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By Monika Segbert - February 2002
In December 2001 the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, based in New York, approved the funding of a new project in the Russian State Library (RSL) in Moscow. The project will have a life time of 18 months, and a budget of $ 1,2 million. It will build on the results of the TACIS project ‘Creation of an Information System of the Russian State Library’ (1998-2000) and will be managed by the British Council in Russia. Monika Segbert reveals all.
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The aim of the project is to support the modernisation of the RSL to become one of the leading digital libraries of the world, and to improve Russian and international users’ access to the information resources of the library. The project will consist of 5 closely interrelated components:
The EU – Tacis financed project “Creation of an Information System for the Russian State Library” resulted in an OPAC of some ½ million records covering parts of the 19th catalogue of Russian writers, dissertations, the catalogue of foreign books and recent acquisitions as from 1998. This is only a beginning in a library of this size, but a good basis to build on. This component will result in electronic cataloguing records of relevant literature from Russia of the last 20 years, which is the material most in demand. This will open up world-wide access to the bulk of Russian publications from 1980 onwards; it will also be the pre-condition for the automation of the circulation of items within the library (see component 4) which will greatly facilitate local use.
The project will use the files of the Russian Book Chamber from 1980 – 1998 to create 1 million machine readable bibliographic records in MARC21 format.
The Russian State Library houses a number of special collections, which contain rare items of interest to Russian and foreign scholars. The collection most in demand by scholars visiting the RSL is the collection of music scores. This collection is consulted by some 9000 users per annum, who request 40 000 items for consultation. Statistical evidence shows that 95% of these users come from the scholarly community. The collection has a unique value in that 60% of items are from Russian composers and composers from the former Soviet states, such as Ukraine, Belarus, Tadjikistan etc. The catalogue contains some 380 000 records.
Currently the up to 5000 daily users of the RSL, the majority of which come from the education and research community, have to wait several hours until the books requested by them are delivered, or indeed only to find out that the book is on loan. The creation of electronic records of the RSL collections most in demand, e.g. the last 20 years, and the collection of musical scores, will create the electronic pre-requesite to start implementing the automated circulation module of the Aleph 500 integrated library software acquired under the Tacis project.
The main goal of this component is to ensure maximum benefit from the investment in the project by addressing management issues related to the introduction of new technologies in a series of workshops for senior and middle management of the Library, predominantly those directly or indirectly involved in the project.
The methodologies, processes and results that will be defined, applied and created in the course of this project will be of interest well beyond the Russian State Library, for example to the professional community in Russia, to national libraries and other major libraries in the former Soviet Union States, and to major libraries in other countries with special interest in the expanded access to the RSL collections. An international conference envisaged for Spring 2003 will present and discuss the progress and results of the projects.
[1] The Mellon-funded project builds on the results of a project awarded in 1998 by the EU Tacis programme, “Creation of an Information System for the Russian State Library”; this project resulted in the selection of an integrated library system (Aleph 500), the implementation of the WebOPAC and online cataloguing, the creation of a catalogue database of ½ million records through retroconversion, the purchase and installation of hard- and software, and extensive staff training. The main goal of this project was to start opening access to the collections of the Library to national and international scholars. This project finished in May 2001.
[2] The Russian State Library, the former Lenin Library (fondly known as Leninka), is the national library of Russia, the largest library of Europe and the second largest in the world, holding over 42 million items. The Library has grown from the private book collection of count N.P. Rumyantsev (Chancellor of the Russian Empire) which he bequeathed to the nation for the purposes of “good education”. In 1831 the library, archive and museum collections of Rumyantsev were opened to the public in his St. Petersburg house. At that time the total size of the library collection was 28200 volumes and 710 manuscripts. In 1861 both the Museum and the Library were transferred to Moscow.
From its very beginning, the library has received a copy of all Russian books, newspapers and journals and its holdings have expanded to include private collections of prominent statesmen and scientists. In 1918 after the capital of the country was moved to Moscow, the Rumyantsev library became the main library of the country. In 1925 the library was renamed the V.I. Lenin State Library of the USSR and acquired the status of the national library of all Soviet states. In 1992 the library was renamed the Russian State Library, retaining its status as a national library, alongside the National Library in St. Petersburg.
The Library is unique in comprehensiveness and universality of its collections, which now contain some 42 million items: it has a rich collection of manuscripts starting form the 6th century; the collections contain archives, personal collections and autographs of prominent figures in Russian culture; special collections include such rare cultural heritage as old photographs, etching, cinema posters, rare maps with fine drawings, albums, precious musical scores. The Oriental Centre of the Library is famous for its Chinese and Japanese collections.
The Library also fulfils the functions of a public library, welcoming up to 5 000 visitors and circulating up to 35 000 items daily; over half of the users come from the academic community.
[3] THE ANDREW W. MELLON FOUNDATION, is a Not-for-Profit Corporation under the laws of the State of New York. The purpose of the Foundation is to "aid and promote such religious, charitable, scientific, literary, and educational purposes as may be in the furtherance of the public welfare or tend to promote the well-doing or well-being of mankind."
Under this broad charter, the Foundation currently makes grants on a selective basis to institutions in higher education; in cultural affairs and the performing arts; in population; in conservation and the environment; and in public affairs.
[4] The overall management of the project will be undertaken by The British Council, Development and Training Services (DATS). DATS is a project management agency, which delivers technical assistance and project management services to multilateral donors such as the European Commission, the World Bank and the UK Department for International Development. The British Council is committed to library and information development and has extensive world-wide experience of managing library and information projects, and has worked with the Russian State Library since the early 1990s. In 1993 the British Council organised familiarisation visits for eight senior RSL staff to several European libraries. This initiative was funded by the EC and managed by the British Council. In 1994-1995 the British Council also managed a consultancy which resulted in the production of a report 'The Russian State Library: Planning for automation, 1995 - 2005 (Project definition report)' funded by the EC DG XIII. Between December 1998 and January 2000, the British Council successfully managed the implementation of the European Commission funded project “Creation of an Information System for the Russian State Library”.
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Monika Segbert MBE FLA(hon) Dipl.Bibl.
Project Management and Consultancy
Via Fondiglie 5-7
60030 Rosora (An)
Italy
info@monikasegbert.com
http://www.monikasegbert.com>
Monika Segbert provides advice and management expertise to multi-national projects in the cultural sector. She currently works with the Soros Foundation's Open Society Institute in Budapest to create a multi-country consortium of library consortia in 40+ countries to harness their buying power for affordable access to electronic journals and with DG Information Society of the European Commission to co-ordinate 25 new projects trialling the application of new ICT's in libraries, museums and archives in the EU and the new accession states of Central and Eastern Europe.
From 1998 - 2000 she was based in Moscow as the team leader of the EU -Tacis project for the Creation of an Information System for the Russian State Library. From 1995 -1998 she worked with the European Commission DGXIII Telematics for Libraries programme, with primary responsibility for developing research cooperation for the sector with the new accession countries. Prior to that Monika Segbert served in the British Council in Germany as Head, Libraries, Information and Books.
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For citation purposes:
Segbert, M. "News from the Russian State Library", Cultivate Interactive, issue
6, 11 February 2002
URL: <http://www.cultivate-int.org/issue6/eifl/>
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