"Aloo!" - probably the whole of Bulgaria recognized immediately who was talking after hearing this specific telephone greeting, uttered with a soft “l” and ending in a question. This is how Sneja Ianeva started her calls followed by a specific question, or a request, or a proposal - for a library, of course. I'm not sure when and how we first met - introduced by Mihail Boyadzhiev, our mutual colleague (he and her - at the embassy and me and him – at the foundation), but it was probably to help a donation reach a library. Computers for Ruse, an exhibition in Sofia ... the occasion was probably something like that. She immediately won me over with her focus on finding a solution. Problems - a lot, so it is the solutions that are really valuable. Snejana Ianeva did what she could to find solution to what she could in her reach. Much later, I realized how many solutions she had found, and what the scope of her work was.

SNEJANA IANEVA
March 8, 1952 – December 26, 2019

Published by the EPOCH Program of Orange County Library System, Florida, USA

One of the most significant achievements of Snejana Ianeva is the participation of Bulgarian libraries in the American Corners Program, which began more than 15 years ago at the initiative of the US State Department. As Director of the Information Resource Center (IRC) at the US Embassy in Sofia and a former librarian who never stopped thinking about libraries, Snejana immediately embraced the idea. Bulgaria is one of the 60 countries participating in this project. In 2004, Bulgaria’s first American Corner was established at the “Pencho Slaveykov” Regional Library in Varna, soon followed by the American centers at the University of Veliko Tarnovo “St. St. Cyril and Methodius” and the Sofia City Library. At the beginning of 2015, the American Corner in Plovdiv at the “Ivan Vazov” National Library in Plovdiv also opened its doors.

We are shocked by the sad news about Snejana Ianeva’s passing. She was one of the indisputable pillars of the Bulgarian library community. Her entire life was devoted to the cause about raising the level of the Bulgarian librarianship by becoming well acquainted with the good American practices, their studying and adapting to the local level.

With deep sorrow we understood the news about the untimely death of Snejana Ianeva. All librarians have lost a reputable colleague, the leader of the Bulgarian Library and Information Association.