On December 18 this year, the State Agency on Intellectual Property (AGEPI) organized the meeting summarizing the results of the Campaign on Information and Training of Librarians in the Republic in the Field of Intellectual Property, conducted during the year 2014.

The event was attended by directors and representatives of the district public libraries participating in the Campaign, Campaign partners: Ministry of Culture, AO IREX Moldova (NOVATECA Program) and Association of Librarians of the Republic of Moldova, and AGEPI specialists.

The meeting was moderated by Mrs. Lilia Bolocan, Director General of AGEPI, who in the word of greeting to the participants, thanked the partners and librarians to support the campaign promoted by AGEPI, appreciating the established fruitful collaboration with libraries in the republic over the years in promoting information in the field of intellectual property “The field pf intellectual property protection is very complex and requires joint efforts of several institutions, organizations, including libraries, in raising the level of society awareness with reference to the role of intellectual property in the economic, cultural and spiritual development of the country. A significant contribution belongs to librarians, especially those from villages, in informing the younger generation about the risks of using counterfeit and pirated products for health, the negative role of plagiarism for personality development etc., and the need for enforcement of intellectual property rights. The Campaign conducted by AGEPI aimed to familiarize librarians with the national intellectual property protection system, the sources of information in this area, fairly and accessibly promoting the information in this area among communities”, said Director General of AGEPI.

Present at the meeting, Mr. Igor Mironiuc, manager of AO IREX Moldova, Mrs. Ecaterina Rudacov, representative of the Ministry of Culture and Mrs. Mariana Harjevschi, President of the Association of Librarians of the Republic of Moldova, Director General of the Chisinau Municipal Library “B. P. Hasdeu”, noted and highly appreciated the results of the campaign on information and training of librarians conducted by AGEPI, given the importance of libraries in local community development, librarians being open to assimilate information in this area and develop new services for the benefit of society.

A more comprehensive information about the Campaign on Information and Training of Librarians in the Republic in the Field of Intellectual Property and the achieved results, was presented by Mrs. Maria Rojnevschi, Director of the Promotion and Publishing Department of AGEPI ().

Mrs. M. Rojnevschi has emphasized that said Campaign is as a first stage of implementation of the Project on creation and development of regional Information Centers/Points in the field of intellectual property, developed by AGEPI in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture, AO IREX Moldova (NOVATECA Program) and the Association of Librarians of the Republic of Moldova, in order to promote and disseminate information in the field of intellectual property in the territory through public libraries and to facilitate applicants and civil society access to information tools in the field of intellectual property, which will result in increasing the level of society awareness and culture in the field of IP.

The creation of these information centers/points is also provided in the Action Plan for 2012-2014 on implementation of the National Intellectual Property Strategy until 2020, approved by Government Decision 880 of 11.22.2012.

In order to achieve the goal, in the framework of the project were established the following main objectives:

• Increasing the role of libraries as information access point in the field of IP;
• Training of librarians in the field of intellectual property, including on the sources of information in the field of IP;
• Providing libraries with information materials on the national system of protection and enforcement of IP rights;
• Providing online access to digital information sources in the field of IP;
• Development of information promotion and consultancy services in the field of IP.

The Project on creation and development of regional Information Centers/Points in the field of intellectual property was promoted among librarians in the Republic at the Conference to launch the National NOVATECA Program for the next 5 years, which took place on 27 March 2014, in which AGEPI participated with an information stand, in which distributed to librarians various information materials in the field of intellectual property.

For 2014 AGEPI has proposed to achieve two of the five objectives of the project, namely: training of librarians in the field of intellectual property and providing libraries with information materials on the national system of protection and enforcement of IP rights.

Thus, the Campaign on information and training of librarians in the republic in the field of intellectual property was launched in April this year. The first seminar was organized on 23 April in the town of Leova. There followed, throughout the year, seminars at other 15 district public libraries of the republic (Calarasi, Orhei, Soroca, Ungheni, Causeni, Hancesti, Balti, Cahul, Nisporeni, Sangerei, Floresti, Telenesti, Drochia, Soldanesti, Comrat) being trained 661 librarians. Each librarian participant in the campaign received various information and promotional materials in the IP field (books, booklets from the series “Library of IP”, leaflets), being distributed on the whole - 8632 copies. Participants in the seminar were awarded Certificates of participation and training in the field of IP.

Librarians present at the event emphasized the importance of conducting such projects, which encourages them to explore new technologies and services implemented in libraries. Also, librarians requested the organization of seminars, practical lessons for librarians from rural lyceums and schools having as theme the importance of copyright and related rights in the context of the book fund digitization.

We should mentioned that in order to ensure a continuity of the campaign on information and training of librarians and providing assistance in the creation of information centers/points in the field of IP within libraries, AGEPI has signed cooperation agreements with 14 public libraries participating in the Project.

Since 2015, it will run the second stage of the Project, in which AGEPI will assist the concerned district public libraries, which have the necessary capacities (available space and access to Internet), in the creation of information centers/points in the field of intellectual property, through which information will be disseminated to different categories of users (pupils, students, economic agents, etc.), will provide online access to information sources in this field and in the development of consulting services in the field of IP. Also, in 2015, AGEPI sets itself as an object the training in intellectual property of librarians-trainers, trained in the NOVATECA Program and other librarians from public libraries who will show interest in this field.

Implementation of the reform in the library system through transformation of libraries into info-documentation centers, including in the field of intellectual property is also an objective of the Culture Development Strategy “Culture – 2020”.