17 Decemer 2015 in the capital city of the Republic of Serbia there was launched a Virtual Reading Room of the Russian State Library (VRR RSL) on the premises of the Philological Faculty of the University of Belgrade. The event came true due to the joint project of the Russian State Library and foundation “Russky Mir”.
The University of Belgrade counts its history from the year of 1808, when there was founded a lyceum in the city of Kragujevac. In 1841, the lyceum was taken to Belgrade when apart from the existing Faculty of Philosophy there was opened the Law Faculty. 24 September 1863, the lyceum was reorganized as a Higher School which could already boast of three faculties — the Faculty of Philosophy, Law Faculty and the Faculty of Technology. The university developed up to the occupation by the fascist army in 1941. The war over, in 1945 the number of the departments of the university continued growing. Under the auspices of the university there were founded universities in Novi Sad, Niš, Priština, etc. Evidently, the University of Belgrade was alma mater to nearly all the universities throughout Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia as well.
The University Library consists of the two independent libraries of the Faculties of Philology and Philosophy. The library of the Faculty of Philology includes seventeen departments divided according to the linguistic principles – Serbian Literature and Russian, Russian and South–Slovenian and General Linguistics, Slavonic Studies, Romance Studies, the Romanian Language and Literature, Italian, Iberian Studies, English, German and Scandinavian Studies, the Albanian Language and Literature, Eastern Technics, General Literature and Theory of Literature, Library and Computer Studies, Hungarian Studies. Each of the aforementioned departments purchases and stores literature, processes the books acquired, provides access to readers and performs all other librarian functions autonomously. Cooperation of the libraries of the faculty is realized by means of the COBISS system.
Interesting figures:
To participate in the opening ceremony, the Philological Faculty of the University of Belgrade was visited by the Russian delegation which included head of the RSL Administrative department of management and monitoring service for clients (UFKS) Nina Avdeeva, head of the Department of prospective development (ОРR) of the RSL Tatyana Blinova and regional director of Russian Programmes of the “Russky Mir” foundation Svetlana Shcherbakova.
The University of Belgrade counts its history from the year of 1808, when there was founded a lyceum in the city of Kragujevac. In 1841, the lyceum was taken to Belgrade when apart from the existing Faculty of Philosophy there was opened the Law Faculty. 24 September 1863, the lyceum was reorganized as a Higher School which could already boast of three faculties — the Faculty of Philosophy, Law Faculty and the Faculty of Technology. The university developed up to the occupation by the fascist army in 1941. The war over, in 1945 the number of the departments of the university continued growing. Under the auspices of the university there were founded universities in Novi Sad, Niš, Priština, etc. Evidently, the University of Belgrade was alma mater to nearly all the universities throughout Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia as well.
The University Library consists of the two independent libraries of the Faculties of Philology and Philosophy. The library of the Faculty of Philology includes seventeen departments divided according to the linguistic principles – Serbian Literature and Russian, Russian and South–Slovenian and General Linguistics, Slavonic Studies, Romance Studies, the Romanian Language and Literature, Italian, Iberian Studies, English, German and Scandinavian Studies, the Albanian Language and Literature, Eastern Technics, General Literature and Theory of Literature, Library and Computer Studies, Hungarian Studies. Each of the aforementioned departments purchases and stores literature, processes the books acquired, provides access to readers and performs all other librarian functions autonomously. Cooperation of the libraries of the faculty is realized by means of the COBISS system.
Interesting figures:
- The library of the Faculty of Philology counts over 269, 913 collection items;
- There are 15 separate reading rooms;
- Total number or readers is 16, 200, that including 1, 200 teachers and researchers and 15, 000 students;
- Annual acquisition of the collections of the library counts approximately 18, 400 items.
To participate in the opening ceremony, the Philological Faculty of the University of Belgrade was visited by the Russian delegation which included head of the RSL Administrative department of management and monitoring service for clients (UFKS) Nina Avdeeva, head of the Department of prospective development (ОРR) of the RSL Tatyana Blinova and regional director of Russian Programmes of the “Russky Mir” foundation Svetlana Shcherbakova.
Roundtable discussion at the National Library of Serbia
The guests arrived were welcomed by the dean of the Faculty of Philology of the University of Belgrade Dr. Aleksandra Vraneš. Later on there took place the guests' meeting with the following representatives of the Philological Faculty: Dr. Ljiljana Marković, vice dean for financial matters, Dr. Ljiljana Bajić, vice dean for curriculum, and Boyana Sabo, head of the Russian Centre. They discussed questions of stocking and preserving collections of the libraries of the faculty, and also the problems of education, of developing independent projects realized at the faculty, and participation of the specialists of the faculty in thematic events.
Thus, for participation in book fair in Russia, the faculty was thanked by the head of the Federal Agency for Print and Mass Communications M. Seslavinsky, and it also got a letter of appreciation from the Russian Book Union.
In conclusion the dean of the Faculty of Philology of the University of Belgrade Dr. Aleksandra Vraneš presented the Russian State Library with 31 book edited under different projects of the faculty.
In continuation of the day the Russian guests visited the National Library of Serbia. They participated in the roundtable-discussion with the following specialists of the library: Vesna Stevanović, vice head of the National Library in scientific work (head of a sector of the Virtual Library of Serbia); Ivana Nikolić, head of the Department of Selective Purchase; Miroliub Stoyanović, head of the Department of Development of Digitized National Library of Serbia in Belgrade; and Milan Svetić, head of the Department of service and development of computer and information systems. The discussion was devoted to the problems of preservation of collections of national libraries, of service for readers, of implementation of information technologies into work of libraries.
Handing a gift edition to Dr. Aleksandra Vraneš
From the Russian State Library, Nina Avdeeva presented the National Library of Serbia with a gift album on the history of the Russian State Library from 19th century and up to the modern times. The official part of the meeting having been over, the Russian guests were offered an excursion around the reading rooms of the National Library of Serbia. They were told about the history of the library and its services. They were shown its main reading room and the specialized ones.
The National Library of Serbia had been founded in 1832. It is the oldest cultural institution in Serbia. It was created as a special depository of books, then it went on developing as a library under the Ministry of Education. It managed to consolidate a number of smaller libraries, public and state authorities establishments. Then, it bought out several private libraries (Lukijan Mušicki, Josip Schlesinger), which over time grew into the National Library. The Press Law and the new National Library Act from 1919 provided the library with the status of the central state library and the right to acquire a legal deposit copy from all the territory of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. During Second World War Belgrade was intensively bombed, and the library itself was burnt to the ground. A great part of the holdings, catalogues and inventory were destroyed at that time. The reconstruction of the library holdings began during the war, and was intensified after the war.
Reading Room of the National Library of Serbia
Nowadays the National Library of Serbia is a largest and most modern centre possessing a collection of 1.5 million editions and an impressive digital collection of over 1. 200 thousand documents, among which there could be found old and rare books, literary and other manuscripts and archives, cartographic materials, sheet music and sound records, photographic documents, engravings and art materials, posters, etc. The activity of the library embraces international cooperation as well. It participates in such projects as “Europeana”, Tempus”, “IFLA”, etc.
The ceremony of opening a VRR RSL at the University of Belgrade was held in the afternoon of December 17, 2015. The event gathered over 40 participants, among whom there were: the representative of the “Russky Mir” foundation Svetlana Shcherbakova, the dean of the Faculty of Philology of the University of Belgrade Dr. Aleksandra Vraneš, the representatives of the Russian State Library, i.e. head of the UFKS Nina Avdeeva and head of the OPR Tatyana Blinova, as well as head of the Russian Centre in Belgrade Boyana Sabo, representatives of the National Library of Serbia and of the University Library, together with students, post – graduates, teachers and lecturers of the university.
The ceremony was opened by the greeting word of the dean of the Faculty of Philology Dr. Aleksandra Vraneš. From the “Russky Mir” foundation the audience was greeted by Svetlana Shcherbakova, regional director of the Russian Programmes. She handed a gift edition to Aleksandra Vraneš.
Handing a gift edition from the "Russky Mir" foundation
From the RSL, the participants were greeted by Nina Avdeeva, head of UFKS RSL and of DDL RSL project. She presented the Philological Faculty of the University of Belgrade with a gift edition of “Miortviye Dushi” (“Dead Souls”) by N.V.Gogol from the Russian State Library. Besides, Nina Vldadimirovna prepared a report with a presentation devoted to the digital resources of the Russian State Library. She also spoke about the joint project of the RSL and the “Russky Mir” foundation. Her speech concluded, Nina Avdeeva answered the questions of the audience. The interpretation of her speech into Serbian was masterfully realized by head of the Russian Centre of the University of Belgrade Ms Boyana Sabo.
In the end, the dean of the Faculty of Philology Aleksandra Vraneš was handed a “Virtual Reading Room of the Russian State Library” plaque, which witnessed the opportunity for any of the people present to access full texts of the documents of the Digital Dissertation Library of the Russian State Library (DDL RSL) at the territory of the Faculty of Philology of the University of Belgrade.
A great help with launching the VRR RSL was given by the dean of the Faculty of Philology of the University of Belgrade Aleksandra Vraneš, representatives of the RSL Nina Avdeeva and Tatyana Blinova, regional director of the Russian Programmes of the “Russky Mir” foundation Svetlana Shcherbakova and head of the Russian Centre of the University of Belgrade Boyana Sabo.
The Russian Centre created at the Faculty of Philology of the University of Belgrade is really a nook of Russian world where one can study and practice Russian. The staff of the centre prepare and hold events devoted to the Russian culture and literature, they organize different traveling exhibitions which would often take place at pre - school establishments and schools of Belgrade. They encourage children to the Russian studies, and the latter would participate in the events with great pleasure and pure interest. Thus, kindergarten "Povratak prirodi" ("Returning to Nature") presented the centre with a miniature cathedral of Pokrov Bozhiyey Materi na Rvu (Vesture of the Virgin by the Trench), or the Sobor Vassiliya Blazhennogo (Cathedral of Basil the Blessed), which is situated at the Krasnaya Ploshchad (Red Square) in Moscow. Nature concerned, children had preferred to design their masterpiece out of paper waste.