Presidential library: 5th Congress of School Librarians launched at the Presidential library

On March, 2 2010 the Boris Yeltsin Presidential library is launching an inauguration and functions of the 5^th Interregional Congress of Russian School Library Association. Its motto is “Presidential library – to school library: a bridge of cooperation within the framework of the Year of the Teacher”. The meeting will bring together 250 specialists of school libraries from 11 subjects of the North-Western Federal district and other regions, representatives of governmental bodies, public organizations, leading Russian publishing houses, scholars and cultural workers. Recommendations to legislative and executive powers of Russia aimed at school libraries modernization in order to implement children’s rights to cultural heritage access are expected to become an outcome of the Congress.

«Innovations are in need of broad-minded people, thus a special environment is necessary to bring them up. In order to create a worthy thinking generation of Russians, it is vital to make investments in children – that means in libraries for children and youth», - Tatjana D. Zhukova, President of the Russian School Library Association, is convinced.

The majority of reports have a special focus on urgent issues of school libraries work, highlight latest trends in the information culture sector and expertise of their implementation. An open seminar, which is called to turn spotlight on work organization in special boarding schools, will be held for Mass Media. Among its participants will be Svetlana V. Kudrina, Candidate of Pedagogic Sciences, Associate Professor of oligophrenopedagogy subdepartment, special pedagogics department at the State Russian Herzen Pedagogical University. The seminar will highlight an experience of the library at the A. P. Pyrerka Nenets Secondary Boarding School, Naryan-Mar.

Its librarian, Irina V. Kotkina, dwells on her work: «A school library – is an ideal place, an intersection of three key components of an adequate environment for the child’s development – information, culture and communication. Live interaction helps to free the boarding school pupils from the hospital treatment syndrome, opens new horizons, and provides correct life guidelines».

The event’s program will include master-classes, training events, sections and platforms for discussion, as well as books- and mediaexpositions aimed at school libraries. Attending publishing houses are going to award a pupil of the 7 «А» class of the boarding school № 59 - Vladislav Ustavitsky – winner of the «Best library’s reader» contest.

The Russian School Library Association was founded in 2004 and represents interests of the largest library network of Russia, which brings together over 60,000 school libraries.