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To Prime Minister Victor Ponta of Romania: SAVE THE NATIONAL PEDAGOGICAL LIBRARY “I.C. PETRESCU” ! Bucharest - ROMANIA

To Prime Minister Victor Ponta of Romania: SAVE THE NATIONAL PEDAGOGICAL LIBRARY “I.C. PETRESCU” ! Bucharest - ROMANIA

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This petition has been created by Silviu -. and may not represent the views of the Avaaz community.
Silviu -.
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To Prime Minister Victor Ponta of Romania
SAVE THE NATIONAL PEDAGOGICAL LIBRARY “I.C. PETRESCU” !

APPEAL FOR SOLIDARITY to abrogate Articles IV and V of Government Emergency Ordinance 117 regarding the amendment of the Education Law issued on December 23, 2013 and entered into force on December 30, 2013.

Open letter to Prime Minister Victor Ponta against the dissolution of the National Pedagogical Library I.C. Petrescu

Signed by Carmen-Leocadia Pesantez Pozo, Managing Director of the National Pedagogical Library, together with the legal representatives of the institution on January 8, 2014, Bucharest - ROMANIA

The same open letter was sent to Mr. Traian Băsescu, President of Romania,

and to

the Parliament of Romania to the attention of Mr. Crin Antonescu, President of the Senate,

and Mr. Valeriu Ştefan Zgonea, President of the Chamber of Deputies

Signed by Carmen-Leocadia Pesantez Pozo, Managing Director of the National Pedagogical Library, together with the legal representatives of the institution and the members of the Board f Administration on January 13, 2014, Bucharest - ROMANIA

“Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

We respectfully submit for your consideration the extremely serious situation regarding the dissolution of the NATIONAL PEDAGOGICAL LIBRARY “I.C. Petrescu” of Bucharest, after 133 years of existence and a continuous activity in the service of the Romanian pedagogy, education and culture.

Through Articles IV and V of Government Emergency Ordinance 117 regarding the amendment of the Education Law issued on December 23, 2013 and entered into force on December 30, 2013, the Government of Romania abusively decided, without gathering information about the real situation, that the National Pedagogical Library “I.C. Petrescu” (BPN) should merge with the Central University Library Carol I of Bucharest (BCU). The reason for which the Ordinance was issued would be the fact that the building in which BPN operates was returned to its rightful owners and the institution “is in great danger to lose its books and the jobs of the employees”. If the decision-makers had really wanted to find a solution for the library headquarters, for sure an adequate solution would have been reached. The owners of the building repeatedly asked to be received at the Ministry of the National Education for a discussion on the acquisition of the building returned to them through irrevocable Decision 615/R/26.10.2006 of the Bucharest Court of Appeal, Civil Section IX.

The catastrophic solution decided through that Ordinance is the result of the indifference with which the issue of the library headquarters was treated despite the actions taken by the Library Managing Body together with the Union and the appeals made by teachers, professional associations and cultural institutions with which the Library runs various partnerships as well as by the Romanian media. Moreover, nobody consulted the specialists in the pedagogical field, the faculties of education sciences or the Romanian professional associations of librarians and no impact study was performed to see whether such decision is feasible or not.

Although the National Pedagogical Library “I.C. Petrescu” is mainly in the service of the pre-university teachers, researchers, pupils and students, it can also offer its services to the general public. The National Pedagogical Library “I.C. Petrescu” subscribed to 77 Romanian serials and 77 foreign serials, running an international exchange of publications with 63 institutions from 24 countries.

In its history, despite the subordination to various institutions (Seminarul Pedagogic Universitar, Şcoala Normală Superioară, Şcoala Superioară Pedagogică, Institutul Pedagogic din Bucureşti, Institutul de Ştiinţe Pedagogice, Centrul de Perfecţionare a Personalului Didactic), the Library preserved its identity and integrity of collections. In December 2013, the National Pedagogical Library “I.C. Petrescu” celebrated its 133rd anniversary. But surprisingly, just at the end of that year, this institution was dissolved through an overnight Ordinance!

Through Articles IV and V of Government Emergency Ordinance 117/2013:

- Article 7 of the Law of Libraries which states the dissolution of public libraries as it is the case of the National Pedagogical Library “I.C. Petrescu” is breached; according to Article 36 of the same legislative act “[…] in case of cessation of activities performed by the authorities and institutions which established or financed them, only if the patrimony thereof is taken over by another public library with the observance of the legislation in force”. As the Ministry of National Education was not dissolved, it results that the National Pedagogical Library should not be dissolved.

- Decision 42/01.04.2013 issued by the Court of Accounts according to which the National Pedagogical Library “I.C. Petrescu” is in the process of general inventory of its documentary fund is turned down.

- The most important pedagogical library of Romania, unique in terms of importance and collections, is dissolved.

- The national importance gained through the efforts of its foregoers and the institutional identity of the Pedagogical Library will be lost when transformed into a “pedagogical section”.

- No sufficient storage space can be provided for the 500,000 volumes of the National Pedagogical Library because the Central University Library of Bucharest can take over only 50,000 volumes, which means 10% of our book fund. Moreover, it is known that both institutions need extra spaces for the development of their collections.

- The two libraries have different end-users, collection structures and services; the Central University Library is in the service of the university system while the National Pedagogical Library is in the service of the pre-university system.

- No sufficient working space for the 50 employees of the National Pedagogical Library can be provided because the Central University Library does not have additional spaces even if a future “solution” is desired.

- It will be a dramatic turn for the teaching staff and researchers in the field of education sciences


Considering the above-mentioned facts, we kindly ask you to abrogate Articles IV and V of Government Emergency Ordinance 117/2013 in order to regain the identity and legal personality of the National Pedagogical Library “I.C. Petrescu”.

Respectfully yours,

Managing Director Chief Accountant Legal Advisor

PhDc Carmen-Leocadia Pesantez Pozo Accountant Gabriela Rusu Marin Preoteasa

Members of the Board of Administration of the National Pedagogical Library:


Smaranda Luminiţa Cosma PhD Florina Brat

Tamara Balâşev Dana Gogeanu

Laura Alexe – Secretary”
Posted (Updated )