Minister of culture Olga Lyubimova opened a large online conference dedicated to the Russian Day of libraries. The head of the Ministry of culture congratulated industry workers on their professional holiday and expressed hope that soon the library will begin to return to normal life after the quarantine.
Director General, Russian state library, Vadim Duda said the Library will come out of quarantine and the difficulties the industry face due to the pandemic.
– We have already sent the roadmap to the Ministry of culture that is going to do Leninka. We hope to be able to do something in June – says Duda. It is very important to take care of the state assignment. You need to consider the redistribution of key indicators and extrabudgetary revenues. They will suffer greatly in many libraries.
the CEO of the RSL focused on the implementation of the national project on creation of model libraries that have emerged across the country: from the Far East to the European part of Russia. This intellectual and educational centres equipped with the latest technology. The head of the Lenin library said: was afraid that the stacks will not start or will be similar to each other. The fears were not confirmed. A new library of original work, tailored to local context, and modern. In 2019 134 library has purchased half a million books. Moreover Duda admitted that many libraries in dekorativny period not be closed during specified hours, because the readers just didn’t want to leave, so they had to work in the renovated space. Significantly increased the number of volunteers who organize events at libraries. However, challenges remain.
– In Russia today about 36 thousand of municipal libraries and many of them are far from ideal – says the General Director of the Lenin library – the library community often turns for help to fix the leaky roof or to allocate investments in the renewal of the library, but it’s the solution of current problems, and we need a systemic modernization of the library network. Lacks proper resource funding. All because there is not always a clear understanding of the authorities and libraries. In the “Strategy of the Russian library sector by 2030” we need to find this understanding.
About the development of this strategy along with the Deputy head of the Ministry of culture Olga Alloway earlier in an interview with “MK” was mentioned by the President of the Russian library Association Mikhail Afanasyev.
In turn, the head of the Federal Agency for press and mass communications, Chairman of the National Union of bibliophiles, Mikhail Seslavinsky noted that last year in Russia came 15170 books aboutbsim with a circulation of four hundred and thirty-five million copies. It’s half a per cent less than in 2018. It is particularly sad that decreases the publication of the fiction and children’s literature, but, according to the head of Rospechat, the situation is not tragic, as there are home libraries. Today, in the country of 5 thousand publishing houses and 5 thousand hundred bookstores. They are now in a difficult position. But in the last two months there has been a sharp increase in sales of electronic versions of books.
I remember my childhood, – said Seslavinskiy, then in the city of Dzerzhinsk, Nizhny Novgorod region, I was recorded in the 5-6 libraries and children’s and adults. This is a unique, fabulous world, and our task is to ensure that the younger generation went to the library, he loved books and reading.
