“Library 2030: Building the Future Today”: Results of the All-Russian Library Congress

On 16—20 May 2021, the All-Russian Library Congress: XXV Anniversary Annual Conference of the Russian Library Association (RLA) was held in the Library Capital of Russia for 2020/2021, Petrozavodsk (Republic of Karelia), with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of Karelia. The theme of the Congress was “Library 2030: Building the Future Today”. For the first time, this forum was held in a hybrid format, i.e., both offline and online, while all the events were streamed online, which made it possible to expand the audience reach. The strategic goals of the Congress were to identify the main trends in the development of librarianship and to form the image of the library of the future. Consequently, many speakers focused on the pivotal document for the library field “The strategy for the development of librarianship in the Russian Federation until 2030”, approved in 2021. In addition, the participants deliberated the draft of the new professional standard “Specialist in library and information activities”. The plenary and sectional sessions involved the discussions on the development of libraries of various types, the library profession in the modern world, etc. The Congress was accompanied by the XXI Exhibition of publishing products, new information technologies, goods and services, which was also organised in a hybrid format. At the final plenary meeting, the results of the elections of the President of the RLA and the members of the RLA Board for 2021—2024 were announced. M.D. Afanasyev was elected President of the RLA for a second term. One of the important outcomes of the Congress was the adoption at the final plenary session of the RLA normative and advisory act “Methodological recommendations for the formation of basic standards for the provision of public libraries services in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation”. Nizhny Novgorod received the status of the Library Capital of Russia for 2022, and it is going to host the XXVI All-Russian Library Congress next year.