BULGARIAN LIBRARY AND INFORMATION ASSOCCIATION /BBIA/
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Sofia 88, Vasil Levski Blvd; tel. +359 2 841 24 87; E-mail:
June 27, 2016
Sofia
Dear President of the American Library Association,
Dear Chair and Members of the International Relations Round Table,
Dear OCLC and Forest Press representatives,
Dear members of the Jury for the Humphrey/ OCLC/Forest Press Award,
Dear colleagues and guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am honored, on behalf of the Bulgarian Library and Information Association, to congratulate Mrs. Nancy Bolt for being the recipient of the 2016 John Ames Humphrey/ OCLC/Forest Press Award. The Bulgarian library community is happy with this recognition of her steadfast dedication and tireless efforts to initiate, plan and develop a number of programs that contributed to international exchanges and mutual understanding.
We have known Mrs. Bolt since 1996 when she hosted the first Bulgarian librarian who traveled to Denver, Colorado, under the USIA/ALA Reverse Fellowships Program. Due to the exemplary mentorship of Mrs. Bolt, that visit was a great success and had been followed by long years of library cooperation between Colorado and Bulgaria.
Nancy Bolt was the driving force of a number of programs that brought American library expertise to Bulgarian libraries. She traveled to Bulgaria to give lectures and conduct training courses on library management, advocacy and other relevant issues; developed four conferences on a wide range of topics of interest to Bulgarian libraries; and encouraged a number of American librarians to visit Bulgaria, to give presentations and to help their Bulgarian colleagues better understand the important role of libraries in a democratic society.
Mrs. Bolt encouraged the establishment and later supported the development of successful partnerships between Bulgarian and American libraries which contributed to a number of innovative programs and practices in Bulgarian libraries. She was Project Director of the American-Bulgarian Library Exchange Project (ABLE). Building on the active partnership between U.S. and Bulgarian libraries and drawing on the experience of American libraries in providing access to government information, ABLE contributed to improved public information services in Bulgaria.
She conducted the 2015 course on Current Issues in Global Information Infrastructure: Bulgarian Libraries, Archives and Special collections which introduced American library students and professors to Bulgarian libraries and Bulgarian culture.
Full of energy and always willing to help, Mrs. Bolt continues to support international librarians both with her professional knowledge and with her never failing enthusiasm.
Snejana Ianeva
President
Bulgarian Library and Information Association
Personal Member of ALA, IRRT and FAFLRT