Abstract
Since achieving statehood in 1991, Armenia has faced major economic and political obstacles which have significantly affected the nation’s research libraries. This research paper will quantitatively and qualitatively examine the challenges facing Armenian research libraries just over twenty years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Specifically, the authors analyze their interviews with five library administrators at five major institutions, respectively. These include Yerevan State University Library, the National Library of Armenia, the Fundamental Scientific Library of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, the Republican Scientific-Medical Library of Armenia, and the Papazian Library of the American University of Armenia. The instrument for the interviews consists of 73 questions based on the 2004 Association of College and Research Libraries Standards for Libraries in Higher Education and evaluates the following factors:
 • The library’s mission, goals and objectives
 • Public or user services
 • Instruction activities at the library
 • Resources (print, media, or electronic) and collection development
 • Access to the library’s resources
 • Outcome assessment, or evaluation of the library
 • Staffing issues
 • Facility maintenance and plans for library development
 • Communication and cooperation both within the library and with the user community
 • Administration
 • Budget
 In addition, we will focus on the strengths and weaknesses of these libraries and investigate the growing open access movement in Armenia. Based on our findings, the authors wish to facilitate dialogue and consider possible approaches to help these libraries meet Armenia’s pressing information needs.
Highlights
The origins of the Armenian research library reach back into the nation’s long history of the written word and its tradition of illuminated manuscripts and printed books
The oldest dated illuminated Armenian manuscript was created in the ninth century and rich libraries, attached to monasteries, were well established by the eleventh
Armenia is currently celebrating the 500th anniversary of the first book printed in the Armenian language, published in Venice in 1512, sixty years after Gutenberg’s invention
Summary
The origins of the Armenian research library reach back into the nation’s long history of the written word and its tradition of illuminated manuscripts and printed books. While currently four staff members of the YSU library do hold PhDs, librarians teach only the basics, including an orientation for first-year students to show them the library’s resources and technology Both libraries do still contribute to instruction by supporting faculty research with book purchases and other print and online sources. The libraries seek to employ effective strategies that allow for the free flow of information; encourage staff to suggest new ideas or procedures; establish a regular means to exchange information; engender effective working relationships with other departments on campus (or in the case of FSL with the Academy of Sciences); provide technical support for information technology; and maintain networks sufficient to provide reasonable response times for local and remote information An exception to this pattern is found at the RSML. Armenian libraries certainly are not alone in this regard in today’s economic climate
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