Topics & Events

On February 23rd, 2022, the event for the launching of the National Digitalization Center within the National Library of the Republic of Moldova, created with the support of JICA under Cultural Grant Aid Project "The Project for improvement of the digital equipment within National Library of the Republic of Moldova" took place in Chisinau.

The speakers at the event were H.E. Yoshihiro Katayama, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to the Republic of Moldova, Mr. Sergiu Prodan, Minister of Culture of the Republic of Moldova, Ms. Elena Pintilei, Director of the National Library of the Republic of Moldova, Mr. Igor Sarov, rector of the State University in Moldova, and others. The event included a visit to the National Digitalization Center, the opening of the exposition event "Japan - from our library", and visits to the Japanese style floral arrangements exhibition.

At the ceremony, Mr. Sergiu Prodan, Minister of Culture said that the task of generations is to preserve and enhance the cultural heritage. "Our duty is to put this equipment at the service of heritage, to digitize the collections so that researchers over the years have access to information and understand how we lived and what the reality was in our time," the official added.

Iurie Țurcanu, Deputy Prime Minister for Digitization, considers it absolutely important that the publications held by the National Library to be digitized, passed through "technology in virtual eternity", so that everyone has access to them. He, also, expressed his deep gratitude to the government and the people of Japan for its effort to equip the Library with this modern equipment.

H.E. Yoshihiro Katayama, Ambassador of Japan mentioned that since the first years of independence of the Republic of Moldova, the Government of Japan has been providing development assistance to the country in different sectors such as agriculture, healthcare and social infrastructure development. At the end of June 2020, the official document of the project, that generated today's event, was signed. The ambassador expressed his conviction that the new Center, whose activity begins on Japan's National Day, will provide much-desired cultural and heritage resources for teachers, researchers, youth and children.

The total amount of the Cultural Grant Aid is JPY43,700,000. High-performance digitization equipment was purchased under the project: 4 scanners (one automatic, two semi-automatic and one for microfilm/microfiche) for the process of digitalization of various formats publications; 2 PCs for the scanners and 3 workstations; a server for the long-term storage and preservation of scanned publications and the specifications needed to ensure long-term functionality. The project included the supply and installation of equipment as well as staff training.

The Grant Project is the first project with JICA ever implemented by the National Library in Moldova and is intended to ensure the continuity of the development and dissemination of the digitalized content of the cultural heritage of the Republic of Moldova. The digital copies created will be kept in electronic format, thus protecting the content of the national heritage from loss, facilitating accessibility but also ensuring access to cultural heritage in the interest of education, research, creation and recreation.

By creating the National Digitization Center, the National Library of the Republic of Moldova assumes an important role in digitizing the cultural heritage, thus contributing to the creation of the digital cultural identity of the Republic of Moldova in the virtual space.