A development of the library business in the armed forces of the Russian Federation was discussed in the Presidential Library discussed

On November 23, 2017, at the round table in the Presidential Library focused on the “Army libraries: yesterday, today, tomorrow” were discussed the further development of librarianship in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The Department of Culture of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation organized the event jointly with the Presidential Library.

Representatives of army and navy libraries, military units, archives, museums, and publishing houses all got together at 3 Senate Square. The specialists of the Presidential Library introduced the guests to various collections of the electronic library, the technology of converting the documents into digital format, a use of electronic resources in the military-patriotic education of the youth, as well as with the possibilities of the new Internet resource of the Presidential Library.

One of the priorities of the Presidential Library is the building of an electronic resource, the content of which is reflecting the history of Russian statehood. A special place in the library stock belongs to the subjects relating to the war and military theme. There are some such collections n the Presidential Library website: 1917, The Patriotic War of 1812, The Russian-Japanese War of 1904—1905, The First World War (1914—1918), Memory of the Great Victory, Soviet-Japanese War of 1945. These selections contain different types of resources: the paperbacks, archive files dissertations and author’s abstracts, printed press from the before and after the revolution, illustrative materials, such as the maps, photographs, postcards, audio and video sources.

The Presidential Library is actively developing cooperation with the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. The agreements on cooperation already have been signed with more than 50 institutions and organizations subordinate to the federal executive body, and as many are connected to the information resources of the Presidential Library. Two electronic reading rooms are completely functional in the facilities of Sevastopol Presidential Cadet School and in the Tula Suvorov Military School.

Among our partners are the Military History Museum of Artillery, Engineer and Signal Corps, the Central Naval Library, the Naval Academy named after the Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union N. G. Kuznetsov, the principal military universities of the country and many others. One of the five external sites, where the transportable scanning complexes of the Presidential Library are located, is in the Military History Museum of Artillery, Engineers and Signal Corps. During the time of cooperation, the museum handed over to the Presidential Library for digitization about 2,000 materials: the books, the photographs, and the archival documents. More than 2500 copies came from the Central Naval Library, about 4200 — from the editorial office of the “Krasnaya Zvezda” (lit. red star) newspaper. Overall, about 9,000 evidences from the institutions and organizations subordinate to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation were offered to the Presidential Library.

Alternatively, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and the Presidential Library regularly hold joint events. Among them: Day of the Naval Knowledge, Day of the Best Teacher of the Higher Military Educational Establishment, as well as the conferences, seminars, webinars, forums, public video lecturing related to the army theme of various status. Such high-level events as the meeting of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, a grand reception in honor of the 320th anniversary of the establishing of the regular Russian Navy by Emperor Peter I, a reception in honor of the 190th anniversary of foundation of the Navigation and Oceanography Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Russia and others, which was held in the Presidential Library, worth a special mentioning.