A reading room of the Presidential Library to open in Berlin

In the Federal Republic of Germany the preparations began to open of a remote electronic reading room of the Presidential Library. It will be created at the Russian House of Science and Culture (RDNC) in Berlin. The information was provided to the delegation of the Presidential Library, visiting the Federal Republic of Germany, by the representative of Rossotrudnichestvo in Germany, Victor Anpilov.

According to him, the design and technical projects have been elaborated, according to which the electronic reading room will be located on the first floor of the center. It is planned that it will occupy a room corresponding to the specifications of the Presidential Library. Fourteen work stations will be available to those who would like to get access to all the content of the first national digital library of Russia.

The basis of its collections is made up of the documents on the history, theory and practice of Russian statehood. Today, a large collection of digitized materials on the history of Russian language as the national language of the Russian Federation is being built up. For the most part it will include the documents of historical and cultural value. The draft stipulates that the electronic reading room will also include a traditional library open in the RDNC. Today, it has about two thousand regular readers. "Visitors often submit requests, which cannot be satisfied with the available holdings. Typically, our clients are the Russians involved in science, or, for example, the Germans who study Russian language and history", said Victor Anpilov.

The Berlin's "Russian House" regularly hosts a variety of international events, congresses and meetings. During the year it welcomes about 230, 000 visitors. There are intensive educational activities, study groups and studios.

"Parents, our fellow citizens, bring their children here, thereby creating for them a bilingual environment. Living in another country, they want their children to know their roots, their native culture. If the information about the modern Russia today can be found in various media, it is quite difficult to obtain reliable information about the history of the country being abroad. We are pleased - said the representative of the Rossotrudnichestvo - that the visitors to the center will have access to a vast array of historical documents of the Presidential Library, which will help in education, the development of science. We help educate our young compatriots, and they, when they grow up, will decide by themselves where to realize their potential - here or back in Russia," he concluded.

Remote electronic reading room of the Presidential Library will be open as part of a tripartite agreement between the Presidential Library, the Administrative Directorate of the President of the Russian Federation and the Federal Agency for the Affairs of Compatriots Living Abroad (Rossotrudnichestvo). To date, 13 centers of access to the resources of the national digital Presidential Library are open around the world, including the ones in Ljubljana, Madrid, Helsinki, London, Bethlehem, Astana. The latter was opened in April of this year.