11th International Congress "Library as a Cultural Phenomenon"

A prominent event of the library life of the year of 2024 turned out to be the 11^th international congress "Library as a Cultural Phenomenon" which took place this autumn at the National Library of Belarus. It was dedicated to the 80^th anniversary of the liberation of Belarus from Nazi invaders.

Over 400 specialists from Russia and Belarus, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, China, India, Serbia, Mali, Turkey and other countries of Europe, Asia and Africa gathered together to discuss a wide circle of professional matters of library business, beginning with legal issues and up to informational culture of users of the 21^st century.

On the first day of the congress events there were held section meetings “Library as a place for storing historical memories about the Great Patriotic War”, “Electronic resources and services for science and education”, and roundtable “Electronic libraries – from digitization to providing remote access”. The second day witnessed section meetings “Library and science – cooperation and prospects”, “Project initiatives and social and cultural practices of the establishments of culture and education”. All in all there were presented approximately 100 reports. Then, during the congress days, there were also held master classes and exhibitions of publishing productions, electronic information resources and services.

The Russian State Library was represented by deputy director general of the RSL in research and publishing work, doctor of History and associate professor Alexander Samarin with his speech “Preservation of historical memory in publishing projects of the Russian State Library in 2023–2024“, head researcher Svetlana Menshchikova with ”Virtual assistance services of national libraries in the CIS”, and, of course, the director general of the RSL, president of Russian Library Association and of Library Assembly of Eurasia Vadim Duda, who addressed the attendees of the congress with a greeting speech.

Steams of all the congress events are available on the official YouTube channel of the National Library of Belarus or on the website of the establishment .

The “Library as a Cultural Phenomenon” international congress has been held since the year of 2014. Among its co-organizers are the Intergovernmental Foundation for Educational, Scientific and Cultural Cooperation (IFESCCO) and Library Association of Belarus.