Presidential Library: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow

The Presidential Library, which has a status of the national library of Russia, was opened on May 27, 2009. It is the national electronic repository of digital copies of the most important documents on history, theory and practice of Russian statehood, Russian language, and also the multimedia multifunctional (cultural, educational, research, information and analytical) center. A special collection has been prepared to mark the 10th anniversary of its opening. It is dedicated to the history of the library’s foundation, collection acquisition policy, development of the regional network, scientific and methodological, educational and cultural activities, as well as the cooperation between the Presidential Library and organizations in Russia and abroad. The collection comprehensively presents documents and materials of various types, which spotlight the development of the library from the moment when the decision on its foundation was taken in 2007.

Over the decade the national electronic resource was created from scratch on the basis of well grounded scientific, organizational and technological principles. This was made possible through the cooperation between the Presidential Library and many partners, primarily regional ones. The network of library’s remote electronic reading rooms, regional centers and branches began to develop, thus allowing to create unique digital collections of materials on regional studies.

Moreover, the Presidential Library is developing another network – the network of scientific expert community. The Academic Council has been established at the library. Scientific forums, conferences and roundtable meetings are also regularly held. Collections of materials are published to highlight the results of scientific events. Collections of works of the Presidential Library covering various thematic areas also come out on a regular basis. Being a scientific and methodological center for the development of digital content and cataloging of digital copies of various types of documents, the Presidential Library supports the activities of libraries, archives and museums, publishes translations of international standards and its own scientific and practical guidelines.

Another important direction in the development of the library is scientific and educational work. The combination of innovative information and communication technologies, up-to-date methods of in-person and distance learning and extensive collections on the humanities give an opportunity to hold various contests, olympiads, multimedia lessons, video lectures, traditional and virtual tours in a new format. The formula “unity of traditions and innovations”, which involves application of latest technologies for the presentation of library information resources in a format that is attractive to modern generation, has been successfully implemented.

At the moment, the electronic collection available on the portal includes 344 items and consists of official documents, scientific studies, collections of research works, methodological materials and papers, annual reports, periodicals, informational booklets, documentary films, news, presentation and information videos, photo albums and photo reports, visual materials from the Presidential Library’s collections, as well as documents from the official website of the President of Russia, the Federal Guard Service of the Russian Federation, Agentstvo Inform-Planeta publishing house, private collections and other sources.

The collection will continue to grow as new documents are added.