The library community has sent an open letter to the President against the merger of the RSL and RSL. The future of the National Library of Russia and the Russian State Library: together or apart? Petition against the destruction of the Russian national library

A little earlier, RBA President V. Firsov, causing the library community to worry about a long silence, said that "merging libraries as one legal entity, from my point of view, is inappropriate", after all "By and large, it is the RNB that is an integral element of Russian civilization." Let's remember that it was this - historical and cultural - argument that was voiced in the very first speeches of respected professors: A. Mazuritsky, A. Sokolov, V. Leonov, Yu. Stolyarov. Two Muscovites and two Leningraders-Petersburgers, whose total experience of library service is almost equal to the age of the National Library of Russia! It was they who were the first to point out the very absurdity of raising the question of uniting national libraries. Everyone who decided to publish their opinion in the media expressed their position unequivocally: “We are against the merger!” 310 employees of the National Library of Russia sent a letter to the President of the Russian Federation with a request to look into the current situation and protect the National Libraries from incompetent administrative interference.

From the position of the law, it is possible to merge the RSL and the NLR by merging (creating a new legal entity) or joining. In reality, another metropolitan "absorption" may occur. Petersburg will get the "tail" of the new organization. The National Library of Russia will cease to exist in its status, its 200-year history as the national library of our country will end. Many readers and scientists do not want to admit this. The petition "Against the destruction of the Russian National Library" has collected about 7,000 signatures on the Internet. So far, no specialists have been found who are ready to publicly support the idea of ​​merging the National Library of Russia and the Russian State Library.

In a number of subjects of the Russian Federation, the process of "optimization" by joining children's, youth and libraries for the blind to the central universal libraries actively going last years. Without any involvement in the discussion of the scientific and library community. After all, the law does not require substantiation of decisions taken by the founders within their competence. The social standards prepared by the Ministry of Culture for the regions make it possible to reduce the network of municipal libraries in the country by 30-40%. Who needs such a library policy?

So, can we be sure that the adoption of a "closed" decision has become impossible?

Alexander Visly in his interview to the radio "Echo of Moscow" bluntly said: “… what is being discussed by the public is also very good. This sets the stage for some sensible, correct decisions to be made at the highest level.” What are the right decisions at the government level? If about the union electronic resources, the use of unified technological solutions and coordination scientific activity, then these issues are within the competence of the RSL, the NLR and the Ministry of Culture, which performs the functions and powers of the founder, enshrined by the Government in the charters of the Libraries. “Whether an administrative association is needed is not a matter of my competence, it is a matter of the competence of the Government itself, not even the Ministry of Culture. Let it decide."- says A. Visly. But there is still no answer to a simple question: with what proposal did the leaders of the RSL and the National Library of Russia initially turn to the Prime Minister, what proposal did V. Medinsky ask the prime minister to support? Alas, this "reference point" of all problem situation never presented to the public.

» dated March 27, 1992 No. 313, is a particularly valuable object national heritage and constitutes the historical and cultural heritage of the peoples Russian Federation. The National Library of Russia is one of the largest libraries in the world, the second largest collections in Russia. It has long become a national symbol of culture and enlightenment. Therefore, the threat of turning "Publichka" into a supernumerary institution caused a great response in the cultural community of St. Petersburg.

Why does the problem deserve public attention?

The media reported that the Minister of Culture Medinsky turned to Dmitry Medvedev with a request to support the proposal of the Russian State Library (V. I. Gnezdilov) and the Russian National Library (A. I. Visly) to merge.

Director of the National Library of Russia Alexander Visly Photo: tass.ru

3. Put under control the process of completing the construction of the storage facilities of the new building of the National Library of Russia on Moskovsky Prospekt (second stage) and the timely repair of other buildings of the library.”

an open letter to President V. Putin.

joined their opinion

single pickets. With a poster “Shumilov - Public! Public - Petersburg! the historian and publicist Daniil Kotsyubinsky came out. He was followed by the director of the Center for Independent Sociological Research Viktor Voronkov and a leading researcher at the St. Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences Boris Kolonitsky, and then a senior researcher high school economy in St. Petersburg Dmitry Kalugin.

Daniel Kotsiubinsky, photo Fontanka.ru

handed out books illustrating their protest with a poster: “Petersburgers! Take the books! Moscow will take them away!

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The library community opposed the possible merger of the Russian State Library with the Russian National Library.

Director of the Russian National Library Alexander Visly at a press conference on January 11, 2017 did not confirm the merger of the Russian State Library (RSL) with the Russian National Library (RNL), but did not reject such a possibility either. Visly told reporters that the history of the association has been going on for twenty years, now it is already possible and necessary to talk about the fact that in 2017 a common electronic catalog of the two libraries will become available.

About the "physical" association - that is, a single financing, common management, general accounting and administrative apparatus, Visly said that he had not seen any official documents, and there are none. For such a decision, a resolution of the founder is needed - not the Ministry of Culture, but the government of Russia.

“But if the question is raised, then I will insist that, first of all, it be discussed in the professional community, and then there will be a wide public discussion of such a project,” said the director of “Publichka”.

According to the publication "My District", information is circulating on the Web that Dmitry Medvedev has already received an appeal from Medinsky with a request to support the joint proposal of the Russian State Library (V. I. Gnezdilov) and the Russian National Library (A. I. Visly) to merge : according to the authors of the appeal, the merger of the RSL and the RSL will ensure the creation of the world's largest national library (more than 30 million books and more than 1.5 million copies of handwritten and printed book monuments), will eliminate duplication of functions and increase the efficiency of the combined library.

In connection with the merger of the two libraries, the number of copies of printed materials required for "perpetual" storage will be halved, which will solve the problem of lack of space for accommodating new acquisitions for 15 to 20 years. The merger of the RSL and the NRL will allow to unify the services for readers' access to full-text electronic publications and will give a new impetus to the development of the federal state information system "National Electronic Library".

According to the authors of the initiative, the reduction of the administrative apparatus of the two libraries (currently their number from the level of department head and above is about 300 people) by at least a third will save about 120-150 million rubles a year, which can be used to equalize the salaries of employees of the National Library of Russia (the level of average wages in the National Library of Russia is significantly lower than in the Russian State Library). Merging the electronic catalogs of the two libraries will also reduce the number of employees who enter bibliographic information into the electronic catalogs by 50 percent (currently total 300 people) and save about 100 million rubles on wages, as well as significantly reduce the cost of supporting the corresponding software.

In addition, the creation of a unified electronic catalog and a unified library card will significantly improve the quality of service for readers, raise the status of a unified Russian library by international level and reduce the cost of international activities (membership fee etc.). To manage the joint library, in addition to its directorate, it is proposed to form a Board of Trustees headed by the current chairman of the Russian Book Union, Sergei Stepashin.

At a meeting with journalists in St. Petersburg, the topic of unification was not further developed. Visly said only that "the economic and financial benefits are obvious, but how realistic is it to do?"

However, on January 15, 2017, the IA Regnum website published an Open Letter to the President of the Russian Federation, entitled "The Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation is against libraries." The letter was signed by three leading representatives of the Russian library community: scientific director of the Library of the Academy of Sciences V.P. Leonov, Professor A.V. Sokolov and Yu.N. Stolyarov.

The letter states that "the country is undergoing long-term and consistent destruction library system", and "the library policy of the Ministry of Culture of Russia contradicts the "Fundamentals of the State Cultural Policy". The authors of the letter are especially worried about the intention to unite the two largest national libraries - the Russian State Library (RSL in Moscow) and the Russian National Library (RNL, in St. Petersburg) "This most important national-cultural action is being prepared privately, in bureaucratic offices, secretly from the employees of the RSL and the National Library of Russia, not to mention Russian librarians, who are vitally interested in the normal development of the leading organizations of the industry," the letter says.

"The proposal put forward by the two directors needs to be discussed by the professional library community, and the rest of the population of the country, because its implementation directly affects all real and potential readers of national libraries, it requires changes in the articles of the Law on Library Science. The issue cannot be resolved by an administrative-command method. For consideration current cultural and political situation, it is advisable to convene the All-Russian Library Congress and entrust its organization to the Russian Library Association and the Russian National Library in St. Petersburg," the text of the letter addressed to the president suggests.

The heads of the largest Russian libraries - the Russian State Library (RSL) and the Russian National Library (RNL) - spoke about the plans for the upcoming merger. Information about possible merger appeared in early January, but the details became known only during a press conference on Wednesday. At it, the heads of libraries admitted that the merger is being discussed, but it is not yet known how it will take place, and there is no talk of "mass layoffs as a result of optimization."

In January, the media reported on the existence of a letter on behalf of the leadership of the RSL and the National Library of Russia addressed to the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev, containing a request to merge these libraries. The letter itself open access did not appear. In early February, Vladimir Gnezdilov, Acting General Director of the RSL, told TASS that a working group, which will explore the possibility of merging and "make recommendations". At the same time, he stated that the decision to merge the libraries "is not at any level."

Information about the merger caused a great public outcry. Thus, in mid-February, the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg appealed to the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Vladimir Medinsky with a request "to prevent a hasty decision on the structural and administrative unification of the RSL and the NRL without discussing and taking into account the opinions of leading experts and the library community." The appeal was supported by 49 of the 50 deputies of the Legislative Assembly, who expressed concern about the "preservation of the library system." A petition was posted on the Change.org website on behalf of "employees of institutions of science, culture and education in St. Petersburg, as well as everyone who cares about the fate of the National Library of Russia", who expressed the opinion that it is necessary to "preserve the independence of the Russian National Library as the oldest public library in Russia, having special status valuable object culture".

On January 30, the president of the St. Petersburg Library Society, Zoya Chalova, said that, according to unofficial data from the library community, about 400 people could lose their jobs when libraries merge. This was reported by the Internet newspaper "Fontanka.ru". On January 30, Tatyana Shumilova, the chief bibliographer of the National Library of Russia, who has worked in this institution since 1985, also criticized the association. In early February, she received a dismissal order due to four hours of absenteeism during a press conference.

"Let's release the letter"

On Wednesday, Mr. Gnezdilov and RNB General Director Alexander Visly gave a press conference, at which, in particular, they stated that the public discussion of the merger project “according to the plan begins with today". Mr. Visly also promised that a letter with the initiative of the heads of the RSL and the NSL on the unification would be published on the websites of the institutions. After the event, journalists received releases stating that “the merger of the RSL and the NLR is long overdue and is due to both the rapid development information technologies and the difficult financial and economic environment. To manage the merger process, it is proposed to form a board of trustees headed by the chairman of the Russian Book Union, Sergei Stepashin.

During the press conference, Mr. Visly said that the result of the modernization of the library system should be a situation where a person who came to the reading rooms “will be able to refer to everything modern knowledge in electronic form." From his point of view, such an opportunity should eventually appear among the readers of all 40 thousand Russian public libraries: “We are with Vladimir Ivanovich (Gnezdilov.- "b") believe that it is necessary to start with a series of steps concerning the two national libraries.” So, a single electronic catalog should be created, and "a person who has enrolled in the RSL, with an electronic library card, will be able to order a book in the RSL." He also explained that together the RSL and the NLR will be able to reduce the cost of subscribing to foreign electronic resources. “There is an ancient wisdom: do not rush to see the bad, try to see the good first,” Vladimir Gnezdilov told reporters. , and researchers, and scientists - everyone who uses information resources libraries."

President of the Russian Library Association Vladimir Firsov recalled that the new building for the National Library of Russia has already been completed on Moskovsky Prospekt (near Pulkovo). “Readers, both in the city center and on Moskovsky Prospekt, will have equal opportunity access, only one will hold a paper copy in his hands, and the other will sit at the monitor and get acquainted with the same book. We in St. Petersburg will be able to provide access to the electronic copy, which is located within the walls of Leninka.” In his opinion, "it is impossible to resolve this issue without developing some forms of association."

At the same time, when asked when the consolidation of libraries could be completed, Alexander Visly said that "it will take many years." He also explained that the form of association has not yet been determined: “It is possible different variants administrative, organizational. Moreover, these options do not always depend on us, we have a founder - the government of the Russian Federation. According to him, options are possible when “everything remains as it is now - two legal entities, two libraries”, either a single legal entity will be created, or a third structure will appear in addition to the existing ones. “I think that we can also name the fourth and fifth options. But it is important to achieve goals, how to do it - this is a secondary issue,” Mr. Visly believes.

“The premises need to be maintained, they need to be cleaned eventually”

Reductions of employees to achieve the goals are not expected, the head of the National Library of Russia assured. “I also read the press, somewhere they wrote about 400 people who are waiting for dismissal,” Mr. Visly recalled. m, now we have 115 thousand square meters. m is a huge amount of space. He stated that these premises “should be people working”: “The premises need to be maintained, they need to be cleaned eventually. We have no options for staff reduction. No way. We can only recruit people this year and next.” Answering a question about the circumstances of the dismissal of Tatyana Shumilova, the bibliographer of the National Library of Russia, Alexander Visly noted that mostly women work in the library - “mothers and grandmothers”, who regularly take time off, bring him statements and warn him. Mrs. Shumilova did not inform him personally about the circumstances of her absence from the workplace, violating labor discipline, he said, not ruling out that she could be reinstated.

Vladimir Gnezdilov also recalled that the RSL is “on the eve of the construction of a new building”: “On the other hand, the processes of optimization, improvement organizational structure, the organization of technological library cycles implies a certain release of workers. I don't see anything wrong with this. This normal life, the normal procedure when optimization is in progress.” However, he noted that "mass layoffs are out of the question."

The National Library of Russia (RNL), according to the decree of the President of Russia, is a particularly valuable object of national heritage and constitutes the historical and cultural heritage of the peoples of the Russian Federation. The RNL is one of the largest libraries in the world, the second largest collection in Russia, and now a serious threat hangs over it - they want to optimize it and merge it with the Russian State Library. This, in turn, will lead to the fact that the National Library of Russia will lose the right to receive a mandatory copy of new book publications, which now guarantees the acquisition of its funds. The destruction of the National Library of Russia as an independent unit will deal an irreparable blow not only to Russian science and St. Petersburg as the cultural capital of Russia, but also to the entire national librarianship. Let me remind you that in the Year of Literature, the country already lost the library of INION RAS, and the new acting. Ilya Zaitsev, director of INION, now directly states that the country does not need an “pre-fire” INION: “The world has changed. You can order any book in any country. Translating it is no problem either. A huge amount of information on the Internet. Therefore, that INION does not correspond to modern realities, ”Polit.ru quotes Zaitsev as saying.

www.nlr.ru

Perhaps the same can be said about other major libraries? But here is a wonderful commentary on the words of Zaitsev, INION employee Svetlana Pogorelskaya: “This is not true. Firstly, "any book in any country" you can not "order", but BUY. Neither a student nor a graduate student can afford it. They need a library with this book or a license that allows computer access to the digitized version of this book. Secondly, "translating will not be a problem" (c) - yeah, well, yes - machine translation from Japanese into Russian through Google, for example. Thirdly, on the Internet - all access to archives and articles is paid, you need to buy licenses, and for this you need a library. It's amazing how people look from their rich perspective, not even thinking that the institute's library and abstract services are for those who can NOT "order a book in any country" and "translate it without problems", for students, graduate students, for scientific personnel in the Russian regions "The world has changed", yeah. Some have become rich, while others have become poor, and the rich have ceased to understand the poor.” She also worries about the fact that “monsieur plans, at the suggestion of FANO, to halve or quarter book stocks.”

The problem with the INION library and the National Library of Russia fit perfectly into the logic of the current government, which seeks in every possible and impossible way to reduce government spending on science and culture and generally reduce the diversity of various cultural institutions. The director of the National Library of Russia also changed in 2016 - by the decision of the Minister of Culture, Alexander Visly, who headed from 2009 to 2016, was appointed to this position. Russian State Library. No one particularly concealed what tasks were assigned to the new leader, who himself mentioned in an interview with the Izvestia newspaper in February 2016: "There were historical precedents and showed that there is nothing terrible in merging libraries." It is quite obvious that Visly was transferred to St. Petersburg for the successful conduct of a special operation to eliminate the RNB as an independent structure.

The new general director of the National Library of Russia has already begun to give away library buildings to the insatiable Russian Orthodox Church, swallowing up more and more objects of cultural significance. So, by September 1 of this year, the National Library of Russia will hand over to the St. Petersburg diocese one of its buildings on the Obvodny Canal (it was built in the 1880s). Like Visly: “The building is transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church. Of course, this is not such an acute issue as with Isaac, because this building used to belong to the church. But there is a very valuable fund there, personal libraries are kept there...”.

January 10 expert in the field of library science, doctor pedagogical sciences Alexander Mazuritsky wrote that the project to merge the National Library of Russia and the Russian State Library was nearing its final stage: "And now it became known that just before the New Year, the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation received an appeal from the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation V.R. Medinsky with a request to support joint proposal of the Russian State Library (V.I. Gnezdilov) and the Russian National Library (A.I. Visly) to merge.The arguments of the authors of the appeal have also become known.They assure that the merger of the RSL and the NRL will ensure the creation of the world's largest national library (more 30 million books and more than 1.5 million copies of handwritten and printed book monuments), eliminates duplication of functions and improve the efficiency of the joint library."

Director of the National Library of Russia Alexander Visly. Photo: TASS

"Moreover, - as Mazuritsky notes, - according to A.I. Visly and V.I. Gnezdilov, the consolidation of libraries will make it possible to halve the number of copies of printed materials required for "eternal" storage, which will make it possible for 15-20 years (Attention! In fact, this cheerful declaration means that one of the megacities - Moscow or St. training centers!), or, at worst, they will be distributed between the library and its ... branch according to the principle: this is for me, this is for you, this is also for me.)"

There is now a petition on Change.org "Against the destruction of the Russian National Library". To date, more than 2,000 people have signed it. The petition contains the following demands: "In connection with the current situation, we, employees of institutions of science, culture and education in St. Petersburg, consider it necessary:
1. Preserve the independence of the Russian National Library as the oldest public library in Russia, which has the status of a particularly valuable cultural object.
2. Retain the right of the NLR to receive legal deposit in accordance with federal law"On the mandatory copy of documents" of December 29, 1994, No. 77-FZ.
3. Put under control the process of completing the construction of the storage facilities of the new building of the National Library of Russia on Moskovsky Prospekt (second stage) and the timely repair of other buildings of the library."

These proposals are quite reasonable, but their implementation will require the active participation of the entire civil society, concerned about the state and preservation of Russian culture. Honored librarians have already sent an open letter to President Putin, in which they expressed their protest against the merger of the largest libraries. "In our country, there has been a long-term and consistent destruction of the library system. The network of municipal libraries is annually reduced by 700-900 institutions, there is an outflow of qualified personnel. The library school and library science are in crisis. The library policy of the Ministry of Culture of Russia contradicts the Fundamentals of the State Cultural Policy, which provides for the preservation of libraries as a public institution for the distribution of books and familiarization with reading. Of particular concern is the intention to merge the two largest national libraries, the Russian State Library (RSL, formerly the V.I. Lenin State Library of the USSR in Moscow) and the Russian National Library (RNL, formerly the State public library RSFSR them. M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin in St. Petersburg)," their letter, signed by three doctors of sciences Valery Leonov, Arkady Sokolov and Yuri Stolyarov, says.

The authors of the letter also state: “It seems to us absurd and regrettable that the fate of Russian libraries is decided by outsiders without the participation of library professionals, that library functionaries and ministerial officials dictate which national libraries we need.<...>We ask you to prevent the upcoming anti-library, anti-cultural action."

On January 11, a press conference was held by the general director of the National Bank Alexander Visly, at which he did not refute the information about the impending merger. “Conversations that “something needs to be united” in the two main libraries of the country have been going on for 20 years, and now there is just another surge,” the official hastened to reassure. - I even saw the draft government decree of 2002. The story is clear: two national libraries in the country is a lot, and even three is a little too much (the Yeltsin Library also has the status of a national library). Now this story has arisen again ... I think time will pass, and it will arise again, then again and again ... ”, - Novaya Gazeta - St. Petersburg conveys the words of Visly. When asked to name the advantages of the merger of the National Library of Russia and the RSL, the general director replied that there would be a reduction in the staff of the libraries: "If we combine computer services, economic and financial, then it is clear that there will be benefits." The peculiarity of the moment, according to Wisly, is that "the unification of electronic resources is inevitable, and it is moving forward." To a direct question Novaya Gazeta”, whether or not an appeal was sent to Prime Minister Medvedev, Alexander Visly did not answer. As well as he refused to name the initiators of the draft of such a document.

Let me remind you that the philosopher Alexander Rubtsov wrote an article in October 2013 "Why Russian authorities the mania for mergers has seized", in which he noted that "the convulsive attempts of officials to create something big and great are harmful to both the Academy of Sciences and the Mariinsky Theater." As Rubtsov rightly writes: "The point is not in specific situations, but in the very mania to merge everything, be it science, art, winter time or time zones. Why right now, excessively playful hands suddenly began to reach out to objects that the authorities had protected for centuries - both in liberal periods, and in bouts of autocracy, and in enlightened governments, and even in times of ideological obscurantism no worse than the present. last question he replies as follows: “The authorities in Russia are generally uncomfortable with this complexity of the country and with its size. But now it is getting worse. interferes with the fact that the country is big ... "

The writer Mikhail Zolotonosov also wrote the following about the plan to merge the largest libraries in Russia: "The project begins with megalomania, characteristic of all totalitarian regimes. <...>We will be explained that, firstly, you can go to Moscow (or, conversely, to St. from two EB buildings) the paper book will be immediately digitized, and the digital copy will be forwarded to the building where there is no paper original. The idea is rotten and vicious in principle, since, firstly, the paper original of the publication and its image in the computer are fundamentally different things, working with paper originals is much more convenient than manipulating scrollbars (this is especially true for Ogonyok magazines and newspapers, to watch which de visu, say, for a year on the screen is one torment), and it is not by chance that the scroll was replaced by a codex in the process of cultural evolution; in addition, all illustrations look completely different on paper and in a computer; secondly, one can imagine how many errors will be digitized (this number of errors can be judged, for example, by American project books.google); thirdly, as you know, the entire NEB project is contrary to existing copyright law (it is no coincidence that Visly admitted that he is seeking at least partial abolition of it) and will only spur circulation on the Internet pirated copies paper books that will go from libraries to " Big world"; fourthly, the existing technological level of storing information in digital form does not provide durability and reliability comparable to the reliability and durability of paper as an information carrier (paper is many times more durable), and in relation to water and fire, paper and a microcircuit are equally defenseless; in- Fifthly, the National Library of Russia and the Russian State Library, two national repositories of printed publications, and should duplicate each other, this is fundamentally important, because it ensures reliability in case of disasters (remember the fires in the BAN and INION)".

But the opinion of the famous philologist Gasan Huseynov: "Neither during wars, nor during revolutions, nor in the era of ideological persecution of National treasure countries did not encroach. Why did they encroach now, today? The answer is obvious: someone wanted to get historical buildings in the city center, created at one time specifically for national libraries - the way it was, is and will be in all developed countries where national and university libraries are expanding, even side by side<...>If the message about the plans to move and merge the two largest libraries is not a stupid rumor, but true, then this is evidence of a dangerous administrative degradation, the consequence of which will be cultural and scientific degradation. Perhaps it is even useful to show by a living example to what absurdity the bureaucracy can sink. And yet, it is infinitely pitiful for the next generations, who will simply run away from the predatory savagery, hiding behind the reform ... "

I myself agree with Professor Huseynov and believe that such experiments on Russian national heritage sites are completely unacceptable, and even more so, such decisions should not be made without lengthy and thorough consultations with the cultural and scientific expert community. I urge everyone to sign the Internet petition in defense of the National Library of Russia and keep the main library of St. Petersburg as an independent unit.