With love and gratitude to Snejana Ianeva

Miroslava Katsarova – town of Razgrad

Anything we remember today, everything we tell with love and gratitude about Snejana Ianeva, are only words and they won’t be enough to express her freedom-loving spirit, her apostolic self-sacrifice, her constant great desire for innovations in the library information work in our country for so many years.

Thanks toto her responsibility, experience, knowledge and skills to communicate on different levels with national and local leaders and politicians, with diplomats and library specialists, our Bulgarian library guild received acknowledgement and support on national, regional and local level, as well as in many foreign countries. 

The two big international projects in which Bulgaria participated under her leadership - ABLE and Global Libraries Bulgaria – contributed to considerable changes in the public libraries in our country – better material support, more funding for the libraries, contemporary technical equipment with computers, multimedia and screens, multifunctional devices, and Internet access. Last, but not least was the well-rounded training of the library specialists for their work in the new conditions, with contemporary techniques, information technologies and offering of various services to the local communities in towns and villages. Specializations and visits of our librarians to the USA, establishing of partnerships with American libraries and exchanges of experience, participation in the traditional annual conferences of ALA in America, visits to the scientific conferences in the town of Maribor in Slovenia, participation in the Congresses of IFLA in different countries. All these activities and a lot of other important events in the library-information sphere are to a great extent due to Snejana Ianeva – restless, fighting, enterprising  and greatly loving her work, which to her was a life- long mission.

Thank you for your example, which you showed us, for the successes which we achieved together during the years; with the Bulgarian Library and Information Association, where you stood in the lead as its President, Sneji!  It’s hard for me to count our numerous, joint meetings and conversations during the 10 years of our acquaintance when I was the Director of the Regional Library “ Prof. Boyan Penev” in the town of Razgrad; meetings which I remember with sincere love, satisfaction and gratitude.

Today, when you are not among us, but your steadfast spirit, devotion, modesty, kindness and gentleness continue to accompany our sweet memories of you. It is difficult to accept that you are no longer on our planet, but the apostolic example, which you left to us and your professional expertise are worthy example for Bulgarian librarians to follow today and tomorrow. We are grateful and thankful for all you accomplished in the sphere of Bulgarian library-information activities. We love you, Sneji, we will follow you as a role model in life and professionally, a real contemporary leader. 

May your memory live forever!

Rest in peace, dear Sneja!