Delegation of the Presidential Library takes part in the IFLA World Library and Information Congress 83rd IFLA General Conference and Assembly (IFLA)

An annual regional meeting of representatives of CIS libraries was held within the framework of the World Library and Information Congress — the 83rd General Conference and Assembly of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), on August 19, 2017.

The meeting was attended by delegations from the Russian Federation, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova and Ukraine. Overall, there were more than 80 participants. President of IFLA Donna Schieder and the chairman of the presidium, the moderator of the meeting the Director of the National Library of Russia Alexander Visly addressed the participants of the meeting with the opening speech. The members of the presidium also greeted the audience with their speeches: the President of the RBA, the Director of the Russian State Public Historical Library Mikhail Afanasyev, the Director of the National Library of Belarus Roman Motulsky, the Director General of the Russian National Public Library for Science and Technology Yakov Shraiberg, the Director of the National Library of the Republic of Kazakhstan Zhanat Seydumanov, and others.

An official opening of the World Library and Information Congress, which is working this year from the 19th to The 25th of August in the Polish city of Wroclaw, took place the next day, August 20, 2017. The President of IFLA Donna Schieder and IFLA Secretary General Gerald Leitner addressed the participants of the congress with a welcoming address. The President of Poland sent his greetings to the participants of the congress. Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Culture and National Heritage of Poland Peter Glinsky, Mayor of Wroclaw Rafal Dutkevich, the Director General of the National Library of Poland Tomasz Makovsky and other members also addressed the participants of the congress with their welcoming speeches. For the first time the opening ceremony of the Congress was aired live online. All speakers emphasized an importance of the libraries as the institutions intended to retain human knowledge, a need to create a universal worldwide library map and to participate in the discussion on the global vision of libraries.

Every year, specialists in the field of library and information from around the world get together at the conference, which allows them to find new solutions on a wide range of issues of library and information services, taking into account the information development of the society and blurring borders in this area through the advance of the Internet and cutting edge technologies.

Within the framework of the conference, the delegation of the Presidential Library will present advanced domestic applications for the development of digital technologies for building funds, multimedia production, outreach and awareness raising campaigns, will participate in the work of the standing committees of sections, the subjects of which reflect a complete diversity of current library business: “Bibliography,” “Subject analysis,” “Legal libraries,” “Cataloging,” “The collections replenishment and development,” “The authorities information and official publications,” etc. The issues of using the latest information technologies in the library services will be reviewed, the interaction of libraries and authorities in work on preserving the historical and cultural heritage, scientific research and their incorporation into electronic collections, offering innovative information services will be discussed.

The Presidential Library, as one of the three major national libraries in Russia and the largest information, educational, outreach and awareness raising center in the country, allays history and the latest information technologies in a sole complex. The Presidential Library is a state electronic resource, where the books, periodicals, archival historical documents, newsreels, scientific and educational movies are presented in the digital format.

Representatives of the Presidential Library have been participating in the Annual Conference of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions since 2009. In 2010, the library became a permanent member of IFLA.