The Presidential Library attended the International Library Congress in Republic of Belarus

From October 19-20, 2023 the X International Congress “The Library as a Cultural Phenomenon” was held in Minsk marking the Year of Peace and Creation declared in Republic of Belarus. The Presidential Library’s delegation attended the events of the congress.

“We are glad that our cooperation is developing and strengthening. We are connected by common goals and objectives to form a single information space in the field of the history of Russian and Belarusian statehood, to strengthen citizenship and patriotism among young people”, - noted Director General of the Presidential Library Yuri Nosov in his speech opening of the congress.

At the plenary session, Yuri Nosov spoke about a number of new educational projects implemented in the Year of Teachers and Mentors by the Presidential Library together with strategic partners, in particular the Academy of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation. This is the  participation in the development of unified history textbooks for senior pupils in Russia which included Internet links (QR-) to the information resources of the Presidential Library; transfer to the Digital Educational Content Library of more than 300 materials on the history of the two world wars of the 20th century; implementation of the electronic project Presidential Library for Teachers: Training Using Primary Sources; holding a Contest of pedagogical projects The Future of the Fatherland in the Hands of a Teacher; implementation of a project to improve the skills of library staff and teachers; development of the program “Educational potential of information resources of the Presidential Library” for teachers of the humanities and specialists of school library centers; preparation, together with the MGIMO Gorchakovsky Lyceum, of 28 video lessons from leading teachers of Russia about the events of 1933–1945 based on the Collection of Digitized Archival Documents, Film and Photo Materials “World War II in Archive Documents”, available on the library’s portal as well as other projects.

The Presidential Library is the first library of Russia where library, archival and museum storage resources are combined in a single catalogue. Yulia Selivanova, acting director of the department for library interaction, told her colleagues about the experience of presenting archival documents in library catalogs.

The International Congress “Library as a Cultural Phenomenon” was attended by managers and specialists of libraries, museums, archives, research organizations, educational institutions, publishing houses, representatives of government agencies and public organizations.

The organizers of the event are the Ministry of Culture of Republic of Belarus, the Ministry of Information of the Republic of Belarus, the National Library of Belarus, co-organizer - the Interstate Foundation for Humanitarian Cooperation of the Member States of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

During the visit of the Presidential Library's delegation to Republic of Belarus on October 18, 2023, an agreement was signed with the Academy of Public Administration under the aegis of the President of Republic of Belarus. The Academy also opened a remote access center to information resources of the Presidential Library.

On the same day, electronic reading rooms of the Presidential Library were opened in key libraries of Republic of Belarus – the Pushkin Minsk Regional Library, the Gorky Brest Regional Library, the Lenin Vitebsk Regional Library, the Lenin Mogilev Regional Library, the Orsha Centralized Library System, the Yanka Kupala Central Library and the  Slutsk District Central Library.

Also on October 18, 2023, the Presidential Library's delegation met with the leadership of the Presidential Library of Republic of Belarus and learned about the institution's activity. 

On October 20, 2023 a working visit of the Presidential Library's delegation was held to the Minsk Theological Academy named after St. Cyril of Turov of the Belarusian Orthodox Church, where a remote electronic reading room of the library was opened at the beginning of the year.