On April 11, the National Center ―Ukrainian House welcomed hundreds of librarians and government officials from across Ukraine to a Library Innovations and E-Governance Fair. The event was organized by IREX / Bibliomist Program jointly with the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Library Association, the Parliamentary Development Program II and the Public Affairs Section of the US Embassy.

Library Innovations and E-Governance Fair April 11, 2011 Agenda (April 5)

Bibliomist Innovation Fair Press Release_ENG

US Ambassador John Tefft, Director of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Global Libraries Project Deborah Jacobs, Head of the Committee on Culture and Spirituality of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Volodymyr Yavorivskiy opened the fair. Verkhovna Rada Deputy Speaker Mykola Tomenko participated in the closing ceremony.

The fair attracted up to 800 participants and guests. Representatives of 116 Ukrainian libraries attended the event. 75 local and national government officials and 200 guests representing other partner institutions and civil society organizations, including international delegations of librarians and Global Libraries staff from Poland, Romania, and Lithuania joined the national library professionals during the Fair. In addition, numerous library science students worked as volunteers to help the event run smoothly. (Information from "Biblionews", May 2011)

40 libraries from throughout Ukraine were exhibited and demonstrated their innovative services. MPs, Verkhovna Rada Staff, Ukrainian government, NGO and international specialists have been invited to serve as jurors to evaluate the innovations and their presentations in six categories

The following libraries won the ― Best Innovative Library Presentation contest:

Category 1. Library Innovation Projects Fostering Cultural Development

Winner: Mariupol Korolenko Central City Public Library (Donetsk oblast)

Project: City Literature Studies;

Category 2. Library Innovations in Tourism (on the National and Local Level)

Winner: Kherson Oles’ Honchar Oblast Universal Scientific Library

Project: Center of Ecological Information;

Category 3. Library Innovations Targeted at Supporting Vulnerable Populations

Winner: Lviv Oblast Library for Children

Project: Training and Therapy Center ―Kovcheg‖ (―Ark‖);

Category 4. Library Innovations Fostering Economic Development of the Region/Raion/Town and Strengthening Local Governance

Winner: Bar Raion Library (Vinnytsia oblast)

Project: Project Management Center (PMC) for Community Development;

Category 5. Innovative Educational Projects

Winner: Ternopil Oblast Library for Youth

Project: Web 2.0 for You;

Category 6. Innovative Library Projects Introducing and Implementing E-Resources

Winner: National Library of Ukraine for Children (Kyiv)

Project: Virtual Bibliographic Information: Joint Information Service of Ukrainian Libraries.

You can see the Bibliomist's "Biblionews" (On May 2011) about Innovation and E-Governance Fair April 11, 2011 here