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Nigel Long, Faxon Canada’s Western Market Coordinator spent ten days in Russia during April, as part of a Canadian Library Association Delegation travelling to St. Petersburg and Moscow.

University, public and school libraries are facing many challenges after emerging from communism. Tremendous funding problems, innovative partnerships with the private sector and extremes of automation were highlighted.

At the Fundamental Library of St. Petersburg State Technical University, the Open Library System Department established in 1996 has been developing an integrated library system. It is the first and only library in Russia to use Z39.50. The centre is developing a fibre optic network for all of north west Russia. The centre is sponsored by Digital Equipment Corporation, the Soros Foundation and a number of other organizations and companies. Internet access is via Finland.

Compact disc technology is favoured at the Russian National Public Library for Science and Technology in Moscow for both digitizing current and retrospective publications. It offers cheap investment, operational and exploitation costs. One hundred and fifty commercial databases are available on compact disc. Eighty percent of Russian scientific research is disseminated in Moscow.

Eighty percent of Russian scientific research is disseminated in Moscow

Active in IFLA, Andrei Zemskov, the Director explained that it costs $70,000US per week to run the network of eight libraries with eight million items and 800 staff. No funds had been received to support the operation in 1998. An Internet Cafe is being opened and a Russian Centre for shared cataloguing is being developed. The Dewey Decimal Classification is being experimented with and OCLC Prism servers are being used to download foreign catalogue records. A fee based business information service is operational and classroom training sessions on commercial databases are offered in the computer training laboratory. Staff from western businesses situated in Moscow send staff regularly.

Closed stacks from access censorship during the communist era and halls of card catalogue cabinets were much in evidence. It seems the more qualifications a person has, the less a person is paid. In general, librarians are paid below the poverty line. Street vendors earn more than doctors, teachers and librarians. Russia’s infrastructure is not yet compatible with teleaccess technology. Issues include erratic electricity voltage and the fact that the Internet is geared to the roman alphabet. The system of coding used is not compatible with cyrillic coding.

Acquisitions during these times of uncertain budgets are bolstered through exchange programmes. The library of the Russian National Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg has 2,500 exchange partners in 84 countries.

Russian National Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg

Seventy percent of new acquisitions are through exchange in seventy languages. There is a limited amount of electronic exchange. The philosophy for the dissemination of Russian Academy of Sciences material is that it is for "the common good." Revenue generation is not considered but the potential appears to be great.

Preservation issues are overwhelming. The Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg has 18,000 manuscripts. One example of facsimile publishing took eighteen years to complete.

The fledging Russian Library Association, founded three years ago has the welfare of retired librarians as its major concern.

The culture and history of Russia interweaved into our meetings. The Russian Academy of Sciences library was founded at the Summer Palace of Peter the Great in 1725. The library remained open during the siege of Leningrad. Fifty percent of the library staff died during the siege and were reduced to consuming glue used in the bindery.

The highlights of cultural visits were to the Hermitage and the church of SS Peter and Paul, hoped to be the final resting place of the last Romanov tsar and his family in St. Petersburg and Red Square and the Kremlin in Moscow. We experienced the Mafia protection rackets first hand, negotiating to have our bus released after a meeting. Accommodations and food were of a high standard ... Beets appeared on the menu at most meals and Borscht will never taste so good. Our briefing instructions included the exhaltation to "tape over your mouth" when in the shower in St. Petersburg. Sergei Kiriyenko was being voted in during our stay. The Russian peoples have a long and difficult road ahead on their journey to freedom.