The Council of Cooperation between the National Library of Russia, the Russian State Library and the Presidential Library considered ways for further relationships

Ways of promoting relationships and new advanced common initiatives were discussed at the Cooperation Council between the National Library of Russia, the Russian State Library and the Presidential Library. The meeting took place today on December 17, 2018, in St. Petersburg on Sadovaya Street, 18.

Opening the event, Vadim Vankov, Director of the Information and Digital Development Department of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation noted: “Libraries constantly carry out serious work, and we would like this to be put to practical use, and joint meetings will turn into real projects. Today it is especially important: culture has become a priority national project, which included digital culture as well. Much attention is paid to the program for digitizing book monuments. The National Electronic Library is another area that is often discussed. I would like to note that over the past six months there has been serious progress in this matter. Currently, the provisions of the National Electronic Security and the selection methodology have been submitted to the Government of the Russian Federation. This is the beginning of our work. I would like the proposals that are contained in the agreement signed by the three national libraries to go over to the practical plane, and the meeting would end with concrete plans”.

Valentin Sidorin, acting Director General of the Presidential Library reminded participants of the event about the points of agreement containing the key areas of cooperation between the three national libraries: cooperation in educational and exhibition activities, organization and arrangement of conferences, participation of scientists and research teams in the development of arrays of electronic documents on all issues of modern knowledge, and on the subject of profiles of the RSL, the NLR and Presidential Library. Valentin Sidorin stressed: “Prior to the Council, the Presidential Library has taken a step in developing cooperation with the National Library of Russia, which provided materials for the exhibition devoted to the Tehran and Yalta conferences opened these days in the building at Senate Square, 3. Just the day before, a framework agreement was signed with the NLR that details the decisions indicated in the general cooperation agreement signed between the three national libraries. This is a relevant and necessary document that emphasizes the movement in the exhibition, resource, information and other areas of our joint activity”. Valentin Sidorin addressed the head of the Russian State Library with a proposal to conclude a similar agreement.

“The cooperation agreement that we signed with the Presidential Library will also allow us to interact in the telecommunication sector”, -  added Alexander Vershinin, Director General of the National Library of Russia. - Thanks to the technical capacity of the Presidential Library, colleagues from other regions will be able to connect to such meetings. We all have ideas and resources that, I am sure, we will be happy to share”.

Natalia Samoilenko, Deputy Director General of the Russian State Library for External Relations and Exhibition Activities, paid much attention to the issue of digitizing book monuments: “It is very important to understand how we will set the pace. We need to digitize book monuments and present them to both the professional and the general public, since it is initially connected with the NEL project. Therefore, this discussion seems to us to be topical”.

Within the framework of the Cooperation Council, workshops “Organization of Research, Methodological, Bibliographic Activities”, “Organization of Cataloging. Register of Book Monuments”, “Electronic Resources and the National Electronic Library”, “Development and Implementation of the Electronic Interlibrary Loan Project for Libraries of the Commonwealth Countries” were held.