Library is a player on the information field

21 August 2018

This motto of the Presidential Library`s poster to the IFLA poster session was chosen as the most corresponding not only to the main direction of activities of the Library itself but also to the slogan of the IFLA`s 84th World Library and Information Congress in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Transform Libraries, Transform Societies. But this is also true even if we replace the parts of the slogan, because nowadays in the fast changing world people are in great need of the objective information which they would like to obtain as soon as possible. So, the libraries appear to be ones that realize the function of major centers collecting, processing, saving the information and providing free access to it for everyone.

Thus, we see that the modern library becomes an important player on the information field, so long as it offers knowledge.

So, the activity of the Presidential Library and the challenges that it meets totally corresponds to the principle chosen to be a main topic of IFLA 2018. Presidential Library is a new type of library – the first national electronic Library of Russia, which was created as a digital resource on the history of the Russian statehood from the very beginning. But the Library`s abilities are considerably wider. It is also multifunctional center – cultural and educational, scientific, and analytical. The Presidential Library never stands aside to the most remarkable events taking place not only in Russia but also abroad. The brightest and the most significant event of 2018 in Russia as well as all over the world was FIFA World Cup in football. The Presidential Library being the source of the objective knowledge on the history of our country, including the history of sport, was one of the main players when it supported and covered this huge sport event. The Library organized a big amount of the events devoted to the sport in general and to the football in particular. Our poster reflects all directions and underlines the most important projects in this field. Among them: digitizing of the documents from the holdings of two greatest libraries of Russia – The Russian Academy of Science`s Library and The Russian National Library. Due to this project the documents revealing the development of the Russian sport became available to the whole society as a part of the electronic holdings of the Presidential Library. At the same time Library created the vast digital collection devoted to the sport in Russia, including football, named “Sport in Russia”. It includes about 800 documents familiarizing users with interesting facts, for example, what was the beginning of Russian football, how the first football commentators were working, which football terms were adapted from English language, etc. Collection includes historical and archival documents, periodicals, football posters, photos, children drawings, etc., and is constantly enriched. We also plan to include in it documentaries about famous sportsmen.

For added convenience and illustration purposes we placed QRs on the poster so that all the participants and visitors of IFLA can immediately see the documents of the collection which is accessible on the website of the Presidential Library.

The Presidential Library acted as an informational supporter of the World Cup 2018. For this purpose it created the exhibition “More Than a Game: to the FIFA World Cup in Russia”. It depicts milestones of the history of Russian football. Saint Petersburg is considered to be its native land, as the first football match took place here. The first football league appeared in Saint Petersburg as well. The exhibition tells also about the coach and first referee G. Duperron, who is considered to be the founder of Russian football. There is a model of the new stadium called “Saint Petersburg”, which can be seen all over. You can examine every tiny detail. Miscellaneous photos and video show us the great work, which was carried out to make a magnificent sport event remarkable and memorable for all football fans.

By Using QRs on the poster visitors can view a lot of exhibition items and read the description of it.

Except for the cultural and educational activities, the Presidential Library developed the creative direction – the International Multimedia Contest “Foreign View”. In 2018–2019, the nomination of the great value is “The Ball of Victory”. Everyone can become a participant not only of the contest but of the formation of the electronic holdings of the Library due to the photos and videos depicting sport events, for example. Through QRs on the poster visitors are free to get to know rules for the participants.

So, the interactive parts of our poster are the pocket calendars of three types. One of them devoted to the solemn opening of the remote electronic reading room in the Russian Center of Science and Culture in Kuala Lumpur, which is on the 25th of August. We hope these calendars would help all the visitors of the IFLA`s 84th World Library and Information Congress in Kuala Lumpur to keep the information of the Presidential Library, and the interest to our rich electronic holdings will constantly increase.