Interview with the new director of the All-Russian State Library foreign literature Vadim Duda
It would be nice to organize pick-up points for books ordered from online stores in Inostranka and in regional libraries. This is not only convenient, but also logical.
Vadim Duda: This great idea, which we are already discussing. The library is really very good at organizing book logistics. And obviously, a bookstore in a library is also an important thing. We roughly understand the demand of our readers.
Young people are reluctant to work in the library because they pay little. What is average salary Do you have a librarian?
Vadim Duda: Yes, we will definitely need “fresh brains”. But at the same time, it is important to preserve the essence: the library should remain in the hands of professionals. And our average earnings today are comparable to the average earnings in the Moscow region - 30-40 thousand rubles.
How much has the number of subscribers decreased over the past few years?
Vadim Duda: The dynamics of ticket issuance are, of course, decreasing. Previously, they gave out about 8-9 thousand a year. Now - about 5 thousand.
Is it the e-book that is to blame or the decline of culture in general?
Vadim Duda: There is such a thing - an external locus of control, when a person attributes his failures to external factors, which cannot be influenced. In our case, this is the advent of the Internet, a decrease in interest in reading, and an increase in the number of books. But how competitive are we in the fight for people's attention? How does our range of services meet people's expectations? How exciting is it to return to the library again? This is in our area of responsibility - our competitiveness in the fight for free time we must increase.
Do you believe that there will be a day when all paper books will become electronic, and new books of the old paper type will become just a highlight for book lovers?
Vadim Duda: I don’t understand how you can read for the soul with . The book must be well published: only by reading with a pencil in hand, making notes, can one perceive the text deeply. But at the same time, everything must exist together: the same book in electronic form, so that you can quickly look at it, refresh your memory, make a reference, for example. Well, and most importantly, a person should have a choice: if he wants to read, please, there is a paper version, there is an electronic version, just read, please.
You were involved in the creation of the National Electronic Library, where the issue of copyright is acute: can a reader from anywhere access books that are still subject to copyright, or should such books be read in the library?
Vadim Duda: Unfortunately, little depends on librarians here. The balance of interests is shifted to the side. It will take serious effort to shift the balance towards society. New licensing mechanisms are needed. The NEB should not be a threat to publishers, it should be a platform for the fair distribution of funds for reading books. On the other hand, she must have wide circle readers. How to find this balance is a serious challenge for the NEB.
What is your favorite coffee table book that you re-read?
Vadim Duda: It's hard to say, it often depends on the mood and life situation. I don’t have one universal book for all conditions. And with age, preferences change: in childhood - , Hemingway, in student times - , . Friends still remember how he “swallowed” Marquez in one day, opened the book and disappeared. I read a lot and constantly, if I start listing it, it will take a long time.
Do you follow modern Russian literature?
Vadim Duda: Certainly. It takes time to miss modern literature through yourself. Although you and I probably have different ideas about modern Russian literature. Due to age. While still at school, I subscribed to “Youth” and enjoyed reading to Dina Rubina. And for me she is still a modern Russian writer. I like her humor, her meticulous approach to the theme, plot and details. That’s why I don’t like talking about women’s or men’s literature. Literature can only be interesting, fascinating, talented or brilliant.
REFERENCE
Vadim Duda was born on December 24, 1964. Graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute with a degree in mechanical engineering, defending his diploma in English language. In 2005 he received an MBA degree (American Institute of Business and Economics). For some time he was director of the Department of Information Policy and International Relations of the Ministry of Culture Russian Federation, was an adviser to the Minister of Culture. He was involved in the development of libraries, the creation of the National Electronic Library (NEL), and worked on the creation of the Center's library children's creativity in Sochi.
Dismissal of director Vadim Duda. They accuse the new manager of incompetence, closing key departments, threatening and harassing old employees and misusing funds. Tasya Nikitenko spoke with employees of three departments of Inostranka (names and positions of employees are not indicated at their request) and with Vadim Duda himself - to understand what is happening in one of the main libraries of the country.
The hardest winter
On the Foreigner's website, in the section dedicated to its history, it is stated: "The Library's first winter, the winter of 1921-1922, was probably the most difficult in its history." It is not a fact that the current employees of Inostranka will agree with this statement.
In 2015, after the death of Ekaterina Genieva (she headed the M.I. Rudomino All-Russian State Library for Foreign Literature since 1993 - Open Russia), the post of general director of one of the main libraries in the country was taken by Vadim Duda, a leader with a bright background.
Vadim Duda graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute with a degree in mechanical engineering and the American Institute of Business and Economics with an MBA program.
Director of the All-Russian State Library for Foreign Literature named after M.I. Rudomino Vadim Duda. Photo: Alexander Shcherbak / TASS
He was engaged in air transportation to Dubai and the United Arab Emirates, from 2002 to 2012 he worked in the Terem group of companies in senior positions, and was the rector of the Academy for Retraining of Workers in Art, Culture and Tourism. He met 2015 as director of the Department of Information Policy and International Relations of the Ministry of Culture in the status of adviser to Minister Vladimir Medinsky.
The library director's lack of specialized education was the staff's first complaint. Vadim Duda himself, in a conversation with Open Russia, said that he did not see a problem in this: “My very first job was in the library of the Moscow Aviation University in 1984. So the ways of the Lord are mysterious. I spent a lot of time working with information, information technology and international affairs. Therefore, it seems to me that the library is not a place that does not at all fit my profile of activity. I think there was some kind of pattern here.”
The protest of library employees entered an active phase in 2016, after the library’s book depository was sealed due to the lack of fire extinguishing systems. Then visitors and employees of Inostranka lost access to four million books for several months.
Vadim Duda did not deny that problems with the book storage department still exist, and even offered to give a tour. Her highlight was the discovery of an empty bottle of Russian Currency vodka, covered in a layer of dust, hidden in a fireman's locker behind a hose.
New director“Foreigners” said that the contract for the installation of a fire safety system has already been concluded, and by the end of June the book storage will be equipped with everything necessary. On the government procurement website there is indeed a contract for 127 million rubles, which was concluded with the OSK Group, which was engaged in the installation of fire protection systems in office buildings and towers of the Kremlin.
“Every square meter must be sold”
The next item on the list of complaints against the director was the personnel policy. Library staff said Open Russia about mass layoffs - the vacant positions were filled, according to them, by Duda’s friends and relatives: “We are being replaced by people who were engaged in private business. They have no sense of direction at all, they are ruining the library.” For example, Duda’s former colleagues at the Terem company, Mikhail Shubin and Anastasia Dyatlovskaya, now work, respectively, as the head of the center information technologies and head of the development department (a position created by Duda).
The building of the All-Russian State Library for Foreign Literature named after M.I. Rudomino. Photo: Sergey Savostyanov / TASS
On January 30, employees of the library's exhibition department received notice that their department would be liquidated on March 31. The dismissed employees are sure that they are being eliminated because they took up a lot of space: the exhibition department was located on an area of approximately 600 square meters.
“He (Vadim Duda. - Open Russia) constantly says: “Every square meter of the library must be sold.” He constantly reproaches us that there are no queues for us, like at Serov. But such queues are a mockery of both man and culture. We have a different function, but he doesn’t understand it.”
Vadim Duda explained to Open Russia that the exhibition department has been reduced due to its irrelevance: “The library does not have such a volume of exhibition projects. We are not a museum or an exhibition organization. We do not need this activity to such an extent. I am sincerely sorry that we have to part with good people. But the most important thing for us is the library. The people are good, it’s nothing personal.”
As one confirmation of their theory about freeing up space for commercial purposes, employees cite the position of real estate director established by Duda.
The editorial office has documents at its disposal confirming that such a position was indeed created and is occupied by Elena Aleksandrovna Novikova. In addition, one of the Inostranka employees spoke with workers whom he met in the library, and they reported that some premises were “preparing for a change in profile.”
“He doesn’t consider us people”
Library staff also speak unflatteringly about the level of culture of the new administration. So, according to them, during the formation of the French Center, the directorate asked for “12 meters of books,” and mistakenly called the bust of Voltaire that they donated Louis XIV.
According to library staff, Duda forces specialists to write statements on at will:
“He destroyed humanity. He doesn't consider us people. I compare this to the occupation regime. People cannot stand repression.”
Library workers say that the administration puts psychological pressure on employees to sign resignation letters. Among the methods of influence, in addition to threats and bullying, they also cite a rather inventive method: “Duda draws up dismissal lists without his signature and sends them out to departments. When people ask what it is, he says that he has no idea and there is no signature on the document. Well, you can imagine what state people are in after this.” Another way of influencing was the appointment of two employees to one position - this happened with the Slavic Center, which now has several managers.
Former director of the All-Russian State Library for Foreign Literature named after M.I. Rudomino Ekaterina Genieva. Photo: Artem Geodakyan / TASS
Vadim Duda called the topic of employee layoffs sensitive and difficult: “This is not an initiative of the library management. The people are very nice. We can't risk the library. Yes, we can reduce our social activities, cultural sphere, but we cannot and will not risk the library. I don’t think you will find a single layoff librarian or library specialist. No one has been fired yet on our initiative.”
Library employees told Open Russia that in 2017, a total of 16 people left Inostranka. This is almost 10% of the entire library staff. 10 people left the acquisition department, among them librarians and bibliographers, the head of the sector and department. Several more people are preparing to write a statement. The entire exhibition department has been reduced - 9 specialists (although three of them remain to work in the library). Also, Inostranka employees say that the acquisition department will be reduced by half (there are 45 employees in the department in total).
Destruction or modernization?
The day after the interview, Vadim Duda got in touch with Open Russia and said that during a conversation with the journalist, he kept silent about the fact that some employees left the library due to disagreement with his policies: “The current situation is this: in the complex acquisition department (45 employees in total) 6 employees wrote letters of resignation by agreement of the parties (with the payment of additional compensation), in the exhibition department 9 employees received notice of reorganization, 5 resigned at their own request, also with the payment of additional compensation, 4 remain working in the library. “I think we decided to leave because we didn’t agree with certain management decisions.”
All-Russian State Library of Foreign Literature named after M.I. Rudomino. Photo: Darina DanteS / onedaymoscowblog.blogspot.ru
In fact, there are only three people left to work, library staff correct the director.
The international activities currently taking place in the library are called “a wretched caricature” by the staff. According to them, many of the old partners have already turned their backs on Inostranka, while the rest continue to cooperate “for old times’ sake.”
“The library has been destroyed. Vadim Duda demands efficiency from any activity.
He breaks the entire library into boutiques, turns it into shopping mall. He needs halls, and he’s cutting departments.”
Behind Last year Three international projects were opened in the library. One of them is Frankoteka. “Frankoteka is a unique project. I really hope that it will help us partially solve the problems with staffing, because all the embassies participating in the project are ready to help us. At the opening, we received 9,000 books from the French Embassy,” Duda said.
“They actually gave away 9,000 books,” library staff comment. “But the French didn’t know where to write them off two years ago.”
In December, a Center was opened in Inostranka Slavic cultures, and at the end of February the resource center of the Pearson publishing house will begin operating.
“Our library was an eyesore.”
According to Duda, in 2016, the library’s collection received 16,000 books. According to library staff, in 2016 the library collection was practically not replenished. On the initiative of the new administration, several dozen books in Danish were purchased, the rest of the receipts were based on lists formed under Genieva.
One of the library workers shared with Open Russia his concern that during the recent renovation at Inostranka, some of the funds were spent for other purposes: “They spent 38 million on renovations. The elevators were supposed to be operational in September, but this still hasn’t happened.” The employees also claim that among the employees there are “ dead Souls" As an example, they cite Irina Dzhunzhurova, who works in the Ministry of Culture, but at the same time is on the staff of the library, without working in it.
One of the library employees believes that “killing the library” for the Ministry of Culture was a matter of principle: “There was a real American center in Inostranka.
The Ministry of Culture was irritated by Genieva’s liberal aura.
She refused to close the American Cultural Center, British Council. And all this was very annoying."
The library terminated its agreement with the US Embassy in Moscow with the arrival of a new director in September 2015.
“Our library was a thorn in the side of the Ministry of Culture,” recalls an employee. - But the main thing is that Genieva had people and culture, culture and people. Now this is not the case."
The scandal surrounding the Library of Foreign Literature is a case of our time. Its participants are typical heroes in typical circumstances in which they find themselves cultural institutions where power changes. In some cases - by order of the relevant ministry, here - by the will of inexorable death, which took the long-time director of Inostranka Ekaterina Yuryevna Genieva. Vadim Duda came to her place in 2015, according to his version - with the recommendation of Genieva, according to those who fought against him - thanks to the patronage of the Ministry of Culture. The conflict did not break out immediately, but after the director began, as he assured, to update the library in the spirit of the times; according to the conviction of resigned employees, to its destruction. They formulated their accusations in an open letter signed by 2 thousand people. The main ones are the lack of specialized education, reduction of key departments, suspension of recruitment, and dismissal of leading employees. One of these claims is enough to public opinion stood up to defend violated rights and high aspirations. And I stood there too, but I still decided to listen to the other side of the conflict. After all, it is interesting to understand whether one person can destroy the life work of generations of brilliant professionals and what means are needed for this. During a long and nervous conversation with Vadim Duda, skeletons fell out of closets, the ghost of the prosecutor's office loomed, and serious accusations were made (documents are available in the editorial office).
- Let's start with the claims that are being made against you.
- Let's start with the one who makes the claims.
- Who is making claims against you?
- I would like to know that too. There is such a common formula: “English scientists have proven that...” or: “From anonymous sources it became known...”. I would really like to identify these “anonymous sources”. But since there are a certain number of claims, I am, of course, ready to talk about it, even if these are anonymous sources.
— Quite specific people came out on the Sunday picket. Do you know who it was?
— I looked carefully at this picket, one of the posters “Stop spreading rot (or ruining, I don’t remember) culture.” To be honest, I would love to stand with this poster myself.
Sometimes this happens: a wave of protest rises, people are not very ready to understand the problem, but they are willing to get involved in the struggle. I saw only one familiar face there, and I don’t really understand who these people are, what their requirements are...
- Well in in this case the demands are quite specific: a) against layoffs, b) against layoffs of leading departments, c) for your dismissal. But as far as I understand, the first protests were caused by the closure of the American Center. Did you not have enough influence to defend it or did you not consider it necessary to defend it?
- This is a moth-eaten story, a myth. The center was not closed for a single second. We simply stopped receiving money from the American Embassy because the contract between the library and the US State Department, as it was, could not be renewed for many reasons.
— Why didn’t he cause any complaints from Genieva, who opposed the closure of this center?
- So I am against the closure. We now support the center with extra-budgetary funds from the library, proving through our deeds our good intentions and desire to continue cooperation. And, by the way, the audience of the American Center is not decreasing, on the contrary, it is growing.
“Then what doesn’t suit you about this contract?”
— Let's put it this way: I am against any dubious transactions with library money and against complicated, indirect management schemes.
— And the Turkish center was also closed at the moment of deterioration in relations with Turkey without any political motive?
— There will always be a political background, but this means: if relations with a particular country are going through a difficult period, then things must be all the more in impeccable order. Attendance at the Turkish Center was several people per year. For comparison, in the Center of Slavic Cultures, opened in its place, at least 200-300 per month. We had an agreement with the Russian-Turkish Cooperation Association, which included an obligation to financially support the center from the Turkish side. By the time it closed, we had not been paid for four months. And, in principle, all this hype around Turkey was such a trigger to see what was happening with the Turkish center.
Probably, if I were a very experienced politician, I would sit and think: “Let’s close it in a month or two, until the fuss subsides a little.” But I’m not a politician, so we simply stopped supporting this center.
— That is, what looks like an ideological order during the pickets, for you is a dispute between economic entities?
— The issue of contractual relations with the American embassy arose long before the aggravation of disagreements between our countries, it’s just new wave gave it a political twist. We simply do not consider it possible for, for example, embassy employees to work part-time at the American Center and manage an entire division of the library, and calculations were carried out outside the Russian legal framework. So it's really not a matter of ideology.
— Does the reduction in recruitment that you are accused of also have a simple explanation?
— Let's clarify the terminology first. We do not have and never have had any reduction in recruitment. This is a key function of the library. Not a single employee of the library departments has been fired and will not be fired. These are the elite of the library, and we will always protect them.
Vadim Duda. Photo: Victoria Odissonova / Novaya
— Who fired the head of the acquisition department and who were the 11 people who left?
— In the comprehensive acquisition department there was an international book exchange group. I had complaints specifically about this group, about the way things were done there. Absolutely opaque from the point of view of document flow and in violation of all conceivable standards - library, accounting, ethical. I communicated with the department’s leadership many times, urging them to restore order and focus on the only priority - stocking the library with new foreign books, periodicals, subscription databases.
You don't need to be an expert in library science to understand what's going on. The work of the acquisition department was largely subordinated to the tasks of primarily “monetary” book exchange.
How did it work? Books, including those purchased with budget funds, went to the book exchange fund. The books were then sent to the library's partners. The library paid for postage. And then the money for the books sent did not reach the library.
Compliance with the rules for recording receipts and disposals would break the established pattern of monetary book exchange. Therefore, these rules were not followed.
Here is the inventory book of the international book exchange. Individual pages are punched with a hole punch and inserted into a folder like this. Sheet number 3. What do you think is the next sheet number?
— In theory, 4.
- 49. The inventory book is not stitched, there is no continuous numbering... So, you are now taking out the sheet, and we are losing the entire history of these books.
This is the most opaque part. Retirement, excuse the term, from the fund. The meaning is this: when a book is received, it becomes part of the library collection. For her to drop out of it, there must be reasons. There's nothing here. Only encoded information about partners, recipients of shipments. For example, SSH 168 means Stanford University Library. The act of disposal of the book must be recorded in the accounting department. Nothing was done about this, because again the whole scheme would break down, since the accounted obligations would be subject to payment to the library’s accounts, and not to some external ones.
—Is this a crime or negligence?
- I cannot give such an assessment. At the very least - negligence. Believe me, if you show this inventory book to any librarian, he will say: “Immediately carry out an inventory, seal the collections, stop such activities.” This is what was done by internal order on January 27, 2017.
— Did the responsible book exchange employees give you explanations on these issues?
- We discussed this many times. The main message was: “We’ve been doing this for 20 years.” Here are the entries in the inventory book, these codes mean sending to foreign partners. An invoice was issued before shipping ( a document containing a list of goods, their quantity and the price at which they were delivered to the buyer). Look at the title, it is written on behalf of the Foreigner. The recipient is a highly respected European public library.
— So you suspect that the money went past the library to offshore?
- I have every reason to think so. There were definitely no entries into the library. And until we clear everything up, we cannot continue this activity. Hiding behind lofty slogans about the interests of society and doing business using dirty mechanisms and gray schemes is absolutely unacceptable. This doesn't only affect us. Imagine a simple situation: an auditor comes to the mentioned European library and asks to document the mutual settlements with the Foreigner. And we will not be able to confirm that money for the books sent was received. This serious blow by the library's reputation.
— What did the head of the department answer to your complaints?
— The manager and his deputy resigned of their own free will the day after the order was issued to suspend the book exchange. They are pensioners, we did not even have the opportunity to organize the transfer of affairs - we were obliged to fire them the next day.
— Do you think that Ekaterina Yuryevna Genieva was not embarrassed by this state of affairs?
“I don’t think she knew all the details.” I know that she was an honest, decent person who trusted people. How people used this trust is a different story. Let's admit, any head of a large institution signs a lot of documents, and it is not always possible to study them in detail; you need to rely on people who deal with their own issues.
—Have you handed over these documents to the prosecutor's office?
- We will follow the law. Now we are conducting an internal audit, inventory, and assessing the scale of the problems. Further it will be clear what to do.
“Why did people go into confrontation so fearlessly if they knew they were vulnerable?”
- Firstly, the documents that I showed you were discovered after their dismissal. We did not make them public, which was perceived as weakness, but this is a matter of the library’s reputation and attitude towards the memory of respected people.
One guess I have is that people have been doing these kinds of transactions for so long that they actually think it's normal. Nobody touched them for 20 years, and then a “culture killer” appears and suddenly bans everything. I fully admit that most of the ordinary employees were not in the know. Those who led the process probably knew about this.
— So, 11 people quit not only as a sign of solidarity?
“They resigned because they did not agree with my order to suspend the book exchange until we described all the necessary procedures and established cleanliness and order. Purity - keyword for me in this situation. By the way, there are also big questions about efficiency. For example, in 2013, the Oxford University Library sent us a letter refusing to continue the book exchange due to economic inefficiency.
— What happened to the exhibition department, which you practically closed?
— We have a wonderful project “Model Libraries in the Regions.” Last year we made two turnkey libraries. One is in the village of Bogolyubovo, between Suzdal and Vladimir, the other is in the village of Baturino, in the Ryazan region. Five people a day went to the Bogolyubov library. Together with the regional authorities, we made it into in a good way, a Western-style library, it turned into the center of life in the village. The governor paid attention to the library, they repaired the road leading to it, and straightened the fence. Now there are no empty seats .
For us, participation in such projects costs approximately 2 million rubles for each library, while the activities of the exhibition department cost us about a million for one exhibition. Spending 11 million a year on a department whose activities largely duplicate the work of the department of cultural and educational programs is wasteful. A foreigner is, first of all, a library, and we must help the development of libraries in the country, provide them with resources and, excuse me, get rid of such fire pipes ( shows a rusty stump - see photo).
This is what the library's fire pipes looked like before renovation. Photo: Victoria Odissonova / Novaya — That is, someone who wants to organize an exhibition paid money to a specific person for the use of the exhibition department space?
“There is every reason to believe that this was exactly the case.”
Moreover, when one of the library employees came to the designer of the exhibition department on my instructions - to prepare materials for the presentation of the mentioned Bogolyubov library - they demanded cash from him.
“It’s unlikely that the entire department will leave because of one culprit, which means they all had their reasons.”
— Out of 10, five left. The rest moved to the department of cultural and educational programs.
“It’s strange for me to hear about self-interest within these walls.” From time immemorial, mostly unmercenary people worked here out of love for humanitarian knowledge.
“And here the absolute majority of people are just like that: honest and unselfish.” The situation I told you about is not the rule, but the exception.
I deeply respect my colleagues and, above all, those who belong to library departments. These are true professionals, bearers of the Foreigner spirit. For library workers, we have so much to do that rumors of layoffs are complete nonsense.
— How did the library staff perceive these layoffs?
— Of course, emotionally, there is a lot of negativity from the outside. But library staff signed a letter in support of my actions.
- I saw this. But I also saw a letter in which 2 thousand people spoke out for your dismissal.
— There are 2 thousand people who do not know the situation, but are ready to defend ideals. Well, who would refuse to protect culture? I can’t show everyone the documents and tell everyone about the current state of affairs. And the signatures of librarians are the support of people who know everything from the inside; they cannot be bought with slogans and appeals.
— Doesn’t the struggle for cleanliness distract from routine work? After all, in the electronic age, library functions need to be debugged anew?
- Work is underway. The suspended book exchange is not the main part of revenues. The acquisition of books continues, acquisition has not stopped. Now we need to implement new system information support, build processing technology, equip a production area and concentrate all this in one place.
There are more difficult tasks. Provide the library with money. The ruble has become cheaper by half over the past couple of years. The main source of acquisition for Leninka or Publicka is legal deposit, which these libraries receive free of charge. We, unlike them, need targeted sources of funding specifically for acquisition. At the same time, our acquisition profile is a quarter of a century old. During this time, a lot has changed. What will happen in 10 years? What should remain in the fund in paper form, and what in the form of subscriptions or in files on our servers?
Much has changed in political sphere. Let’s say that Ukraine used to be part of the USSR, and Ukrainian Literature was not part of Inostranka’s sphere of interests. Now we need to carefully watch what is happening in Ukraine, the Baltic states, and other countries, and leave a documentary memory of this time. It is clear that someone must establish proportions between languages, countries, groups; we need a person who will take on this extremely important work for the library.
It’s important not just to fire someone, it’s important who will deal with these issues further. An experienced manager has already taken over the position of deputy director for work with collections, who, while working at Leninka, reduced the processing time for books from several months to 10 days. We are now looking for a person with good knowledge and understanding of the market foreign literature, With good vision long-term acquisition perspective, for content management.
— Are you working on an electronic catalogue?
- The problem is serious. We have about 5 million storage units, about 2 million of which are books. The only way to achieve full relevance of the electronic catalog and fund is to carry out its physical reconciliation, literally manually. And only experienced librarians can do this. There is another problem - our book depository. We simply have nowhere physically to accept books. We will survive another 2017, and we will not be able to continue like this.
Vadim Duda. Photo: Victoria Odissonova / Novaya — Obviously, one of the solutions is an external book storage.
— What kind of books can be taken to external storage?
— We provide about 100 thousand book lending per year and are proud that the process from order to receipt takes a maximum of 15 minutes. Even if we assume that all 100 thousand are unique books, this means that 5% of the entire fund is involved in book lending. It is necessary to evaluate the fund that is in demand and will be in demand. This does not mean that we can give up the rest, but it is not necessary to keep everything in the library book depository in the very center of Moscow.
- As far as I know, abroad you can generally order a book from a machine, without any participation in the issuance of a librarian...
— Yes, this is done in many libraries. You can order and hand over the book yourself through an automatic acceptance device. But technological innovation is not a cheap pleasure, you have to look for money.
- What does “search” mean? Can you earn money yourself or not?
— We have a fairly decent flow of extra-budgetary money, but it is not enough to modernize the library.
- So I’m asking, what ways are there for you to make money?
— The library should not make money, the library must convince the founder, the state, that we are engaged in a socially relevant business. It is important to properly organize government funding. I don't believe in the money-making story for serious infrastructure investments. Although we have sponsors.
— Are you saying that readers don’t pay for anything now?
— All basic library services are completely free.
— And, for example, if you need to photocopy a book?
— Of course, there are a number of paid services, which include creating copies. And we will develop this direction. But basic library services will remain free for readers.
— Is it possible to make money, for example, by collecting fines from readers for overdue books?
- A bad way, it seems to me. If there is a task to make money, someone must be responsible for the growth of certain income items. We tell the librarian: “You are responsible for the increase in the number of fines.” And so he begins not to accept books on time, building a scheme to increase these fines. Some kind of negative way.
We need to ensure that the fund receives about 10 thousand foreign books a year. It turns out to be about half a million US dollars, which is about 30-35 million rubles. We cannot do without the targeted support of the founder.
— I saw the figure of 18 million last year.
— In 2016, about 21 million were spent on acquisitions. In addition to books, there are also subscriptions to electronic databases, which is approximately 8 million per year, and periodicals. It is quite possible that one of the ways readers access modern books is print on demand. The cost of printing on demand can be about 1.0-1.5 thousand rubles, which is clearly less than the cost of buying a book.
- Department rare book do you keep it?
- Certainly. Approximately 75 thousand books - a unique collection. By the way, this was another question for the exhibition department, which spent library money on external projects and paid little attention to the disclosure of our holdings.
— P Is traffic going up or down?
— Attendance is growing, there are days when it’s difficult to get here. But the number of readers, let’s be honest, has not increased.
- What does this have to do with?
— At some point, we lost a certain core of our audience, this happened around 2008-2010, according to old employees, when the connection between acquisition and reading rooms was broken.
— How do you feel about the talk about merging the RSL and the Public Library in St. Petersburg?
- And now there’s nothing to relate to... I have one simple question: is there a plan? And what is meant by unification? And what is the goal? Opponents of unification talk mainly about massive layoffs and saving one hundred million public funds. This is not serious, not to mention it is not true. For this purpose, talking about the development of libraries is ridiculous.
It is necessary to consider the interests of at least three audiences. The first is readers. How will the service improve? What will happen to the fund? Will our national libraries be the best in the world? And we, alas, are seriously lagging behind both in quantity and quality of services, technologies, scientific research. But the main thing is that we are no longer the most reading country in the world. And these considerations and problems should and will be the main drivers of change.
Second. Employee interests. Any plan in which librarians, bearers of the unique genetic code of great libraries, suffer is a bad plan.
And thirdly, the question of effective spending budget funds, an increase not only in attendance, but also in the number of readers. Let's be honest: the interest in the topic of libraries that arose after rumors about the horrors of the “merger” did not lead to a discussion main problem— the quiet dying of libraries as educational centers. National libraries should be not only a model, but also an engine of development, a way out of a dull and dilapidated existence. And here we cannot do without understanding where we are going and what we are doing.
Now the opinion of all audiences does not coincide, and I am sure there will be a search for balance. But any solution requires a clear plan and broad public discussion.
Vadim Duda has become the new director of the All-Russian State Library for Foreign Literature (VGBIL). Previously, he served as rector of the Academy for Retraining of Workers in Art, Culture and Tourism. Within three months, Vadim Duda will be required to develop a concept for the development of VGBIL, which in November will be submitted for discussion to the board of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. The new leader of Inostranka was introduced to the team by State Secretary and Deputy Minister of Culture Grigory Ivliev.
It is very difficult to replace such an outstanding cultural figure as Ekaterina Genieva,” Ivliev told Izvestia. - We took into account that Vadim will continue the tradition established by Ekaterina Yuryevna. Now the library facilities in the institution are built correctly, a development perspective has been set, taking into account all the trends that exist in the industry. The library of foreign literature must remain the most important cultural center. All connections for international cooperation should be limited to VGBIL or carried out with its help.
Grigory Ivliev also noted that the ideas of creating a socio-cultural center from the library have become part of government policy in the industry.
Earlier, leading leaders of library science wrote a letter to the Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky (Izvestia has it) with a request to appoint Vadim Duda to the post of director of VGBIL.
“No one can replace Ekaterina Genieva. The scale of her personality, authority and professionalism helped solve many tasks and problems and determine prospects. It is thanks to Ekaterina Yuryevna that the library is now moving along the path innovative development, sets the tone for the use of the latest technologies, and generously shares his experience with colleagues. Now “Inostranka” needs a leader who can preserve its special atmosphere, support and develop all the best that has been created and accumulated over decades, and build a balance of relations between the ministry, the team, public and international organizations, and the entire “Inostranka” community,” the letter says.
Among the signatories of the document is the director of the Russian State Library (RSL) Alexander Visly, CEO State Public Scientific and Technical Library (SPNTL) Yakov Shrayberg, General Director of the company ELAR (Electronic Archive) Sergei Balandyuk, Rector of Kemerovo state university culture and arts Ekaterina Kudrina.
Libraries should work modern people, capable of looking at the world through the user's eyes. These are people who exist in the realities of the Internet and are able to provide readers with not only academic access to books, but also develop the service sector. In this regard, Vadim Duda is more advanced than others. Considering the large staff shortage, this is not the worst option. He has worked in IT, in the publishing industry, and has some management experience. I think it can be useful for Inostranka, which has always been a progressive place,” Sergei Balandyuk told Izvestia.
GRNTB director Yakov Shrayberg is confident that there are no other candidates for the post of director of the Library of Foreign Literature except Vadima Duda.
Today, there is no strong personality within the library that would allow the institution to withstand such difficult conditions. There is no such personality among vacant librarians. Not a single current director will leave his place and come to Inostranka. Duda is a relatively new person in this industry, but has worked abroad, he has knowledge of the language and has a sufficiently meaningful and thoughtful vision for many projects. In our personal conversation, Duda told me that he intends to preserve the projects that Genieva led. And his determination should help him do that, Shreiberg said.
The position of rector of the Academy for Retraining of Art, Culture and Tourism Workers, which Vadim Duda has held for the last 2 years, will be filled on the basis of a competition.
Vadim Duda was born on December 24, 1964. In 1991, he graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute with a degree in mechanical engineering, defending his diploma in English. In 2005 he received an MBA degree (American Institute of Business and Economics).
In 2012–2013, he worked as director of the department of information policy and international relations of the Ministry of Culture, and was an adviser to the Minister of Culture. He was involved in the development of libraries, the creation of the National Electronic Library (NEL), and worked on the creation of the library of the Children's Creativity Center in Sochi.
The head of the All-Russian State Library for Foreign Literature, Ekaterina Genieva, died on July 9 at the age of 70. She has served as head of VGBIL since 1993.
In the fall of 2015, after the death of the previous director, Vadim Duda became the new head of the Library of Foreign Literature. The reforms he began to carry out caused conflicting reactions. I talked to Duda and asked him to clarify the situation.
"Lenta.ru": In many media in Lately information has appeared about problems in the Library of Foreign Literature: employees are being forced to resign, departments are being liquidated, the book depository has been sealed...
Duda: Nothing is closed. Indeed, last fall the book depository was sealed by bailiffs due to fire safety claims. But from the first of December we have no restrictions, the library is completely open.
What can you say about layoffs?
Not a single person was fired on our initiative. I signed two internal documents in January. The first concerned the international book exchange, the second - the exhibition department. About book exchange - earlier in October there was already an order on strict compliance with the rules of document circulation and legislation in international book exchange. The January order suspended book exchange activities due to very serious discrepancies with the requirements of the law.
What were the differences?
This concerned the preparation of library registration documents. I have every reason to believe that this activity was, to put it mildly, opaque. The bottom line is that the entry into the collection and the “exit” of books outside the library must be documented in a certain way so that it can always be determined where, on what grounds, and for what purpose the book was sent. There are a number of requirements for such accounting.
That is, you suspect that the people responsible for this process profited from the international book exchange?
I cannot say this; it is not within my competence. I can only state: I have every reason to talk about the opacity and illegality of this activity and the impossibility of continuing it in this form in Inostranka. I also note that the library did not receive any money as a result of this activity.
What amounts are we talking about?
It's not just about the amounts, although they were considerable. In my opinion, “Foreigner” with its reputation created through the efforts of respected and famous people, simply cannot be part of some gray, completely opaque schemes.
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In what form, in your opinion, should an international book exchange take place? People who previously worked in the library, in an interview with Open Russia, say that “many of the old partners have already turned their backs on Inostranka, the rest continue to cooperate out of old memory.”
And for what reason do old partners turn away? I am convinced that working with such wonderful partners as the State Library of Berlin or the Library of Congress should be completely fair and mutually beneficial. Let me give you an example: now we cannot reconcile mutual settlements with our partners, since many transactions were not documented. This means that we will not be able to provide any legally significant documents to partners for audit. And this can be a serious problem for any large library. If we do not fully comply with the laws, we will definitely lose both partners and reputation.
Your library employees claim that they were forced to write letters of resignation of their own free will and created an environment in which they were simply forced to quit.
I’m not a very good psychologist or psychotherapist, but I will say this: if demands to comply with law and order mean exerting psychological pressure, then we really did exert very strong psychological pressure. The employees wrote letters of resignation because they did not agree with these requirements. They have been doing this for many years, it is their right. And they received compensation upon dismissal.
They say that they sent resignation letters to departments without signatures, thus encouraging them to sign these papers.
What is a letter of resignation without a signature? I don't know if you dealt with government or budgetary institutions, but not everything is so easy for us. I can't fire an employee just like that. There are certain procedures.
So you completely deny that it happened?
Rumors about “hit lists” and sending out statements, in my opinion, are created in order to scare employees who fundamentally disagree with the opinions of those who quit. The vast majority of such employees are among them, reputable workers with many years of experience, our golden fund... I am ready to responsibly declare that there are no plans to reduce employees and there are no demands from such a plan. This is especially true for employees of library departments - our elite; we have always supported and will continue to support them.
Have you tried to somehow work on the atmosphere in the team, to unite it?
We have a close-knit team, the backbone of our team are the same librarians who dedicated their entire lives to Inostranka. I am horrified to think that any of them would want to retire, because they are not only a storehouse of information and invaluable experience, but also an example of absolutely honest service to their work. We have complete mutual understanding with the vast majority of employees: where we are heading, what priorities are important for the development of a modern library. And I want to maintain this atmosphere, because I am part of this unique team.
Negativity comes from external sources. Undocumented information, rumors and speculation are discussed. I am sure that as soon as all the facts are verified, appropriately assessed and published, the foam will subside.
Photo: Library of Foreign Literature
According to your employees, you said that “every square meter of the library should be sold” and bring in money...
About “selling square meters” - this is not for me, I have never set such tasks. I am always in favor of public funds being spent as efficiently as possible. The library, like any other cultural institution, is interested in increasing attendance. Therefore, in 2015-2016, we asked to vacate the premises of all tenants who do not fit into the library development concept. This concept was agreed upon by Ekaterina Yuryevna Genieva with the Board of Trustees in 2012.
For you, is a library primarily a well-coordinated, optimally functioning enterprise or an educational project?
Of course, an educational project. This is a library! But the need to comply with legal norms is quite obvious. The library cannot be part of any strange schemes.
Why was the exhibition department closed?
Here you need to prioritize - first the library, then everything else. Let me give you an example. In two years, the ruble has depreciated quite significantly, and we buy books abroad. I really want to maintain the volume of income, for which I need more money. We have serious problems with fire safety and many more library problems, the solution of which will require costs.
In such rather difficult times, spending 11 million rubles on 12 exhibition projects a year is fundamentally wrong, we simply cannot afford it. In addition, we have a cultural programs department, with very similar functions. 5 out of 10 employees of the exhibition department wrote letters of resignation by agreement of the parties, with payment of compensation, the rest remained in the library and will continue to engage in this activity.
There has been a problem with fire safety since 2010. Why hasn't it been resolved?
The main complaint is the lack of an automatic fire extinguishing system in the book depository and also whole line other violations. Instructions have been issued since 2010, and it looks like this: first a warning is issued, then a fine, then a fine against the director personally. And at some point these possibilities end, you can only go to court and demand the closure of the library, especially considering the recent history of the fire on Altufevskoye Highway and in the INION library.
For many reasons, financing - and this is a very impressive amount - was not organized. I would like to note that at the end of last year we managed to agree on funding from the Ministry of Culture, the state contract was signed. An automatic fire extinguishing system will be introduced in July this year.
There was an American Cultural Center in the library...
Why are you speaking in the past tense? The American center was not closed for a second, it is still open, and it is exactly the same as it was two years ago. We stopped receiving money from the embassy because the type of agreements signed between the library and the library, unfortunately, did not meet the norms in many respects. So we continue to support the activities of this center, and we do it successfully.
Your project “Frankoteka” received 9,000 books from the French Embassy, but library employees say that the embassy simply did not know where to write them off.
It’s strange to hear about such an attitude towards books from librarians, even anonymous ones... This is probably why they were afraid to speak out openly... The French Embassy has an organization called Institut Francais. They have problems with library space, and when we agreed on the Francotheque project with the French Ambassador, the idea was not to create unnecessary competition. We are a library, they are a cultural center. Therefore, to some extent, we took over the library services of this organization. I don't see any problems here. “Frankoteka” is in demand by our readers and helps us increase our audience, including through the books we receive.
For example, on February 28 we will have the opening of another American Center, together with the Pearson publishing house. Next up are the Italian and Ibero-American centers. We are actively developing libraries in the regions and believe that, as a large federal library, we must help them. “Foreigner” will not remain aloof from the development of digital technologies. Over the course of the year, we have become quite noticeable in the field of virtual services - about 200 regional libraries use our services as an aggregator of digital books.