Abstract:

At present the world is defined by three major characteristics – information society, rapid development of information and communication technologies, globalisation of all spheres of social life. The techhological revolution and the emergence of network society create a new economic, social and cultural environment. Thus, traditional cultural institutions face significant challenges, but also new opportunities. On the one hand they have to preserve already established positions and importance, but on the other hand they have to respond to contemporary needs of society.

Digitalisation is one of the major ways of safeguarding and popularising cultural and historical heritage. It ensures not only the long-term preservation of cultural values, but also their inclusion in the global information network as it provides unrestricted access to them regardless of time and location. The creation of digital objects offers access to digital cultural and historical portals and collections through modern communication devices – mobile phones, tablets, e-readers, etc.

The present paper analyses the advantages and numerous opportunities that mobile access to digitalised objects of cultural and historical heritage provides. The analysis and the conclusions are based on the realisation of the research project “Information Portal for Archival-Documentary Heritage of the Bulgarian Revival” conducted by scientists from the University of Library Studies and Information Technologies (BULGARIA), directed by Assoc. Prof. Hristyian Atanasov. The project’s primary aim is the creation of a concept for heritage popularisation and an Internet portal indicating the location of Bulgarian Revival documentary funds in the Republic of Bulgaria. As a result of the project’s research and application activity the Information Portal for Archival-Documentary Heritage of the Bulgarian Revival will be realised and enriched over time. In future it may broaden its scope and include even foreign archives’ collections.

Cultural memory, values and messages transmitted through cultural heritage play a key part in the cultural development of society, in the maintenance of its identity, sense of belonging and unity. Popularisation of cultural and historical heritage through the provision of easy access to it such as the mobile one is a prerequisite for an adequate answer to contemporary users’ needs as well as to the requirements of European strategy documents.

Keywords:

Research project, Mobile libraries, Digital libraries, Bulgaria, ICT, Mobile technologies.