Abstract

Traditionally libraries, including and perhaps especially Bulgarian ones, are very conservative institutions. Libraries indeed have many reasons to be conservative, but this does not mean that they have been inactive. They have to find the proper modus operandi in order to act appropriately, responsibly, and for the greater good of society. Through funds, grants, and projects, Bulgarian libraries have began recovering. This is not to say, however, that they do not have more work ahead of them. The National Academic Library and Information System (NALIS) and the American Bulgarian Library Exchange (ABLE) projects helped pull libraries in Bulgaria out of the ashes and brought them into the twenty-first century. The aim of this paper is to briefly trace the development of Bulgarian libraries over the course of the last twenty-five years. Throughout this period, there were two decisive factors influencing library development: the rapid expansion of information technologies, and, at the same time, the acute social and economic crisis besetting the country that impeded its modernization of library science.

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