The republican library for science and technology in the service of science and production of Belarus. Traditions and new departure of activities

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to reveal the functional features of the Republican Library for Science and Technology of the Republic of Belarus as the main information structure ensuring the innovative activity of the country. In the modern conditions, the successful development of science and technology is one of the factors of national security. Achievement of the set government tasks is impossible without systematic analytical study of patents, scientific and technical literature, as well as technical normative legal acts. The necessary information base has been established in Belarus, which is located in the Republican Library for Science and Technology, which is the largest center of information on science and technology and the only one of the republican libraries of Belarus with its regional structure. Regional scientific and technical libraries operate as branches in each of the region centers. In each regional center there work, statured as branches, regional libraries for scientific and technical literature, which provide equal access to library resources for users from different parts of the country. One of the main tasks of RLST and its regional branches is library and information-bibliographic servicing enterprises, organizations and institutions of the republic – their collective subscribers. Since its establishment and for 45 years of its history, RLST has been providing information support for the scientific and technical sphere of Belarus, being the state repository of patents, the depository of technical normative legal acts and other documents in the field of standardization, industrial catalogs, scientific and technical publications, providing access to national and international resources, actively using electronic services in its work. The article briefly describes the contribution of RLST staff to the study of the history of invention in Belarus. Examples of resources created on the basis of case studies are given. Working with children and youth to increase their interest in scientific and technological activities and to promote the ideas of sustainable development in Belarus is one of the new vectors of RLST educational work.