Memories by Rositsa Petrova – Vasileva, Director of the Regional Library "Sava Dobroplodni" - Sliven
It is said that on All Souls Day the spirits of our relatives and friends visit us on earth, and we, the living, remember the good moments together, the good they did and their dreams and ideas that they passed on to us to follow.
Today, on All Souls Day, I return to my memories of Snejana Ianeva. For our good moments together, for the shared ideas, for the emotional meetings. I was not from her closest circle of friends, we did not meet often, but we talked often, as we participated in joint working groups and expert councils, we had similar views on important professional issues, we shared some different views, but she also accepted the arguments of objectors, which does not happen often in our community.
I have always been impressed by Snejana’s energy and enthusiasm, her persistence and tenacity, with which she embarked on endless “battles” to create the legal and regulatory basis for the normal functioning of libraries in Bulgaria, to attract funds for their modernization and automation of their core activities and offering new services to the community so that they are competitive in the new information age.
With her high erudition and professionalism, with her innovative ideas, for many years Snejana was the face of the library community in Bulgaria. Her contributions to the development of libraries in the country are many, but for me the most important thing is that she was dedicated and devoted to her cause without looking for personal benefits. It will be difficult to find another person to unite the guild around common goals – as strong and morally pure as Sneja.
Today, a little more than a year after the death of Snejana Ianeva, her smiling and spirited face is alive before my eyes. Her smile is sealed in two photos from the archives of the library from her visit to Sliven on November 29, 2012. The event is a Regional Forum on “Innovative practices to stimulate children’s reading”. Snejana presented the experience of American libraries to support children’s reading through the Earliy Literacy Station / ELS / program and donated to our library a computer and specialized software with the program modules, which is still used today and is a favourite place for our young readers studying English. I am sure that her spirit hovers in the computer rooms built under the program “Global Libraries” Bulgaria, that somewhere above she watches with a smile the programming lessons with robots Finch, enjoys each subsequent edition of the National Children’s Book Festival, which we celebrate every year with a lot of love and inspiration and with many initiatives.
Today I miss Snejana as a person with whom one can share ideas and plans, receive professional and friendly support, but I am also internally satisfied that I managed to show my respect for her and her efforts to fight and change our library system. At the XX National Children’s Book Festival (Sliven, May 8-10, 2018), on the occasion of the anniversary, Snejana was among the twenty people who were awarded a diploma and anniversary sculpture for the greatest contribution to the organization, conduct and promotion of the festival. I hope we have made her happy with this gesture of recognition.
Snejana Ianeva did a lot for the development of libraries in Bulgaria. Her huge contribution is yet to be recognized, celebrated and studied.
Today, on All Souls Day, I remembered Snejana again and the memories warmed my heart and charged me with new energy to follow the good ideas we shared. Peace to her soul!
Rositsa Petrova – Vasileva