12th International research and practical conference Management of Libraries of Higher Education Institutions 20.10.2011
12th October 2011 the capital city of the Republic of Belarus met the 12th International research and practical conference “Management of Libraries of Higher Education Institutions”. The conference was timed to celebrations of the 90th anniversary of the Fundamental Library of Belarusian State University. The topic of the conference was stated as “Role of university library in forming information culture of the specialist of the 21st century”.
The conference gathered about 120 heads and specialists of public libraries and libraries of higher education institutions, information centres, publishing and book selling organizations from Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Germany and the USA.
The participants of the conference discussed different aspects of activities of university libraries. They touched upon problems of university environment and its influence on student’s views; they spoke about university environment and its impact at information culture, which, in its turn, represents a means of forming creative personalities of graduates of the 21st century. There were also considered such matters as usage of online technologies in the process of forming information culture; information resources in science and education; role of digital library in modern information medium of higher education institutions, etc.

12th October 2011 the conference was opened with greeting words by Deputy Minister of Culture of the Republic of Belarus T. Strouzhetsky, the representative of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus N. Ganouschenko, Chairman of the Commission of the Republic of Belarus for UNESCO V.Schastniy.
The official of the Russian State Library Tatyana Blinova congratulated the library of Belarusian State University on its 90th  anniversary and read out the greeting letter from CEO of the Intergovernmental Foundation for Educational, Scientific and Cultural Cooperation (IFESCCO), Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia in the Russian Federation A. Smbatian.
At the plenary meeting on the first day of the conference Olga Vladimirovna Nikulina presented her report “Innovational role of the Digital Dissertation Library of the Russian State Library (DDL RSL) in science and education of the 21st century”.

In conclusion, 14th October 2011 the representatives of the RSL held the ceremony of opening the Virtual Reading Room of the Digital Dissertation Library of the Russian State Library (VRR RSL) at the Fundamental Library of Belarusian State University (BSU) as a part of the project “Virtual Reading Rooms of the Digital Dissertation Library of the Russian State Library in national libraries and libraries of leading higher education institutions of the CIS states” within the framework of the mega – project “Vault of Commonwealth: Libraries” under the aegis of the IFFESCCO.
About 50 guests were present at the event, among which there were participants of the conference, staff members and readers from the library of the BSU.

The audience enjoyed the following speeches:



·     Greeting word of Peter Lapo, the Director of the Fundamental Library of Belarusian State University;





·     Greeting word  from the Russian State Library and presentation of the activities of the Intergovernmental Foundation for Educational, Scientific and Cultural Cooperation by Olga Nikulina;




·     Report and presentation “Digital Resources of the Russian State Library” by coordinator of the project Olga Nikulina;





·     Report and presentation “ANTIPLAGIAT – testing texts for plagiarisms against the DDL RSL” by chief specialist of the project DDL RSL Tatyana Blinova.



Opening of the VRR RSL took place at the Room of digital information resources of the Fundamental Library of Belarusian State University, that is why all the participants had an opportunity not only to listen to the reports, but also to acccess the resources of the DDL RSL themselves thus getting acquainted with its capabilities and its catalogue of dissertations and author’s abstracts. They could also learn more about the software used for viewing full texts of the DDL RSL.
After the speeches, the people present revealed their interest by asking questions not only on the resource of the Russian State Library and its prospects, but also on the possible cooperation with the RSL and organizing access to the DDL RSL for citizens from abroad.
In the end, the director of the Fundamental Library of Belarusian State University Peter Lapo was handed plaque “Virtual Reading Room of the Russian State Library” and presented with books on collections and treasures of the RSL.
Cooperation of the Russian State Library and the Intergovernmental Foundation for Educational, Scientific and Cultural Cooperation on the project “Virtual Reading Rooms of the Digital Dissertation Library of the Russian State Library in national libraries and libraries of leading higher education institutions of the CIS states” – within the framework of the mega – project “Vault of Commonwealth: Libraries” – resulted in opening one more virtual reading room in the Republic of Belarus. Now the students of the leading higher education institution of the country enjoy access to the full texts of the Digital Dissertation Library of the Russian State Library, which, in its turn, helps to enrich culture, science and education of the state.