Abstract:

In the 21st century, society needs a new system of education that must be continuous and proceed throughout the whole active human life. Bulgarian higher education has undergone a number of transformations, and it is actively working on modernization. Those changes require restructuring of all areas of activity: educational, research, administrative, etc.

Modern technologies, as well as the Internet, are dramatically changing the style of education, training/learning and teaching, as they enable people to have remote access and receive and use information much faster and more conveniently.

During the last decades, more and more Bulgarian universities have been introducing distance learning, which is an opportunity to change the way the learning process proceeds. Distance learning opens up new opportunities to extend participation in lifelong learning, to personalize the learning process and to create prerequisites for enriching the learning experience and quality of learning. The freedom it provides from the perspective of the ability to learn from anywhere in the world, at a convenient time, in a learner-friendly environment, contributes to increasing the scope of learning.

With regard to the implementation of distance learning, the university library must not only maintain the quality and scope of its traditional functions and activities, but also offer to students and faculty a range of new services and high-quality information support. In order to ensure the effectiveness of distance learning, it is necessary to work for continuous, free and independent access to the necessary resources in forms that are as comfortable as possible for use.

As a key elements of the university structure, academic libraries must meet the new requirements for providing information, organizing the services offered to all participants in the educational process, etc. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the Bulgarian universities offering distance learning and to analyze the role of academic libraries.

Keywords:

Academic Libraries, Distance Learning, Bulgaria, Education, Globalization.