"German-Russian Library Initiative": First concrete projects to jointly research and make accessible book collections from German and Russian libraries that were relocated as a result of the war.
Press release from 10/06/2009
On 23 September 2009, on the initiative of the Rudomino Library for Foreign Literature and the Berlin State Library, German and Russian librarians met in Moscow for a round table discussion in order to strengthen professional cooperation and exchange between German and Russian libraries and also to contribute to the clarification of cultural assets relocated during the war for both sides. On the basis of the "Joint Declaration of German Libraries on the Question of Cultural Property Displaced as a Result of the War" from 2007 and encouraged by the experiences of the German-Russian Museum Dialogue, which has been successfully active in the museum sector since November 2005, the first concrete projects for joint research and making accessible book collections displaced as a result of the war were agreed, which are equally important for academics and for the interested public.
As a pilot project, the fate of the Wallenrodt Library from Königsberg is being jointly researched with the aim of resurrecting this library virtually. This once extensive historical library is of great importance to both Germany and Russia in terms of the history of science. Today, parts of the collection can also be found in two important Russian academy libraries as well as in Poland and Lithuania. The latter have already been the subject of research projects. On the basis of joint efforts, all currently known holdings of the Wallenrodt Library are to be recorded and catalogued and made freely available for research worldwide. Initially, the cataloguing in the library of the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg will be completed.
There are also plans for joint research projects and exhibitions, the exchange of knowledge between German and Russian restorers in the conservation and restoration of library collections and a scholarship programme for reciprocal working visits by academics and restorers. The aim of this initiative is also the scientific processing of library collections that were relocated due to the war as well as targeted digitisation strategies and projects for the virtual consolidation of collection complexes that were distributed due to the war. Specific agreements have been reached between the Saxon State and University Library Dresden (SLUB) and the Rudomino Library of Foreign Literature in Moscow, as well as between the SLUB and the regional libraries of Saratov. The Berlin State Library - Prussian Cultural Heritage will also start a co-operation with the Rudomino Library and is planning a further project with the library of the Glinka Museum of Musical Culture in Moscow.
Numerous representatives of German and Russian libraries as well as the President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, Hermann Parzinger, who is also the spokesman for the German-Russian Museum Dialogue, took part. He will also actively support the German-Russian Library Initiative.
Isabel Pfeiffer-Poensgen, Secretary General of the Cultural Foundation of the German Federal States, which runs the office of the German-Russian Museum Dialogue, also pledged her support for the library initiative in Moscow.
The Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz, which was represented by General Director Barbara Schneider-Kempf, will act as coordinator for the German libraries that join this initiative. On the Russian side, Ekaterina Genyieva, Director of the Rudomino Library, will take on this coordinating role.
The German and Russian libraries are hoping for the approval of both governments for the "German-Russian Library Initiative" and their support for the planned co-operations.
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