April 4th, 2012, there took place the ceremony of opening a Virtual Reading Room of the Russian State Library at the library of Moldova State University, which came true due to the cooperation of the RSL and the Intergovernmental Foundation for Educational, Scientific and Cultural Cooperation (IFESCCO) within the framework of the project "DDL RSL Virtual Reading Rooms at national and higher education libraries of the CIS states" ("Vaults of Commonwealth - Libraries"). The project was destined to solve the problem of access to the collections of current and retrospective candidate's and doctor's theses and author's abstracts from DDL RSL and thus to contribute to the development of national culture, science and education, as well as to enhance the common informational environment over all of the CIS states.
The officials of the Russian State Library headed by Nina V.Avdeeva (Administrative department of management and monitoring service for clients, UFKS RSL), Tatyana A. Blinova (Department of support of access to digital resources, OPD RSL) and Artem S. Poltorykhin (Department of prospective development, OPR RSL) paid their visit to Moldova State University (the Republic of Moldova).
The Moldova State University (Universitatea de Stat din Moldova) counts 14 faculties and over 17 thousand students educated. They are offered 59 programmes within the framework of the bachelor course, 73 programmes for master's degree and 66 specialities for postgraduates. Teachers and lecturers of the university comprise 1, 400 specialists who are members of the 59 chairs. 7 research centres function at the university which include 20 laboratories for research work in diverse spheres of science and the humanities .
Before the ceremony of the VRR RSL launching, the delegates of the Russian State Library met the rector of Moldova State University doctor of physics and mathematics, professor George Chokanu. Among other attendees, there were present professor Tudor Arnaut (vice rector on social matters of Moldova State University) and Ekaterina Zasmenko (the director of the central library of Universitatea de Stat din Moldova). The parties exchanged greetings and set off discussing problems of structural changes in the university and its central library. They would also touch upon such matters as general issues and prospects of education in Moldova.
Rector of Moldova State University
Later on the ceremony of launching a VRR RSL was given a start by Tudor Arnaut (vice rector on social matters of Moldova State University). Then the participants of the event were greeted by the director of the central library of Moldova State University Ekaterina Zasmenko who thanked the IFESCCO and the Russian State Library for the chance to access the treasury of the latest scientific knowledge. The speaker was sure that would contribute to further development of cooperation between the two nations.
Tudor Arnaut, vice rector on social matters
From the IFESCCO, head of RSL UFKS Nina V.Avdeeva greeted the audience and presented her speech "Digital Dissertation Library of the Russian State Library as a leading resource for science and education". The speaker would give details on how the DDL RSL had been developed, she described the technical features of its functioning and rules of access. Ms Avdeeva would also mention the importance of the RSL and IFESCCO co-project. Then there was given information on the collections of the RSL Digital Library (that including the new ones) and the statistics access data.
Finally, vice rector on social matters of Moldova State University was handed plaque "Virtual Reading Room of the Russian State Library".
Handing the VRR RSL plaque
Thereupon, deputy head of RSL OPD and chief specialist of the DDL RSL project Tatyana A.Blinova presented her speech "Software for the Digital Dissertation Library of the Russian State Library. Antiplagiat.RSL system". Ms Blinova described the software necessary to access the leading RSL resource and introduced the new service the Russian State Library offered their readers "Testing texts for plagiarism against the DDL RSL collections with usage of the Antiplagiat system".
Tatyana A. Blinova
In conclusion, deputy director general of the National Intellectual Property Agency of the Republic of Moldova (Moldova GAIS) Ion Tsyghenash presented the speech of his which was "Copyright protection in the Republic of Moldova". The GAIS official reported on the establishment of copyright legislation and of laws concerning intellectual property rights and the adjacent rights in Moldova. The speaker focused on the problems and controversies connected with the development of the society and information technologies. Then Mr Tsyghenash described the initiatives introduced by GAIS specialists to the Government, ministries and other authorities to improve the existent legal base.
The RSL delegates answered the questions about the rules of access to the DDL RSL and on the organizational basics of starting the resource. They would also mention general copyright matters as they were in Russia and the activities of the Russian State Library in cooperating with authors and other right holders.
The event gathered 50 people plus or minus which were staff and teachers and lecturers of the university, as well as representatives of libraries of higher education institutions of Moldova. Among the quests of honour there were present Julia Semchenko, head specialist of the Russian Centre of Science and Culture in the Republic of Moldova, and professor Victor Kostetsky, project manager of the Russian Centre of Science and Culture in the Republic of Moldova.
Later on the RSL officials paid their visit to the central library of the Universitatea de Stat din Moldova. They would also drop in the Faculty of Philology of the university, Russian Philology Department and the "Russky Mir" centre.
Head of the Department of Russian Philology, candidate of Philology, associate professor Vladimir Nosov told the guests about the activities of the "Russky Mir" centre. Mr Nosov would also demonstrate the collection of the printed editions in Russian and speak about the educational process realized at the centre. He focused on the problem of studying Russian by the young.
"Russky Mir" Centre
When staying in Chisinau, the RSL delegation visited the National Council in Accreditation and Attestation of the Republic of Moldova (NSАА) and the National Library of the Republic of Moldova.
At the National Council in Accreditation and Attestation of the Republic of Moldova there was organized a meeting with its president, academician professor Valeriu Canțer and candidate of social sciences Tatyana Spataru. At the meeting there were discussed problems of development of the contemporary science and of plagiarism as well. There were also considered prospects of cooperation. In conclusion the parties would sign the agreement by which NSAA was getting able to resume its access to the Digital Dissertation Library of the RSL.
President of NSАА, academician professor Valeriu Canțer
Later on during their visit to the National Library of the Republic of Moldova, the officials of the Russian State Library had a talk with the director of the library, Mr Aleksey Reu.
At the library, due to the IFESCCO support, for the fourth year there had been provided access to the full texts of dissertations and author's abstracts from the DDL RSL collections. Thus the director of the National Library of the Republic of Moldova was handed the plaque of "Virtual Reading Room of the Russian State Library". Mr Reu pointed out the importance of the cooperation to be continued. Upon the speaker, the financial difficulties which were sort of impeding the scientific and cultural exchange between the two nations had to be once overcome. Then, the participants of the discussion focused on the matters of library acquisitions and copyright problems. They would also touch upon such issues as legal deposit copies, lack of qualified staff and the necessity of collaboration of libraries of different states at all levels.
Mr Aleksey Reu, the director of the National Library of the Republic of Moldova
The RSL delegates visited the Department of rare books after that. Head manager of the DDL RSL project Ms Nina Avdeeva demonstrated the other guests how to access the RSL collections from the virtual reading room re-opened. The speaker would choose the "Early printed books" and the "Universal collection" to present all the capabilities users could enjoy. In their turn, the specialists of the National Library of Moldova admitted the value of the resource henceforward available. They would express their gratitude to the RSL and the IFESCCO foundation without the support of which the event could not be realized.
Thus, the collaboration of the Intergovernmental Foundation for Educational, Scientific and Cultural Cooperation and the Russian State Library over the project of "Virtual reading rooms of the Digital Dissertation Library of the Russian State Library at national and higher education libraries of the CIS states" ("Vaults of Commonwealth - Libraries") fruited in one more virtual reading room of the RSL in the Republic of Moldova. The reading room launched was the first opened at the territory of a higher education library within the borders of the state.
From that time on, teachers and lecturers, students and postgraduates of the Universitatea de Stat din Moldova could enjoy access to the unique resource of the Digital Dissertation Library of the Russian State Library which would definitely contribute to the development of culture, education and science in Moldova, and which would also promote further cooperation of the academic societies of the both nations and international cooperation in a long-term prospect.