The Presidential Library - to Children

June 1 marks International Children's Day. The holiday has been held since 1950. It is aimed at protecting the rights and freedoms of children, creating for them all the conditions for full development.

The Presidential Library pays special attention to its young users. Being the largest multifunctional information, scientific, educational and cultural center, the institution implements projects with the help of which each child can receive valuable knowledge in the most convenient and interesting formats and expand their horizons.

The Presidential Library forms a national electronic resource, which digitally presents books and periodicals, archival documents, newsreels, photographs, films and much more. The volume of the electronic fund of the institution today is approaching a million storage units. Among these materials, a special place belongs to youth publications, magazines and newspapers. For example, the Presidential Library’s portal spotlights digitized issues of the magazines Murzilka for the first half of the 20th century, Pioneer, Kostyor and others. 

Fascinating multimedia lessons, virtual tours and exhibitions, educational films are available on the portal for schoolchildren. During the classes, children can analyze historical sources and scientific literature, learn about rare documents from different eras, and also check their knowledge. Multimedia lessons are devoted to the Constitution, Russian history in the works of Russian writers, the electoral systems that existed in Russia, the Decembrist uprising, the law of Ancient Russia – Russkaya Pravda, etc.

The Presidential Library also implements an educational project "Gosudarika”. Its main goal is to familiarize children with the national heritage in an accessible form, spotlighting the theory, history and practice of Russian statehood. In total, seven main sections are presented: “Presidential Chronicle”, “State Symbols”, “Constitution of Russia”, “State Power”, “Russian People”, “Territory of Russia”, “Russian Language”.

The “Video lectures” section provides recordings of performances by famous scientists and artists. For example, can learn many interesting facts about art. The lecture “Literature and theater. Images and characters. Actor’s view” reflects People’s Artist of Russia Nikolai Burov’s talks about the history of the Russian theater, the specifics of preparing actors, and writers whose works were put on stage. The history of the Russian ballet school is analyzed by the People's Artist of Russia Nikolai Tsiskaridze in the lecture “Russian ballet school: tradition and present time”. It describes in detail the training methods for future ballet dancers, the features of teaching this type of art, and current trends in the development of ballet education. In the lecture “Dance and Fate”, People's Artist of the USSR Vladimir Vasiliev shares the story of how he came to ballet, talks about classes at a choreographic school, about his first performances.

In addition, thanks to the video materials of the Presidential Library, one can get valuable information that is not in the school textbook. Thus, in the lecture “The historian reads Pushkin: The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish”, Elena Lelina, candidate of historical sciences, associate professor of the department of historical regional studies at the Institute of History of St. Petersburg State University, offers a fresh look at the well-known work of Alexander Pushkin. She tells the detailed story of the creation of "Tales of the Fisherman and the Fish", analyzes the text and reveals the meanings of many outdated words. 

The section “Video lecture to school” features videos of master classes in humanitarian subjects that were held in the Presidential Library for students of secondary schools, gymnasiums and lyceums.

Using the materials of the Presidential Library, children can visit various cultural places without leaving their homes. Virtual tours are available on the portal. For example, you can explore the nooks of the legendary cruiser Aurora, take a walk around the historical building of the Synod, where the Presidential Library is located today, remotely visit the Yulian Semenov House Museum, the State Memorial Museum of Defence and Siege of Leningrad, the Kobona: Road of Life Museum, the unique school museum “And the muses were not silent...”, to learn about a number of temporary expositions, operating at different times in the Presidential Library.

Intelligent and creative contests are held regularly for young users. For example, for students of educational institutions, the Presidential Library organized the interactive Olympiad "Russia in the Electronic World" on the history of our country, social science and the Russian language.

Cultural and educational events for children are periodically held, including the online format. On June 1, the Presidential Library's Poetry Club will hold a virtual event called “Children's Poetry Day”. From 12:00 Moscow time on the official page of the Poetry Club on the VKontakte social network, a series of videos will begin to be published, where specialists of the Presidential Library’s user service department will read children's poems from the foundation’s materials that are publicly available on the institution’s website.

At 16:00, the Presidential Library’s YouTube channel will provide a live broadcast with a children's prose writer and poet, illustrator Viktoria Toponogova.

The Presidential Library in the future plans to actively interact with the youth audience. New projects and activities aimed at enlightening and patriotic education of the young generation will be implemented.