The following is an open letter written by library administrators from the villages of Lousadzor (Askeran) and Nor Seysoulan (Martakert) in Artsakh.

It expresses their frustration regarding a recent working visit to Stepanakert by a delegation headed by the director of the Armenian National Library in Yerevan.

A feeling of joy recently reigned over the village libraries in Artsakh.

Two years ago, these libraries had received a shipment of new literature from the Armenian National Library (ANL). The Artsakh government informed us that another meeting with ANL officials was scheduled to take place in Stepanakert.

We harboured high expectations based on the positive impressions of the last such meeting held in the regional center of Hadrout. The meeting was most informative and many issues of concern were discussed in an informal setting.

This time, however, we were in for a disappointing surprise.

A group of library administrators from various rural communities made the difficult trip to Stepanakert.

I had loads of professional questions to ask the visiting guests from Yerevan.

There was a general matter I also wanted to raise with the ANL Director – getting computers into our libraries. It goes without saying that we have to keep up with the times.

We got to the hall where the meeting was to take place. It was full of computers. We were jealous and surprised at the same time.

There was a man sitting at one of the terminals busily working away, seemingly oblivious to us.

He then turned and introduced himself as the "guest" from Yerevan, telling us that he'd be speaking about a digital something or other. I can't remember what exactly.

The ANL director launched into his presentation. None of us could make out what he was talking about.

There were some posters tapes to the wall with the outline of his speech. It reminded me of the Soviet era when films were projected on the blank walls.

The director was using terms and vocabulary that was alien to us. All I could make out were the words "website" and "digital".

Then, for some inexplicable reason, the director started to explain the internet network at the Armenian Academy of Sciences. This went over the heads of most of us sitting in the audience.

Some in the audience had already dozed off. The rest were blankly staring into space.

Finally, a woman mustered up the courage to get up and say that we didn't understand a thing the director was talking about.

She said that it would make more sense for us librarians to actually have some practical experience working with computers and surfing the web before listening to such complicated presentations.

It seemed that the director didn't take too kindly to being interrupted. He quickly blurted out that we'd get our computers and just as quickly returned to his technical treatise.

Somewhere in the middle of this morass the director switched over to the field of education, again managing to publicize the National Academy and its fabulous new project – preparing new librarians with a budget of just 500,000 AMD.

Now, I am sure that this gentleman was well compensated by the government to make the trip to Artsakh and make his presentation.

Rest assured that we are grateful that the plight of our libraries is receiving such attention.

Dear sir, the next time you receive compensation for your services, please put the money to some practical use for our libraries that have suffered due to the war.

Library administrators from across Artsakh made the arduous trip to Stepanakert with great expectations.

We spent time and money to get to a meeting where we listened to a speech referring to things we know little about – namely computers or the internet.