Information Context of Culture in Focus of Professional Discussion

Abstract

The article presents an overview of the all-Russian scientific and practical conference (with international participation) “Information Context of Culture: Resources, Technologies, Service” (the 11th conference of heads and specialists of information services for culture and art). The conference, orga­nized by the Russian State Library, the Russian State Library of Arts, and the St. Petersburg State Institute of Culture, on the instructions of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, was held in Moscow on September 24—25, 2019. Its purpose was to summarize the results of scientific research and practical experience on the issues of information support of the cultural sector in the digital age, to identify some problems and find ways to overcome them, and to demonstrate the best achievements in this field. The conference was attended by more than 90 representatives of cultural management bodies, federal, regional and municipal libraries, universities, training centers and other organizations of culture, science, education and mass media from 22 regions of Russia, as well as heads and specialists of national libraries of Armenia, Belarus and Kazakhstan (via video link). Thanks to the online broadcast, the total audience of the event increased by almost 200 people. The conference participants noted the importance of scientific and information activities in the cultural sector both for society in general and for the sector’s development in particular. In order to improve this work, the conference participants recommended to promote its digitalization, which is aimed at creating public resources for culture and art and organizing information services in the 7/24 mode via the Internet, including on mobile devices; to intensify the mutual use of resources through participation in joint projects; and to strictly observe copyright when creating information resources and methodological materials.