24 – 26 September, 2024, in Saint Petersburg, there took place the events of the Annual Integration Forum of Presidential Library, organized under the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, Federal Archives Agency, National Library of Russia, Russian Museum Union and Russian Library Association.

The officials of the Interregional Association for International Cooperation, librarians and specialists of archives and museums, and establishments of higher education of Russia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan gathered together to discuss the issues of integration of the cultural institutions of new Russian territories into the cultural space of the Russian Federation. They were also considering urgent matters of library life, that including traditions and innovations in the projects of preservation of cultural heritage, main specific features of the digitization processes at institutions of culture. Alongside they focused on the matters of professional training.

September 25, the specialists of the Russian State Library took part in the 15^th Research and practical conference “Cultural Heritage – Resource Integration in the Digital Environment”, which was held in a hybrid format. IT director of the Russian State Library Mr Mikhail Shubin spoke on the digital technologies at the RSL, that including those ones based on AI. He would also report the new capabilities the Russian State Library offered for its users and staff, developed to overcome the challenges library community was facing at the moment. Then Mikhail Alexandrovich considered digital projects of the RSL (such as National Digital Library, Rare and Valuable Books, NDL.Svet resource, joint projects with Yandex and the "Soviet Sports" magazine, etc.). Another matter touched upon was digital transformation at the Russian State Library and cooperation with libraries of new Russian regions.

You are welcome to watch the video of the 15^th Research and practical conference “Cultural Heritage – Resource Integration in the Digital Environment” on the RUTUBE channel of Presidential Library.

In continuation, September 26, within the framework of the forum events there was held International research and practical roundtable "National Library as a Research and Methodology Centre of the Libraries of the Nation", where the representatives of the national libraries of the Commonwealth of the Independent States discussed problems of organization of methodology and research activities of the CIS libraries, shared the acquired experience and presented successful projects aimed at preservation of cultural heritage.

From Ms Olga Liubimova, Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation, there was read out the greeting word by deputy director general of the National Library of Russia in research work Mr A. Alekseev. Other greetings were received from general secretary and head of the Secretariat of the Council of the Interparliamentary Assembly of the CIS Member States Mr D. Kobitsky (read out by Mr I. Minin) and president of Russian Library Association, the director general of the Russian State Library and president of Library Assembly of Eurasia Mr Vadim Duda. Among other speakers there should be named deputy director general of the Russian State Lirary in research and publishing work, doctor of History and associate professor Mr Alexander Samarin and head of the RSL International department, coordinator of the Russian IFLA centre and the director general of Library Assembly of Eurasia Ms Irina Gayshun.

You are welcome to watch the video of the meeting on the official website of the National Library of Russia.

All the details concerning the Annual Integration Forum of the Presidential Library can be found on the official website of the library itself.

The forum agenda is available on the link.