”Nicolae Testemitanu” University successfully coordinates, at the national level, the Interlibrary Partnership between North Carolina and the Republic of Moldova

From March 28 to April 7, 2025, Donna Flake, the American coordinator of the North Carolina (NC)-Republic of Moldova (RM) Interlibrary Partnership, accompanied by her husband Jerry Flake, was on a working visit to Chisinau. The visit program was organized by Nicolae Testemitanu State University of Medicine and Pharmacy of the Republic of Moldova – the national coordinating institution of the NC-RM Interlibrary Partnership, which also hosted the American delegation.

The visit began with a meeting of the American partners with Rector Emil Ceban, First Vice-Rector Olga Cernetchi, Vice-Rector for Teaching and Academic Management, Evelina Gherghelegiu, Head of the Department of External Relations and European Integration (DREIE), and Silvia Ciubrei, Head of the Department of Communication and Public Relations, Deputy Director of the Health Sciences Library (BSM), coordinator of the interlibrary partnership from the Republic of Moldova.

The Rector highlighted the achievements of the University in the last 5 years in several strategic areas of activity: teaching, research, digitalization, internationalization and institutional visibility. At the same time, the Rector mentioned that, in 2024, two rooms with free access to the shelf with 150 places for reading, three group study rooms and a room for preserving the special collection of rare and old medical books were opened at the University's Health Sciences Library.

Donna Flake spoke enthusiastically about her motivation to work with university librarians from the Republic of Moldova and mentioned that in May she planed to organize the first virtual tour of a university library in the city of Wilmington.

"We love Moldova, everything we have achieved we do out of passion and love for the country and the people here," said Donna Flake.

Silvia Ciubrei, coordinator of the national interlibrary partnership, mentioned that thanks to the cooperation between the Health Sciences Library and 12 NC medical libraries, Nicolae Testemitanu University benefited from donations of medical literature (textbooks, monographs, scientific journals), free access to medical and pharmaceutical databases, resources focused on evidence-based medicine, interlibrary loan of scientific articles. Also, the NC partners organized training courses for librarians, teachers and students on the use of electronic information resources, and mutual documentation visits were carried out to university and hospital libraries.

Finally, Rector Ceban expressed his gratitude and thanked the partners from North Carolina for the support provided to our university in various fields (dentistry, pharmacy, nursing), but especially for the cooperation between medical libraries, initiated in 2006, which served as a model for the creation of a new partnership of university libraries from NC and RM (in 2018), noting that international collaboration is a strategic objective for the development of Nicolae Testemitanu University.

Subsequently, the NC delegation visited the new facilities of the BSM within the University Sociocultural Complex: the open access reading rooms, the group study rooms and the rare and old book collection, where they noted the impact of the bilateral collaboration.

On April 1, the partners visited the services of the Health Sciences Library located on the premises of  Timofei Mosneaga Republican Clinical Hospital, having the opportunity to meet and socialize with the BSM librarians.

On the same day, the Health Sciences Library organized a roundtable discussion, attended by guests Donna and Jerry Flake and representatives of university libraries in our country - partner institutions of the "North Carolina - Moldova Libraries Partnership" project. Among the guests of honor of the event were Irina Rusanovschi, president of the International Center for Cooperation and Development "Phoenix" (CICD), and Evelina Gherghelegiu, head of DREIE of our university.

Donna Flake and Silvia Ciubrei reported on the history of the interlibrary partnership between 12 medical libraries from North Carolina and the BSM, which was initiated in 2006, and the establishment of a new partnership between university libraries in the American state and the Republic of Moldova, in 2018, when six university librarians had the opportunity to visit libraries in North Carolina under the Open World Program and with the direct support of the NC Secretary of State, H.E. Mrs. Elaine Marshall. During these years, university and medical college libraries have benefited from donations of books and journals, and high-performance technical equipment (laptops and printers). University librarians have exchanged experiences by organizing online meetings, where they addressed various topics of professional interest.

"Currently, the cooperation directions focus on three aspects: exchange of experience and good practices in library activity, donations of books and journals, and international lending of scientific articles", specified Donna Flake.

University librarians discussed the importance and impact of international collaboration on education and research, training specialists in various fields for the labor market of the Republic of Moldova, and the professional development of librarians and university libraries.

In this context, Silvia Ciubrei emphasized "the need to formalize the Interlibrary Partnership, by signing a cooperation agreement, to strengthen relations between libraries in the Republic of Moldova and those in the state of North Carolina and ensure sustainability."

Representatives of university libraries in the Republic of Moldova expressed their thanks and gratitude to Donna Flake, who coordinates the partnership with great enthusiasm and responsibility, to the NC  Secretary of State Elaine Marshall and Lora Sinigur, the US Embassy in Moldova, the World Children's Fund, Irina Rusanovschi, the president of the CICD "Phoenix", the NC Rotary clubs, and all partner institutions and volunteers from the American state.

In the end, Donna Flake, who is also a writer, had the opportunity to launch her book "The Haunted Life of Lura" - a short story published two years ago, which aroused the interest of Moldovan librarians.

The meeting was attended by university library directors, deputy directors and chief librarians from: Nicolae Testemitanu State University of Medicine and Pharmacy, State University of Moldova, Technical University of Moldova (UTM), Alecu Russo State University of Balti, State University of Comrat, Academy of Music, Theatre and Fine Arts (AMTAP), and Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova (ASEM).

The American partners' agenda also included documentation visits to the ASEM Scientific Library, the UTM Scientific Library, the AMTAP Library and B.P. Hasdeu Municipal Library. An important moment was the delivery of book donations from North Carolina by Irina Rusanovschi, president of  "Phoenix" CICD, to the ASEM Library and B.P. Hasdeu Municipal Library.