The Presidential Library at a conference in Singapore

The possibilities of digital libraries are endless, and they can spread in unexpected ways. The issue is being discussed at the 79th General Conference of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions - IFLA, which opened August 17, 2013. The event is attended by the delegation of the Presidential Library, headed by Deputy Director General, Pavel Tereshchenko.

2013 conference theme, "The Future of Libraries: Infinite Possibilities" is directly related to the work and development of Russia’s first national electronic library. Representatives of the Presidential Library are members of the subgroups standing committees whose topics reflect the diversity of today's life of libraries: "Collection Deposit and Development," "Information Services," "Cataloging," "Classification and Indexing," "Documents Delivery and Resources Exchange," "Information Literacy," "Government Information and Official Publications."

In addition, representatives of the library took part in the annual meeting of the delegates of the national libraries of the CIS countries. The meeting was chaired by the Russian Library Association president Vladimir Firsov and Eurasia Library Assembly president Gulis Balabekov. By tradition, the newly elected IFLA president, Sinikka Sipilä addressed the conference participants. The Presidential Library was represented by Deputy Director General, Pavel Tereshchenko. Together with the Director for Information Resources, Elena Zhabko and colleagues, he presented the facilities and projects of the Presidential Library and ways of collaboration.

The Presidential Library specialists will also represent Russia at the Annual Conference of Directors of National Libraries (CDNL) and at the meeting of the Committee on Free Access to Information and Freedom of Expression (FAIFE).

Representatives of the Presidential Library attend the annual conference of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions since 2009. In 2010, the library became a permanent member of IFLA.

The 79th Annual Conference of IFLA will run until August 23.