European Integration: Are Romanian Libraries Ready?

Abstract

Romania is scheduled to join the European Union in January 2007. This paper examines Romanian libraries' readiness for integration into the Western European library network from various perspectives: collections, services, library science education, infrastructure, staffing, and professional engagement. Since the demise of the Communist regime in December 1989 Romanian libraries have been striving to overcome the Communist legacy, which consists of poor infrastructure, dated collections, restricted access to information, lack of modern equipment, and inadequate information and communication technologies. During the fifteen-year post-Communist period some progress has been made. However, Romanian libraries and their services, along with Romanian library and information science education, are lagging behind their counterparts in Western Europe. More commitment on behalf of the bodies that oversee libraries and adequate budgets from the funding agencies would lead to improvements on the library scene in Romania and would contribute to the attenuation of the East-West divide, preparing libraries in this country to operate according to Western European standards.