Mrs. Krasimira Cholakova, director of the beneficiary pointed out that within the implementation of this project Regional History Museum of Gabrovo in partnership with the “Aprilov-Palauzov” Regional Library created two centres for digitization of the literary heritage of Gabrovo province. Virtual library with links to partner sites was build with a catalogue of objects and attached to them digital resources, with search ability and ability to display the exhibits over the Internet which will allow sharing written cultural and historical heritage over the global network. It was Implemented a maintenance of the funds of manuscripts and early printed books, then collections were moved to special archival cabinets. Personnel was trained with the necessary knowledge to conduct activities on digitization of objects of cultural value. As a result of inclusion of Roma population representatives in the project results promotion, Roma children were involved in the national culture with the aim of integration into the local community. According to the project manager Rosen Yosifov: “RHM – Gabrovo is the only beneficiary of the BG08 program, who created two centres for digitization. This will preserve the cultural heritage for future generations and will provide free and unlimited information access to the literary heritage of Bulgaria. Installed equipment allows for its efficient use in the long term, as the scope of digitized objects will be expanded to cover the collections of other cultural institutions.”.

The project management team leader Rosen Yosifov presented his implementation up to this date and the established digitization centres. Georgi Dimitrov of RHM – Gabrovo presented “Practical application of specialized equipment and software” for the “Contemporary approaches to research, presentation and access to the literary heritage of Gabrovo Province” project. Nicola Bazhlekov of “PrimaSoft” – Sofia acquainted the audience with the e-Lib developed by his company / i-Lib solution for digital museum/library and presentation of cultural heritage on the Internet. Ivan Postompirov of RHM – Gabrovo presented “Digitized literary cultural valuables” for the “Contemporary approaches to research, presentation and access to the literary heritage of Gabrovo Province” project in Regional Historical Museum of Gabrovo. Nina Ivanova and Sonya Stoyanova from “Aprilov-Palauzov” Regional Library presented a report entitled “Bibliographic description and digitization of literary cultural valuables in Aprilov – Palauzov Regional Library”. Plamen Stefanov of “Iskra” Historical Museum – Kazanlak shared his experience with the “Documenting and digitizing of Thracian tombs, burial complexes and movable cultural heritage of the Rose Valley and Thracian Kings” project.

After displaying a virtual exhibition, demonstrations and practical training were performed in the centres for digitization of cultural heritage in RHM – Gabrovo and “Aprilov-Palauzov” Regional Library – Gabrovo.

Presentations:

• Digitalizatsia_na_kulturnoto_nasledstvo.pptx
• Praktichesko_prilozhenie_na_tehnika_i_software.pptx
• Digitalizairani_knizhovni_kulturni_tsennosti.pptx
• Bibliografsko_opisanie_i_digitalizatsiya_na_knizhovni_kulturni_tsennosti.pptx

Within this activity, we worked for 10 days with 30 Roma children from second to fourth grade, with materials provided by Regional Historical Museum of Gabrovo. Consistently were carried out the following workshops: coloring books with theme “The beauty of Bulgarian Book”, copying capitals and making appliques, making paper bookmarks, “Write your name”, drawing letters on stone, making pencil holders, making paper model with the theme “Owl will fly to us and will give us wisdom”, aging paper, coloring illustrations on topics “Bulgarian alphabet” and “St. Cyril and St. Methodius”, handmade booklet.

On the last day of the workshops, the children received certificates and prizes like e-book readers and their works were displayed in a small exhibition.

As a result of the project activities implementation, the Roma children achieved their better integration into the local and national community.

After review of the physical condition of the books, the cleaning and the binding 550 old printed and Church Slavonic books and 20 manuscripts were moved in the new filing cabinets.