In the recent decades, three major trends have emerged in the education and information sectors: globalization, information revolution, and the right of access to information and education for all. The combined effect of these factors leads to the need to provide in the present reality opportunities to freely utilize the potential of unlimited information and knowledge sharing – a process in which libraries are key players. This range of questions provokes research interests and determines the relevance of a number of problems in the field of library information sciences, computer sciences, formal and non-formal education, pedagogy, sociology and others, considered in the context of the modern information society.
In the contemporary educational and cultural policies initiated by UNESCO, the Council of Europe and the European Union, one of the main goals is to create the conditions and prerequisites for the formation and development of key competences in young people during their education and to provide opportunities for their continued developing, maintaining and updating lifelong knowledge and skills. Improving quality and ensuring equal access to education, qualification and career development for teachers, developing competitive higher education are priorities of European strategies and programs to improve the quality of life and the formation of a democratic society, an economy, based on knowledge, science and innovations. In pursuit of these goals, emphasis is placed on the use of information and communication technologies, in particular mobile ones, in the search for ways to effectively involve them in cultural, social and educational activities.
“The Digital Agenda for Europe” is one of the seven flagship initiatives of the Europe 2020 strategy and has been developed to identify the key role that information and communication technologies must play in the successful pursuit of European ambitions. It states that the new information and communication technologies are already having a significant social impact, that in Europe more than 250 million people use the Internet every day and practically all Europeans own mobile phones. This leads to a lifestyle change – services are moving from the physical to the digital world, which is shared with mobile devices – smartphones, tablets and more.
Ensuring mobile access to information and educational resources is also a key point in UNESCO’s educational policies. UNESCO sees a possibility of realization the internationally agreed goals of providing quality education for all and responding to the educational needs of children and young people and adults alike in the integration of modern information and communication technologies, especially in mobile technologies, in the educational process. The organization launches various projects and activities aimed at exploring how mobile technologies can help achieve the goals of the “Education for All” program. At the end of 2011, UNESCO launched a series of annual mobile technologies and education conferences called Mobile Learning Week (MLW). The purpose of the forums is to facilitate discussions, exchange of information, and to promote ideas on the use of mobile technologies to transform educational processes.
Mobile information provision is also the focus of the worldwide library community. In 2013, IFLA published a report on Riding the Waves or Caught in the Tide?: Navigating the Evolving Information Environment, where it is stated that mobile devices are a major means of accessing information, content and services, and that open educational resources online (OER), adaptive learning technologies, online distance education courses (MOOCs), and gaming approaches to learning will transform the global educational landscape in the next decade.
IFLA is also developing a Strategic Plan 2016-2021, that provides for the creation of an effective advocacy program for libraries and their involvement as key players in political, economic and social change, global sustainable development and the implementation of the New 17 Sustainable Development Goals from the 2030 Sustainable Development Program – “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”.
The topic of mobile digital libraries and mobile learning is also in line with the national priorities in the fields of science, education and the preservation and promotion of the national cultural and historical heritage. The new information and communication technologies, their role and opportunities in today’s dynamic times, modern forms and approaches for their effective integration into the educational and scientific sphere are the basis of the Strategy for the effective application of information and communication technologies in education and science of the Republic of Bulgaria (2014 -2020), the project of the Bulgarian Library and Information Association (BIAA) for the “National Strategy and Program for Preservation and Access to Literary Cultural Heritage”, of the National Science Programme on “Cultural and Historical Heritage, National Memory and Social Development (KINNPOR), as well as on the Strategy for the Development of Bulgarian Culture (2019 – 2029).
The inclusion of the scientific issues of this project in all the cited national and European strategy papers, as well as in many others, clearly proves the importance and relevance of the research problems under consideration. The inclusion of mobile digital libraries and mobile learning in the contemporary information environment, as a way to meet the current searches and needs of the modern user of information and knowledge, is essential for the development of contemporary views and politics in the Bulgarian information, education, scientific, and cultural environment.
The “Information Portal for mobile learning and Mobile Access to Library Services and Resources” project aims to contribute to the promotion of mobile learning and information among the library community, in the educational community, and not least among the political and business elites in the country. Initiating discussions, enhancing competencies and applying leading foreign experience in this field is a key factor in ensuring that library and educational institutions respond adequately to the contemporary information needs of society.
The research results will raise awareness and will support the professional activity of representatives of different cultural, educational, municipal and state institutions – libraries, educational structures, archives, community centres, museums, and more. The gained new knowledge will be the basis for strengthening research efforts in the fields of library information sciences, computer science, formal and non-formal education, pedagogy, sociology, considered in the context of the contemporary information society.
The topic of the research has an important role and importance in the process of conservation, preserving and promoting the cultural heritage of the Republic of Bulgaria, in establishing the Bulgarian national identity, since libraries are one of the main institutions preserving and promoting the Bulgarian documentary cultural heritage. Interdisciplinary researches play an important role in the formation of new knowledge and experiences in the process of preserving and enriching the information fund of human cultural memory. Scientific researches in the field of social sciences and humanities, and in particular of cultural heritage, has thus far been identified as a priority in contemporary state education and cultural policy.
The importance of the project is also compounded by the fact that it will concentrate and unite the efforts, ideas, methods and knowledge of postdoctoral researchers, PhD students, young scientists and researchers with different professional engagement profiles, who will exchange information, experience, knowledge and good practices in the research process. The interdisciplinary approach to scientific issues creates the conditions for favourable scientific communication, conditioned by the increased communication in the organization and conduction of the joint research. This will lead to a rethinking of the fundamental results at a higher level and will allow a new approach to the research, process and analysis of information.
The created in the project interdisciplinary, electronic, information, scientific research and educational resource in the field of public sciences and humanities will surely have a positive effect on the development of the interdisciplinary scientific research process and its integration with university educational programs. The results obtained will be of benefit to the members of the scientific team as well as to the students of Bachelor’s Degree, Master’s Degree, PhD students and young researchers from the University of Library Studies and Information Technologies, as well as representatives from other higher education institutions in the country and abroad, which through direct access to the created database with the results of the research, will have the opportunity to deepen their knowledge in different fields of science, to generate new scientific hypotheses, to prepare their scientific developments, etc.
The actuality and significance of the investigated issues is also determined by the ability to access up-to-date information in an electronic format, united and systematized into one information platform concerning mobile access to information and knowledge, which is currently missing in the country. In the context of globalization and the rapid development of the information society, this is of particular importance for the development of modern views and understandings for conducting scientific research, for international scientific and information exchange and communication.