Vladimir Medinsky: “The Ministry of Culture to support initiatives of the Presidential Library”

Following the meeting of the Organizing Committee of the II St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum in the Presidential Library on November 15, 2013 took place a press conference with participation of Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Olga Golodets, the Minister of Culture of Russia Vladimir Medinsky, vice-governor of St. Petersburg Vasily Kichedzhi, director of the State Hermitage Museum Michael Piotrovski, director and artistic director of the Maly Drama Theater - Theater of Europe Lev Dodin.

As noted, the forum will be a major strategic dominant of development of culture in Russia, will attract many foreign visitors and will appear on the top grounds of St. Petersburg. There will be held round tables and discussions and in theaters and museums, they will be attended by leaders of government and industry leaders.

The forum will be attended by 1,500 people, and, according to the Minister of Culture of Russia, the audience has to be increased at the expense of Internet space.

“The Cultural Forum will be broadcasted live at the web site, and now I propose to the city administration to get online not only plenary session, but all meaningful discussions. In addition, we will give all forum recordings to Presidential Library so that they can be available to interested persons during the year, as it will have a conversation about the future of culture. And the discussions should be as large as possible, with the involvement of the regions and the public”, - said Vladimir Medinsky.

According to him, the development of the Presidential Library and its work as a multifunctional platform can become a concept of web cultural forum development, its access to the global network. “We will support any initiative of the Presidential Library, with which we have active and fruitful cooperation, including this direction”, - assured the minister.

Located in a historic building of the Synod building, the Presidential Library has not accidentally been chosen to host one of the meetings of the organizing committee on preparation and conducting of the II St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum.

This underlines the high public interest in the development of the first national electronic repository of the country, the recognition of innovation in educational, cultural, exhibition and research activities of the Presidential Library. Today, it is unparalleled in Russia and in most areas it reflects advanced foreign technology innovation, information, cultural and educational center.

The Presidential Library in digital form features books and periodicals, archival documents, audio and video recordings, photographs, dissertations and other materials that reflect the long history of the Russian state, the theory and practice of law, as well as the development of the Russian language as the state language of the Russian Federation.

During its work, starting in 2009, the Presidential Library electronic collection reached about 280,000 units. At the heart of the collection are unique books, documents, photographs and newsreels. Prior to the establishment of the Presidential Library, they were available only to a limited number of specialists. In the center of scanning with unique equipment is carried out digitization of rare historic documents, as well as microfilm digitizing.

The presentation of the Presidential Library’s collections in the Internet allows you to get acquainted with the materials of the maximum number of people. As a nation-wide data warehouse, the Presidential Library is aimed at maximum public attention to its work. Openness, accessibility and creating opportunities for large-scale implementation of the most serious educational and research projects are the main landmark of the Presidential Library.

Every month cinema club meetings are held, where people discuss films in live mode, most of which just go to rent or undeservedly become forgotten, as well as other information in the field of preservation of knowledge of Russian and organizations access to them in the digital space. It is organized a daily broadcast of documentary and educational films at the web site, as well as video lectures in live mode.

The Presidential Library is an organizer and a platform for scientific and cultural events - workshops, conferences related to the subject of the library, business meetings and international summits, presenting state awards ceremonies and concerts.

In the cultural sphere the Presidential Library is an integrator of resources of museums, archives and private collections. The collections of electronic storage are filled in collaboration with more than 30 subjects of the Federation, 60 regional libraries, universities and archives. There are agreements on development cooperation with them. At libraries and schools for users are opened over 40 access points to the electronic resources of the Presidential Library.

The Presidential Library is represented in 16 countries abroad, including Spain, Italy, China, Finland, Great Britain, Hungary, Laos and Palestine.