Libraries in Moldova: The Road to Renewal in Hard Economic Times

The transition from a communist to a democratic society has affected the entire social map of Moldova, including the library network. For over two and a half decades, Moldovan libraries have undergone major changes and reforms: from closed-to open-access stacks; from ideological institutions serving political platforms to public squares in support of democracy; from repositories of propaganda books to information centers serving the information needs of the communities they serve. This paper examines the changes in, and challenges faced by, Moldova's libraries from 1991, the year that marks the country's independence, to the present. Various projects— government-sponsored or assisted by international organizations, such as the Open Society Institute and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation—are featured.