The purpose of the article is to reveal, in the genre of a personal interview, the opinion of the Director General of the Russian State Library, V.V. Duda, about the challenges that cultural heritage institutions face today, without which it is impossible to form the identity of the peoples of Russia. The peculiarity of the current moment lies not only in the need to perform its traditional function of collecting, preserving and making available the books and documents stored in the library, but also in modernization, taking into account the possibilities of digitalization, acceleration of traditional processes, diversity of services and increasing the level of comfort in serving users.

The use of the interview method has certain advantages in the context of social transformation, as it is essentially a method of qualitative analysis of the situation. Targeted questions focus on specific areas of the library’s activities in the development of artificial intelligence, digital bibliography, the importance of constant contact and discourse between humanities scholars and IT staff. What kind of specialists should work in a library today, what should be the system of library staff training, how and what can help libraries in new territories, how to be creative but remain on the foundation of traditional values and creativity — these and other questions were echoed in V.V. Duda’s answers.

It is important to emphasize the need to unite the efforts of the library community within the framework of the Russian Library Association, to increase its organizational role and project activity in solving the state task of developing the country’s intellectual capital.

Some published and purely pessimistic scenarios for the development of Russian libraries are analyzed, based, among other things, on the statistics of printed book publishing in Russia, as well as on official data on the annual reduction in the number of public libraries. The one-sided and technocratic interpretation of the library as one of the information and communication channels that cannot compete with the Internet is fruitless. Long-standing predictions about the sad future of traditional libraries and printed book publishing have not been confirmed in practice. Book culture and book business in general, and books and libraries as their main subject and object in particular, are multifaceted. Printed and electronic books in modern conditions are increasingly acting not as antagonists, but mutually complement and enrich each other in the interests of the producer (author or publisher) and the end user (reader or buyer). The rejection of communist ideology and the change of technologies in the book world cannot diminish the socio-cultural role and humanistic significance of libraries as centers of personal development reading and education of a person able to navigate the information field. The library should not only provide free access to information, but also contribute in every possible way to the formation of socially significant knowledge. The problem of finding, critically evaluating and selecting high quality information becomes more acute every year. It is the library that has special opportunities in the practical training of its readers in these skills, i. e. to save the most valuable resource — time. Reliable state support is needed; this is the key to the further existence and development of libraries in Russia.

The results of monitoring 106 universities — participants of the Priority-2030 programme to determine the popularity and scientific significance of the content of domestic repositories are presented. Among them only 40 institutional repositories of universities were found, it was revealed that 20 of them are closed for a remote user. In 12 repositories, statistical information about the use of their content was found and the following indicators were searched and analyzed: number of views, downloads, citations, evaluations, mentions in social networks. It was found that domestic repositories do not use altmetrics services from commercial aggregators. Half of the repositories provide information on the number of views and downloads of internal repository counters. In six repositories, some information could be found through links to external sources where the full text of the publication is available: journal and conference websites, and scientometric databases. However, these sources, with the exception of publications in foreign periodicals, provide only internal statistics. The study of quantitative indicators of internal counters of repositories and scientometric databases gave uneven results.

More complete data on the demand for some repository objects could be established on publications posted on the websites of foreign journals, since most of them use Altmetric or PlumX altmetric services that aggregate information from various sources. However, the quantitative indicators of this data show an inactive utilization of domestic publications abroad.

The study reveals that altmetric metrics are poorly represented in repositories. Internal counters do not provide complete information on the demand for materials from institutional repositories, and altmetric services from commercial aggregators are hardly used. At the same time, the use of altmetric services PlumX and Altmetric provides more complete information for evaluating and adjusting the strategy of research promotion by universities.

In recent decades libraries have faced global societal and technological challenges. At the same time, the state support of Russian librarianship is increasing. Libraries have every opportunity for development, they are becoming even more in demand and modern.

The Russian Government Order No. 608-r of March 13, 2021 approved the “Strategy for the Development of Librarianship in the Russian Federation until 2030”, which served as a powerful impetus for the improvement of the country’s libraries. “Strategy...” is aimed at comprehensive development of librarianship, modernization of the library system of Russia, preservation and replenishment of library collections, expansion of free and equal access of citizens to information, improvement of the quality of library staff training, introduction of information technologies. The need for scientific and methodological support of library activities is also taken into account. In 2022, the professional standard “Specialist in Library and Information Activities” was approved, which establishes unified requirements for the content and quality of professional activities of specialists in all functional areas of the library.

Federal and regional libraries as focal points for other types and kinds of libraries accepted the challenge to change and revised their activities.

The library network of the Republic of Tatarstan includes 1508 libraries. The state programme “Development of Culture of the Republic of Tatarstan” was adopted in the region. The experience of the Republican Youth Library as a methodological and coordinating center of libraries of the Republic of Tatarstan working with youth, as well as a project office for the creation of model municipal libraries in the Republic of Tatarstan is presented.

The article is devoted to scientific, exhibition and collecting activities of Mikhail Vadimovich Seslavinsky, candidate of historical sciences, full member of the Russian Academy of Arts, leader of the modern Russian bibliophile community, Chairman of the Council of the National Union of Bibliophiles. His scientific and popular science works in the field of book history, bibliography, art of the book, history and modern state of Russian bibliophilia are analyzed (in total — more than 40 book publications, including major monographic works, about 300 articles, reports, notes, publications of documents, as well as interviews with figures of the book and bibliophile world). The scholar has made a significant contribution to the study of the history of bookbinding, Russian children’s books, the work of Russian artists-emigrants in France, the book heritage of poets and artists of the Silver Age (O.E. Mandelstam, M.I. Tsvetaeva, A.A. Akhmatova, A.N. Benois) and many other topics. He also proposed original approaches to the definition of book rarities that came out from under the printing press in the twentieth century.

Large-scale exhibition projects prepared on the basis of his personal bibliophile collection were considered. The role of M.V. Seslavinsky as the creator and head of the National Union of Bibliophiles, chairman of the editorial board of the journal “About Books” was noted.

The experience of the Russian State Library in cooperation with the libraries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) member states in developing a document regulating cross-border co-operation is presented. It shows the stages of updating the “Concept of Information and Library Space Formation on the Basis of Cross-border Libraries of the CIS Member States” (2009) within the framework of the long-term interstate project of the Eurasia Library Assembly on creation of the normative and conceptual basis of interlibrary cooperation in the CIS. The “Concept...” is harmonised with the universally recognised principles and norms of international law. It reflects the process of inclusion of libraries of border regions of CIS member states in co-operation with libraries of neighbouring countries. Specialists of CIS libraries took an active part in the development of the document. The Concept of Development of Library and Information Space on the Basis of Cross-Border Libraries of CIS Member States (2023) clarifies the purpose and some basic concepts related to the activities of libraries in cross-border cooperation. The definition of “library and information space on the basis of cross-border libraries of the CIS member states” was developed, which is considered as a system of interacting subjects — libraries, library networks, library associations, library staff. The aim of library and information space development is to provide conditions for strengthening interregional and cross-border co-operation. Libraries create and promote various information resources, organise library and information services for the multinational population of border areas to enhance intercultural and professional communication. In the document 2023 the possibilities of subjects of interlibrary cooperation are expanded at the expense of interregional cooperation. The following are defined as subjects of the library and information space: publicly accessible border libraries of the CIS member states, central universal libraries of the border regions, national libraries of the CIS member states. The updated “Concept...” shows the tasks and principles of development, mechanisms and expected results of its implementation. The role of the CIS coordinating bodies in the formation of legislative and regulatory framework for the libraries of the CIS member states is important. Prospects for improving this base lie in the regulation of interregional and cross-border co-operation. To strengthen cooperation it is necessary to reveal the intercultural potential of the CIS member states, to provide scientific and methodological support to cross-border libraries, etc.

The Annual Meeting of Heads of Federal and Central Regional Libraries of Russia was held in Moscow on November 28—29, 2023. The event was organized by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the Russian State Library and the Russian National Library. The Russian State Children’s Library took part in the preparation and holding of the meeting.

The participants of the largest forum in the industry were heads and specialists from all eight federal districts of Russia (Central, North-West, South, North Caucasus, Volga, Ural, Siberian, Far East). Colleagues from the Donetsk People’s Republic, Lugansk People’s Republic, Zaporozhye region and Kherson region made presentations. 77 regions of the Russian Federation were represented at the meeting. Specialists from the Republic of Serbia were also participants in the event. The meeting was held in a hybrid format, allowing for both in-person and remote participation. Over the two days of its work, 300 in-person participants and 3,724 remote participants were registered.

The main theme of the Annual Meeting of Heads of Federal and Central Regional Libraries of Russia 2023 was “Working together to create a successful future for libraries: sectoral projects, interaction, integration, sharing best practices”. The programme included five main thematic blocks: “Together. Integration of libraries of the new subjects of the Russian Federation into the library space of the country: plans and ongoing projects”, seminar-meeting “Educational and personnel policy of the industry”, “Development of the library fund: acquisition, disclosure, preservation”, “Digital transformation, artificial intelligence, neural networks for libraries, formation of the Russian electronic knowledge space”, “Modernization of libraries”.

The topics discussed and the number of participants in the meeting in recent years testify to the increasing consolidation of the industry and the unflagging interest in this event.

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