In-house library training program supporting Roma people – the power of networking in local community

After years of organising various library activities for Roma children and teenagers (multicultural workshops, computer courses, literary meetings, book exhibitions), the librarians of Public library of Koprivnica, Croatia have initiated and started to organise in-house library training programs on cultural and educational competencies, and knowledge about Roma people. Their purpose was to overcome the gap between the school and society requirements to Roma children coming from deprived families on one side and partial and insufficient knowledge of teachers and librarians about their needs on the other side. The aim of the in-house training programs is networking of professionals from various sectors in local community, working on daily basis with Roma children and youth. The final goal is building tolerance and tearing down prejudice against Roma population, as well as supporting better quality life chances to Roma children through formal and informal ways of education, and helping them to get included in the life of local community and society in general. This article aims at presenting the impacts of in-house training programs on cultural and educational competencies and knowledge about Roma people based on sharing knowledge and practices of professionals coming from various working fields in local community, NGOs and local government. It embodies an important question: how to work on issues of the Roma social integration and inclusion to respect, protect, support and realize their national, cultural, educational, social and all other personal and economic rights and interests?