Russian State Library in 1996/1997 In 1996/1997 the activities of the Russian State Library (RSL) were keyed to the satisfaction of information needs of the society and to the rise of its role as a sociocultural and rese- arch institute, making for the development of librarianship, sci- ence, education, culture in Russia. In terms of implementation of recommendations on the part of UNESCO experts and of the ministry of culture of Russia work was done in the following directions: * improving the activities of the RSL aimed at carrying out its main tasks and functions of a national library; * reconstruction and new construction Necessary documents ti- ed up with the modernisation of the chief depository and the assu- rance of conditions of the preservation of stocks on the modern level have been drawn up and endorsed; * introduction of new information technologies. A programme of the provision of this activity with financial, material, tech- nical, manpower resources has been worked out and put into effect. Preconditions are ready for inculcating an electronic catalogue of new accessions of Russian and foreigh documents as of mid-1998. The library intends to assure the software together with the firm VTLS; * research and publishing activities are being placed on an essentially new footing from the point of view of the description and interpretation of the holdings of the national library. In spite of objective hard conditions of the year under revi- ew the staff of the library have been successful in solving the following tasks: * maintaining the fullness of acquisition; * establishing the service conditions more suitable for rea- ders; * widening the list of services rendered by the library; * keeping on the study of the problems of the development of the RSL and other Russian libraries; * starting the reorganisation of the managerial system of the RSL, directed towards the rise of the efficacy of the work of the library on the whole. Last year an agreement was entered into about the continuati- on of the work of UNESCO experts in 1998 for the purpose of giving advice and lending practical assistance to the library on diffe- rent directions of its activity. 2. Receipts and financing The sequestered volume of the financing of the RSL for 1997 was set to the amount of 122,6 billion roubles (prices of 1997). Actually the RSL was financed 37,8 per cent of the estimate in 1997. By way of comparison the RSL was financed 80 per cent of the estimate in 1995 and 40 per cent in 1996. 24,4 per cent were allocated for material expenditures. In 1997, 20 per cent of budget allocations were earmarked for book acquisition. In the course of the year the library received 1,8 billion roubles for additional services rendered to readers. Opening of the financing of the RSL in 1996/1997 (comparative table in per cent) items 1996 1997 1. remuneration of labour 95,7 100 2. extra charges 95,7 100 3. material expenditures 29 24,4 4. purchase of equipment 30 5,5 5. thorough repairs 15,2 22,9 3. Official status - Status of the RSL as national library has been laid down by the following documents. Law of the Russian Federation "On librarianship" (of December 29, 1995 No 78 - F 3). Ordinance on especially valuable objects of the cultural he- ritage of peoples of the Russian Federation (approved by the dec- ree of the president of the Russian Federation of November 30, 1992 No 1487). Ordinance on the Russian State Library (approved by the enactment of the council of ministers - government of the Russian Federation of August 2, 1993 No 740). Ordinance on the ministry of culture of the Russian Federation (approved by the enactment of the government of the Russian Fe- deration of June 6, 1997 No 670). In 1997 work on draft new statute of the RSL was in progress. 4. Deposit copy - The federal law of the Russian Federation needs both alte- rations and perfection of the machinery of its implementation as well as compilation of some law enforcing acts, in particular "On the order of delivery of audiovisual documents", "On the order of delivery of electronic publications" and others. The approved "Or- dinance on the deposition of the legal copy of algorithms and programmes" (unpublished ones), worked out by the Russian scienti- fic and technological information centre can be held up as an example. In 1997, the RSL drew up the draft article "On the responsi- bility of manufactures of documents" and passed it on to the State Duma of the Russian Federation "On administrative transgressions of the law", further on it elaborated draft model law "On the de- posit copy of documents of subjects of the Russian Federation" and "Ordinance on book monuments of the Russian Federation". In the act of preparation are the draft decree of the govern- ment, confirming the order of delivery of a free deposit copy of various kinds of documents, coming in to stocks bad and a list of libraries, research and information institutions receiving these documents. - The law "On the deposit copy of documents" has furthered the stability of the addition of the national repertory of publi- cations to the stocks of the RSL. After its enforcement the total amount of documents coming in to the stocks has appreciably risen as compared to 1994. The annual increment makes up more than 18 per cent. But the deposit copy, while retaining the status of the chief source of the acquisition of Russian literature comes in to the library as before with gaps, which are most tangible in the stream of authors' abstracts, audivisual documents, descriptions of in- ventions, partly books. The library is assidiously applying itself to tiding them over. 5. Edifices and premises In the year under review the elaboration of the "Concept of the reconstruction, restoration, construction of the complex of buildings of the RSL" (agreed upon by the Ministry of culture of the Russian Federation and endorsed by the coordinating council of the cultural administrative district of Moscow under the guidance of the mayor) was completed, with new technological solutions be- ing assumed as a basis. The carrying out of the concept will allow to double the area of the library and increase it to 210 thousand square metres, the capacity of the depository will make up 53 million units instead of 26 million units at present. Be it noted that the availability of the stock makes up 42,3 million units. The accommodation for readers will roughly redouble. In October of 1997 after practically two year intermission the financing of objects of reconstruction and construction of the RSL was resumed which has allowed the following: * reactivating the objects of reconstruction - the ensamble of edifices "Pashkov mansion" and the building of the centre of Oriental literature; * beginning to erect the engineering building whose putting into operation ahead of schedule is a prerequisite for the commis- sioning of the ensamble "Pashkov mansion" or of one of its stages and of the modernisation of the chief depository; the contract for the bringing about of it was entered into with the French firm CU- NIN. The modernisation of the depository to be carried out at the expense of the French loan exceeds the limits envisaged by the concept on the first lap of reconstruction and construction and is conducive to the enlargement of the work already in 1998. Main results of the activity in the direction under conside- ration create objective preconditions for intensifying work on re- construction and construction of buildings of the RSL. However, the solution of the question of stable and suffici- ent financing is the chief impediment in the implementation of the project. 6. Acquisition Every year over five thousand titles of documents (audiovisu- al and electronic publications included) come in to the stocks of the library as gifts from authors, private persons, institutions, various societies and so on. Unfortunately, on account of the scanty budget allocations literature is bought on a limited scale. Only publications on to- pical subjects (reference books, encyclopaedias, scientific lite- rature) are acquired. The purchase of educational and methodologi- cal literature, literature of short run has been curtailed, the number of copies of publications acquired is in the process of be- ing retrenched. In subscribing for periodicals the requests of readers and borrowers of the RSL as a national library and of foreign partners were given more attention. The Russian government has provided the purposeful financing of the subscription with a view to build up the fullest repertory of periodicals of Russia and of countries of the Commonwealth of independent states. In spite of slight allocations, the library has succeeded in acquiring over two thousand titles of documents in shops and from private persons for the retrospective stock. The unique collection of Ju.A.Ivanov can be classed with the most valuable gains. It contains about 500 remarkably precious books, reference works on music, over 15 thousand rare printed musics - works by Russian and foreign composers, musics from their personal collections and from those of well-known musicians. Some of them are notable: publica- tions with autographs, records, correcting by musicians brought out in their lifetime. The manuscript department has procured some utterly precious Russian materials including two handwritten books of the 16th cen- tury: an oldbeliever's diary of the 18th century, materials of the Nilo-Stolbovskaya hermitage of the 17th century, rare archival do- cuments bound up with the life and work of eminent figures of the Russian culture of the "silver age" K.A.Korovin, M.A.Wrobel, I.Ja.Bilibin, photographs of ballet-dancer Anna Pavlova.