I. V. Babushkin Regional Academic Library, originally the Soviet Public Library, opened in 1919, stocked with books commandeered from the libraries of the local seminary, prep school and abandoned estates of local nobility. Now the library receives about 1,500 visitors a day, which comes to about 60,000 visitors and 1,500,000 documents checked out annually. Through the system of inter-library exchange and electronic document delivery, the library caters for the population of the entire Vologda region.

The library takes up two buildings; one of them, a beautiful building of the early XX century, is a fairly recent acquisition. Its conference hall and assembly hall are fitted with modern sound equipment, a projection TV and a Seiler concert piano, which allows the library to serve as the community’s cultural center.

The library boasts more than 1,000,000 books, periodicals, patents, audio and video materials, microtransparencies, sheet music and electronic databases. It has already acquired access to several full-text Internet resources and created some of its own databases, converting its catalogs into electronic format. It is a member of the LIBNET Project (Russian Federal Library Computer Network), and in 2004, it downloaded more than 3,000 entries from the shared resources. The library continues to develop full-text databases, especially with information on local history, economy and culture, with the view of creating a comprehensive resource, “Vologda’s Memory” (at this point it is 2GB in size). Librarians also convert the main local paper into electronic format. The library’s resources can be accessed not only from the thirty-three computer stations available to its users, but also through the Internet. Upon the whole, the library owns more than 100 PCs and makes use of several Internet servers.

While faithfully providing traditional library services, I. V. Babushkin Regional Academic Library constantly seeks to upgrade them and improve their quality. It has launched its own multimedia center that provides users with a wide range of modern information services with the help of computer and Internet IT technologies. It also has a media room with audio and video equipment. Its reference and information services have significantly grown in volume: for instance, in 2004 the library filled out more than 40,000 information queries, using web-based legal databases or other reference resources of the Internet for almost a third of them. The library is part of the national Virtual Reference Service. Its Internet Center provides users with free Internet access and free computer training, and its American Corner and French Reading Hall serve as “meeting places” with educators, journalists, librarians, museum workers, authors and scholars from the USA and France.

I. V. Babushkin Regional Academic Library is a haven for book lovers, and one of the primary goals of its Reading Center is to promote reading and books, especially quality literature. The library also coordinates library services in the entire Vologda region (provided by more than 700 libraries including four regional, twenty-six district and four central city libraries). I. V. Babushkin Regional Academic Library seeks to create a unified library system with the same level of services and equal access to information resources throughout the region. Its efforts in this area have been supported by the regional project “Developing Library Services in Vologda Region,” which has equipped the region with a corporate library telecommunication system, uniting all the twenty-six central regional libraries. All of them have Internet access and free access to legal reference systems and electronic databases. I. V. Babushkin Regional Academic Library also assists regional libraries in book acquisition. In 2004, it ordered, received and distributed about 34,000 volumes. Over the last two years, it has supported the “Library on Wheels” project, loaning the best books from its collection to more than sixteen rural libraries.

I. V. Babushkin Regional Academic Library has a special program for training librarians in innovative library technologies and ICT skills. It serves as an instructional support center to other libraries in the region, offering consultations and assistance when necessary. It has won a number of national environmental contests, held by the Russian Ministry of Culture. Thanks to the long-standing partnership with the Pushkin Library Foundation, the libraries in Vologda region have constant access to new books published in Russia. In 2004, they received 360 free sets of books for children and teenagers, and a number of books in the Patriotic Values series. I. V. Babushkin Regional Academic Library has also hosted the forum of Reading Centers of Russia’s North-West Federal District.

I. V. Babushkin Regional Academic Library has long maintained close partnerships with libraries in the USA, France and Britain. In the recent years, six librarians have taken part in the Russian-American library exchanges. The American Corner and the French Reading Hall of the library enjoy the support of the American and French embassies. The library also receives books from the Goethe Institute in Germany, and recently it launched Finnish Information Center “Suomi’s Bookshelf.”