IFLA’s "Global Vision" project

Venue: Moscow, M. I. Rudomino All-Russia State Library for Foreign Literature
Date: July 14, 2017
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On July 14, 2017 the first Russian regional self-organized meeting within IFLA’s "Global Vision" project was held to discuss how libraries can tackle the challenges of the future, opportunities and risks.

Russian regional meeting was organized by the M. I. Rudomino All-Russia State Library for Foreign Literature with the support of the Russian State Library and held under the aegis of two national library associations — the Russian Library Association (RLA) and the National Library Association "Libraries of the Future" (NALF). Among 32 participants there were two winners of the All-Russia professional contest "Librarian of the Year" (2013, 2014), leaders and librarians from Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Vladimir region, Krasnodar and Irkutsk, representatives of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, leading professional and public institutions, publishing industry and journalists. Thus, the delegates represented the interests of libraries of different types: public (national, federal, regional, municipal and rural), university, research and academic, special etc.

On the 19th of April the Russian State Library welcomed Ms. Donna Scheeder, current IFLA President, who had arrived to Russia with a professional visit, organized at the initiative of the Margarita Rudomino All-Russia State Library for Foreign Literature. During the visit Ms. Scheeder presented the new IFLA’s initiative "Global vision."

IFLA launches and facilitates this global discussion at a series of high-level meetings and workshops in different parts of the world following the kick-off event in Athens, Greece in April. The European regional workshop took place on 5–6 July 2017 in Madrid (Spain).

Participants were welcomed by Mr. Vadim Duda, Director General of the M. I. Rudomino All-Russia State Library for Foreign Literature, Vice-President of the National Library Association "Libraries of the Future" and Chair of the Section on International Relations of the Russian Library Association.

On behalf of LIBFL, NLA "LoF," RLA and his own behalf, he expressed his confidence that the future of the libraries is in the hands of the most active members of the library professional community. Mr. Duda moderated the meeting together with Svetlana Gorokhova, Head of the Centre on International Cooperation of the M. I. Rudomino All-Russia State Library for Foreign Literature, SC Member of the IFLA CPDWL Section; Larisa Suleymanova, Director of the Molchanov — Sibirsky Irkutsk Regional State Universal Research Library; and Yuriy Chernyy, Head, Centre for the Study of Problems in Informatics, Institute of Scientific Information for Social Sciences, Russian Academy of Sciences, Correspondent Member of the IFLA IT Section, who also coordinated the Russian regional meeting.

During a three-hour meeting the representatives of libraries, public and professional organizations, IFLA and RLA Sections Standing Committees and members of the National Library Association "Libraries of the Future" discussed a variety of issues, concerns and challenges to the professional library community.

The meeting followed by a wide online-survey of the Russian experts on the questions proposed by the IFLA Headquarters and translated by the IFLA Russian Language Centre at the Russian State Library.

Three main sections: "a Vision for Libraries," "Challenges to Libraries and Society" and "How a United library field can make a difference" include 13 questions (the core values of libraries, strong points of libraries, priorities of libraries, main challenges to society and libraries today etc.). According to the answers received before the meeting, top-10 was formulated. During the meeting the participants selected five most important answers to each question through a voting process. The final report was sent to the IFLA Headquarters for inclusion in the IFLA Report on the Global Vision. An online voting platform will launch on Monday 21 August during this year’s IFLA World Library and Information Congress (WLIC) in Wrocław.

The Russian State Library was represented by Eugenia Guseva, adviser to administration, member of the National Library Association "Libraries of the Future"; Liudmila Zaytseva, Head of the Planning and Reporting Department, Chair of the RLA Section on Library Management and Marketing, Corresponding Member of IFLA Section on Management and Marketing, SC Member of IFLA Section on Statistics and Evaluation; Irina Gayshun, Deputy Head of the Department of Foreign LIS and International Relations, IFLA Russian Language Centre Coordinator; Maria Neryueva, Deputy Head, Department on Interaction with Russian and CIS Libraries, Executive Director of the Non-Commercial Partnership "Library Assembly of Eurasia," SC Member of the Section on Library Services to Multicultural Populations; and Ekaterina Shibaeva, Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Executive Secretary of the Department of Periodicals, RLA Working Group "Library and Social Media" Coordinator.

Report on the event is available on the website of LIBFL.

About the IFLA Global Vision

IFLA is facilitating a Global Vision discussion through a series of high-level meetings and workshops in different parts of the world following our kick-off event in Athens, Greece, on 4 April 2017. Face-to-face and online, future-oriented conversations will be taking place throughout the year. See the Global Vision discussion website: globalvision.ifla.org for more details, and join the conversation on Twitter and Instagram using the #iflaGlobalVision hashtag.

About IFLA

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) is the leading international body representing the interests of library and information services and their users. It is the global voice of the library and information profession. Founded in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1927 at an international conference, IFLA now has over 1,350 Members in approximately 140 countries around the world. IFLA was registered in the Netherlands in 1971. The Royal Library, the national library of the Netherlands, in The Hague, generously provides the facilities for IFLA headquarters.