The Conference “Young Leaders in Library Science” is a Platform for Ideas and Discussions

The International Scientific and Practical Conference “Young Leaders in Library Science” was held for the first time by the Russian State Library (RSL) in September 2022 as part of celebration of the 160th anniversary of the Moscow Public Museum and Rumyantsev Museum with the participation of the National Library of Russia (NLR) and the Section 31 on scientific research work of the Russian Library Association (RLA). The idea of the conference — to identify the present and future leaders of scientific projects and research in the modern library and information sphere of the country — has no analogues. The conference was attended by representatives of the Lomonosov Moscow State University, the National Research University — Higher School of Economics and the leading universities of Moscow that train staff for libraries — the Moscow State Linguistic University and the Moscow State Institute of Culture. For the first time, the results of the All-Russian monitoring of the staffing needs of libraries in 2022 in terms of the presence of young and qualified specialists in the sector were presented to the wide audience. For two days, three sections worked at the conference site: “Scientific research: in libraries, about libraries, for libraries”, “Applied scientific research in the library field: modern approaches and results” and “Library personnel: higher and additional professional education”. The latter was timed to the 100th anniversary of organization of specialized professional training of librarians within the RSL (1922—2022). 511 participants from 9 neighbouring countries have previously registered to participate in the conference. 68 reports and papers of specialists from federal, regional, municipal, university libraries, universities, scientific organizations from 24 regions of Russia and three CIS countries were presented. The speakers were students and postgraduates, 8 doctors of sciences and 29 candidates of sciences, as well as managers and practitioners engaged in applied research as part of their direct work. Following the results of the conference, the collection of the best reports will be published in 2023. 243 full-time participants attended the conference; the broadcasts of the events were viewed 2,243 times only at the time of its closure. The result of the conference was to identify the most relevant topics of scientific research in the area of library science, bibliography science and book studies, as well as specialists who will develop library science in the coming years and who will work in these scientific areas.