The Presidential Library celebrates its birthday

On May 27 Russia's first national electronic Presidential Library celebrates its next opening anniversary. The library, opened by order of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, forms a nationwide electronic resource, where the rarest books and periodicals, little-known archival documents, newsreels, photographs, scientific and educational films, as well as other materials that spotlight the centuries-old history of Russia are available in digital form.

Today the volume of the electronic collections of the Presidential Library is more than a million depository items. The collections are based on reliable sources. This is especially important in our time, when in some countries they seek to rewrite history and distort historical facts. At the same time most of the unique materials are available on the library’s portal.

According to Director General of the institution Yuri Nosov, in 2022, the implementation of the Development Strategy of the Presidential Library until 2030, approved by its founder, the Administrative Directorate of the President of the Russian Federation, was launched. “We have to go through the next stage of the planned path, updating all areas of activity - from the acquisition and disclosure of the collections to technological processes. The task was set to increase the demand for our collections among various user groups in Russia and abroad, new services appear to solve it (for example, the round-the-clock TV channel of the Presidential Library launched), the circle of partners of the institution is expanding - government bodies and corporations, organizations of culture, science, education, including friendly countries. In the interests of the state and for the benefit of society, we are moving forward together with the country, overcoming all difficulties, and the experience, professionalism, knowledge and creativity we have accumulated remain the key to the successful completion of tasks of any complexity”, - Yuri Nosov emphasized.

The Presidential Library is a multimedia scientific and educational, information and analytical, cultural and educational center and keeps up with the times. Solving the tasks of preserving and strengthening traditional Russian spiritual and moral values, set by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation № 809 "On approval of the Fundamentals of State Policy for the Preservation and Strengthening of Traditional Russian Spiritual and Moral Values" dated November 9, 2022, the Presidential Library contributes to the protection of historical truth, preservation of historical memory and counteraction to the falsification of history.

Combining archival, library and museum materials, for the convenience of users, the specialists of the Presidential Library distribute them into thematic collections. The number of such collections is constantly increasing and at the moment it is already more than 300. Each of the collections is associated with a certain historical period or dedicated to an event, region, person, etc. For example, since 2010 the Presidential Library has been forming an electronic collection dedicated to preserving the memory of the Great Victory in the Great Patriotic War. It combines official documents, books, photographs and newsreels, wartime newspapers, testimonies of combatants and home front workers, their diaries and personal documents. Since 2020, together with the Federal Archival Agency, the collection World War II in Archival Documents has been formed, consisting of archival documents, film and photographic materials dedicated to the preparation and conduct of military operations of the Red Army against the Nazi troops, many of which were previously classified.

Over the past year, users of the electronic reading room, remote access centers and the Internet portal of the Presidential Library viewed about 3 million digital images of documents. Copyrighted documents are available in the electronic reading rooms of the library. More than 1,500 remote access centers to the resources of the Presidential Library have already been opened on the territory of the Russian Federation and abroad, including 49 abroad.

Various educational projects are being implemented in the Presidential Library such as multimedia lessons, the Olympiad for schoolchildren Russia in the Electronic World, a contest of students’ works, video lectures Knowledge of Russia, where famous scientists and public figures speak; film screenings are held where the best non-fiction films on the history of Russia are discussed. A new project, which is being implemented in cooperation with the Academy of the Ministry of Education of Russia and the Uchitelskaya Gazeta online publication, is a contest for teachers The future of the Fatherland is in the hands of a teacher.

The modernized multimedia technological complex provides filming, processing, editing, storage and prompt transmission to the Internet and social networks of video content - recordings of scientific conferences, webinars, seminars, meetings. This allows the Presidential Library to actively implement cultural and educational projects together with regional institutions. Handwritten, printed, cartographic and visual materials available in electronic form become the basis for partners to conduct their own events, such as virtual exhibitions and quizzes, intellectual games, video reviews, contests, video lessons, etc.

The Presidential Library is also a venue for major social and political events. In addition, the main activities of the institution, according to the Charter of the library, include information and analytical services for state authorities and the Administrative Directorate of the President of the Russian Federation.

The Presidential Library continues to develop international cooperation. Work is underway to create an association of Presidential Libraries between the presidential libraries of four countries: Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia. Such an organization is being created for the first time and will have an international status. The development of the association will facilitate the exchange of experience in the field of information and analytical support for public authorities, the exchange of resources on issues of history, law, economics, politics, cultural interaction, the introduction of advanced achievements and new technologies.

The Presidential Library’s specialists will continue to restock the collections with historically important, reliable materials on the history of Russia, and, of course, provide wide access to documents so that as many readers and researchers as possible can use the unique database.

Detailed information about the Presidential Library and its resources is available on the portal www.prlib.ru, президентскаябиблиотека.рф. Interesting and little-known historical facts, the sources of which were rare documents, are regularly published in the media, social networks, and the Telegram-channel of the Presidential Library https://t.me/prlib.