RUSSIAN STATE LIBRARY was founded in 1862. It took over 140 years of everyday effort and devotion of hundreds of staff to become what we are now — the legendary 'Leninka'. Today the Library comprises a unique collection of Russian and foreign documents in 247 languages, stocking over 43 mln library units. It is also renowned for its specialised collections of maps, published and sheet music, audio records, rarities, dissertations, newspapers and other stock categories. Inspired by its history and backed up with today’s potential, the Library is emerging into the future along the four strategic vectors.
Going public
— Anyone above the age of 18 (Russian legal age), whether a resident or not, is welcome to use any of its 34 reading rooms.
— About 200 new readers come to register with RSL every day. The overall number of daily RSL visitors mounts to 4000. The RSL Virtual Reading Halls are available in 80 Russian and CIS cities and are attended by about 8000 visitors daily.
— For over 140 years the Library has been providing its resources to a widest variety of readers: world-reputed scholars as well as students, both practical specialists and fundamental theorists, residents and visitors from abroad.
— Though really immense, RLS stock is perfectly visible through the elaborate system of its catalogues and card-indexes. There is also free public access to RSL’s on-line e-catalogue, which has been launched recently and is continuously extending.
— To promote public interest for reading, RSL hosts regular educational and cultural events, bringing together scholars, writers, artists and actors and their audiences at book presentations, readers' conferences, public talks and concerts.
Going academic
— RSL is a hub research institution in the system of library, bibliography and book trade studies.
— The Library consistently carries out preparatory works on cumulative Russian book catalogues and publishes fundamental researches and practical guides in bibliography.
— RSL researchers are leaders or major contributors into the relevant nation-wide projects, such as «The Memory of Russia», «Identifying, cataloguing and safe-guarding book monuments of the Russian Federation», «Co-ordinated acquisition of 'Rossica' heritage materials for Russian library stocks», «National stock of legal and public state documents»
— As a part of its scholarly activities RSL runs unique research and applied projects for preservation and restoration of documents.
— Since 2007 RSL is a regular contributor into development of The President’s 'Boris Yeltsin' Library.
Going digital
Strategically driven by promoting a wider public access to its stocks, RSL has been running a range of digital projects aimed at preservation of its heritage — texts, data bases, audio and video records, films and images — in digital formats. Consequently a substantial proportion of RLS stock has been recently digitalised. In 2003 RSL also acted as an initiator of the «National E-Library Project» and set up a unique e-collection of dissertations for degrees.
Going international
Russian State Library boasts of long-term work connections with peer-libraries around the globe as well as with the relevant international bodies, such as International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), International Organisation for Standardization (ISO) and UNESCO. In 2003 the Library instigated founding of the Library Assembly of Eurasia, an effective mediator, binding major CIS libraries into common information space.
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The Ninth International Scientific Conference «The Digital Age of Culture» will be held in the village of Listvyanka of Irkutsk region on the picturesque shores of Lake Baikal, from the 13th to the 17th of September, 2010. The organizers of the conference are the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, Russian State Library, the Main Information and Computing Centre of the Ministry of Culture of Russia and the Foundation of ''The Digital Age of Culture «. The main topics of this year will be «Digital resources of culture — the freedom of access and copyright," and «The level of information in Institutions of Higher Education — the basis for future professional success." The DAC site opened the registration of the conference members.
From the 22nd to the 24th September 2010 in Volgograd, there will be held a VII All-Russian meeting of the heads of information services for Culture and Arts. The working meetings will be attended by experts from the departments of culture from several regions of Russia, provincial and municipal libraries, university professors, heads of theatres, museums, archives, representatives from information centers as well as guests from the U. S., Germany, Denmark and Kazakhstan. It will be first time that the problem of information support of regional cultural policy is reviewed with the participation of such a broad range of specialists.
March 31, 2011 the Federal Agency for the Press and Mass Communications, in conjunction with the RSL will hold the first international scientific conference ’Bibliophilia and private collections’. There will be a great deal of material devoted to private collections of old books, their owners and particular issues on the history of bibliophilia.
The invited parties are: owners of private collections of old books, antique business experts, such specialists as the employees of libraries, museums, archives, science and research institutes, universities, publishing houses, as well as government representatives, NGOs and the media.
Documents are accepted before November 1, 2010.
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