and ingenuity in the new era. This is how a small library, from a small city, from a small country, manages to win huge foundations is a great contest, only by being innovative and creative.

What is the role of the Veria Central Public Library in the local community and especially with the youth?

The role of the Veria Central Public Library from the beginning of the 90s, has been to develop a strategic growth plan, an action plan, tied to the needs of the local community as these change and shape differently every time, and also in accordance to the new state of things it has managed to become a source of creative expression, innovation, education and amusement.

Which services are provided by the library?

The Veria Central Library offers a wide range of services starting from the traditional ones such as borrowing print and audiovisual material, offering information to the public on issues of interest and reaching to other services, slightly different to what other Greek libraries offer, such as a systematic entry to courses in new technologies, free for the audience, a space for activities, creative expression and innovation for kids and teenagers, free use of PCs and Internet, WiFi connections, mobile libraries for remote areas. It also offers more advanced services such as the possibility to create digital videos with the use of free software and hardware offered by the library. It is a mixture of services which always keep in mind that they need to be able to respond to the needs of the local society, but also to create, experiment with new services that we hope that the audience will have a positive response.

The Veria Central Public Library was the first to cooperate with the US Embassy Cultural Office in the American Corners Program. Can you tell us a few words about this specific corner and your plans for that?

The American Corner is part of this wider idea of offering quality services to our fellow countrymen. So, we had the opportunity by creating this American Corner, with the American Embassy in Athens, to build a nice collection of English books related to US history, arts, culture and sciences. We are also able to offer specific and solutions to various issues regarding the States, and we have turned the Corner to a meeting point for those who cannot travel to Athens or other big cities, while at the same time by inviting guests at various receptions we give the opportunity to the younger ones as well as the older ones to promote the creativity. For us the award also gives us the opportunity to move forward with the American Corner and offer better services to our fellow countrymen.

For more information on the Gates Foundation and the award please visit: http://www.gatesfoundation.org