Presidential Library to discuss the present and the future of eBooks

On November 18 2011 the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library is running a roundtable discussion on the theme “Electronic Book: Modern Technologies and Publishing”. Librarians, publishers and writers are going to answer the question: which are the prospects of eBooks and what is the demand for digital editions?

The discussion will touch upon the problems of publishing industry – Who will publish eBooks in Russia; How do eBooks influence publishing industry; How to protect such editions from illegal distribution. An important theme of the discussion will become the role of a digital library in the modern world.

Attendees are going to exchange their ideas on the matter of using eBooks in education. Specialists of the Presidential Library will speak about educational projects underway at the library, which are based on its own electronic collections, and also address new forms of work searched by libraries with an appearance of eBooks.

The particular feature of “Russia in the Digital World” interactive Olympiad is involvement of the Presidential Library’s collections. To successfully complete the tasks of the Olympiad participants need to read the books available on the library’s website in “Textbooks on the History of Russia” section.

Among participants of the meeting are: Heads of “Lan” and “Symposium” publishing companies - A. V. Nikiforov and A. K. Kononov, CEO of the company-developer of FBReader – the program for reading eBooks – A. Yu. Shmartsev, the Chairman of St. Petersburg Union of Writers - V. G. Popov. The host is CEO of the Association of Internet Publishers - V. V. Kharitonov.