Study on continuous professional education of specialist staffs of the National Library System of Moldova

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the level of functioning of the continuing professional training system of the specialist staff in the country’s libraries, as well as the attitude of the library staff towards the continuing education programs, the reasons and difficulties encountered in participating in the continuing education. To achieve the objectives of the study, a survey was carried out with the help of an online questionnaire, in which 842 specialists from public, university libraries, as well as those from general education institutions participated. The results of the analysis show that the highest participation rate is in 1-2 educational programs, the respondents prefer to be offered continuing professional training programs and it is essential to stimulate their motivation to participate in training programs. The majority of the ones investigated confirmed the need to develop the system of continuous professional training of library staff in the Republic of Moldova. The results of this study have implications for the planning and implementation of continuing professional development in libraries from the Republic of Moldova. The originality and value of this work lies in the fact that it presents the results of one of the few studies on the development of specialized library staff undertaken in our country.