The Presidential Library, named after Boris Yeltsin is one of the three national libraries of the Russian Federation.
It was conceived as a digital library. To replenish its stocks, a unique centre was created to digitalize and process unique, highly-valuable, old printed books and manuscripts. The centre uses specially customized software.
There are over 42,000 items in the Library's electronic reading room, including: electronic versions of ancient manuscripts, maps, photo albums, newspapers and monographs. The Presidential Library includes materials drawn from the Russian State Historical Archive, the State Archive of the Russian Federation, the Russian State Library, the Russian National Library and regional libraries. One can search through a whole array of electronic documents at a reader's desk in the electronic reading room.
There are 60 reader's desks in the electronic reading room. A user-friendly interface offers many ways of viewing the various types of electronic documents, including high resolution. It enables people to read and examine these electronic versions of the traditional paper documents in full-page mode, and also makes it possible to browse 2-D images. 3-D technology makes it possible to create virtual models of books that can be viewed from different angles and allows you to zoom in. Audio recordings and video files are also available in this electronic reading room.
Remote users have access to the most relevant resources on the Presidential Library portal, which currently hosts 13 collections of electronic documents, including a collection of rare editions of great historical and cultural value. Other collections are arranged by subject. Two collections feature exhibitions of literary treasures and archival documents from the Russian State Historical Archive and the Russian State Library. The most notable collections include the History of the Russian Orthodox Church, Politics and Government, and the History of Education in Russia. Each electronic document is accompanied by bibliographical notes and a brief description.
There is a multi-purpose multimedia centre in the Library, designed to host a variety of events. It can be arranged as a single large space, two middle-sized halls, four smaller rooms, or a combination of these options. Soundproof partitions make it possible to change the layout of the centre, which is fully equipped with simultaneous interpretation units. It can be used to hold lectures, seminars and video presentations, using conventional and 3-D projectors. The centre can host conferences, video conferences and interactive events, such as surveys, voting and discussions, as well as web conferences.
Desks in the multimedia centre are equipped with conferencing, registration and voting units, as well as units allowing one to listen to audio information and to watch video information broadcast in the centre, complete with a range of options for selecting translation language. Another service provided allows those attending an event to use a research database compiled specially for that particular event, as well as of course offering them full access to the common electronic database of the multimedia complex. One can access electronic reading room resources from a reader's desk.
The exhibition halls were designed to hold joint exhibitions with museums, libraries and universities. Books such as the Kiev Psalter of 1397 and Azbuka with notes made by Peter the Great are available on electronic panels in the exhibition halls. Rare books, such as the Gospel printed by order of Peter the Great in The Hague in 1717, the Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii by Sigismund von Herberstein published in 1551 and the Constitution of the Russian Federation presented by Dmitry Medvedev to the Library on its opening day are all on display.