Digital libraries: RF Federal Penitentiary Service Academy launches unique e-library

On January 18 2011 the Academy of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia (Ryazan) launched a unique electronic library of rare editions, which brings together original pre-revolutionary editions on jurisprudence.

The Chief of the Academy’s Criminal Law Department Mikhail Melnikov said that that library was the third in Russia adding that it was opened within the framework of the presidential project “Development of innovative technologies in education”. Two other libraries are operating at the Smolensk State University and O.Ye. Kutafin Moscow State Law Academy. “Under the order of Nikolai I all books on law used to be brought to Smolensk for storage, – stressed Mikhail Melnikov, – therefore here has survived the largest archive of unique editions on jurisprudence, which formed the basis of the e-library”.

The Chief of the Department told that the e-library brought together archives of Smolensk, Moscow and Ryazan. Original books were scanned and converted into electronic format. “E-Books look like originals, you can turn pages, examine the cover and even find notes of their former owners, for example, professor Nikolai Tagantsev (1843-1923)”, he highlighted. The unique library offers free access to students and professors of the Academy of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia.