Press Release

Historic Agreement of International Cooperation Signed by The New York Public Library and The National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg)

Two of the world's leading research libraries, The New York Public Library and the National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg), have signed a historic Agreement of Cooperation. The agreement is the initial formal agreement of its type to emerge from the first Summit of World Library Leaders, held at The New York Public Library last spring and attended by 50 library leaders representing 26 countries. The theme of the Summit was "Global Library Strategies for the 21st Century" and many of the participants spoke of their commitment, and indeed the necessity, to work cooperatively.

Paul LeClerc, President of the New York Public Library and organizer of the Summit, and Vladimir Zaitsev, Director of the National Library of Russia, recognized that the formal establishment of closer and effective relations will lead to greatly improved user access to information about their respective countries.

Dr. LeClerc said, "While relations between The New York Public Library and Russian libraries date from the end of the 19th century, this new collaboration is historic in its commitment to establish a mutual program which will facilitate library automation and technology initiatives between these two great institutions."

William W. Walker, Andrew W. Mellon Director of The Research Libraries said, "This agreement is significant in that we will exchange electronic data including bibliographic information; create opportunities for the exchange of senior staff and for internships; and share our planning strategies for the future."

Direct personal contacts between the two institutions began in 1923, when Harry Miller Lydenberg, Chief of Reference Services and A.T.S. Yarmolinsky, Curator of the Slavic and East European collections at NYPL visited the National Library of Russia, then named the St. Petersburg Public Library but formerly known as the Imperial Public Library. Edward Kasinec, current Chief of The New York Public Library's Slavic and Baltic Division said, "This agreement is an important signpost along the road of strengthening ties with research libraries in that vast arena of post-communist Eastern Europe and Eurasia."

The agreement commits the institutions to work together to: improve networked access in both print and electronic form to important resources available from other libraries and research organizations in each country; to explore the creation of an international short-title catalog of Russian Church Slavonic titles of the 16th and 17th centuries; to collaborate in joint publishing ventures; to explore joint preservation initiatives, and to collaborate on exhibition projects.

One of the first concrete manifestations of this agreement is the exhibition of Russian imperial graphics of the 18th century from holdings of both libraries, Between the Two Greats: Engraving and Book Illustration in St. Petersburg from Peter I to the Reign of Catherine II, currently on display in the Liberty Street Galleries of the World Financial Center, through March 9.

NYPL's Slavic and Baltic Division
The Slavic and Baltic Division's collections of the New York Public Library encompass magnificent materials that range from early 14th-.century illuminated manuscripts to the latest serial titles. There are more than 385,000 volumes, 1,200 current periodicals and over 20,000 microform titles in Slavic and Baltic vernacular languages, and more than a quarter of a million volumes in Western languages complementing these collections. Of particular interest is the large collection of books from the private library of Grand Duke Vladimir Aleksandrovich, uncle of Nicholas II, which was acquired in 1931.

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