On September 11 and 12, the 6th Forum of Young Librarians of Russia will be held in Irkutsk Region, bringing together about a hundred specialists, teachers, students and officials. The theme is Library without borders.

As reported by Minister of Culture and Archives Vitaly Baryshnikov, the sixth Forum of Young Librarians of Russia will take place in the Irkutsk Region from September 11 to 12.
About one hundred specialists from libraries of various departments, managers at different levels of the library and information sector, university professors and students, representatives of the legislative and executive authorities, and members of professional public associations will take part in the forum. Professors from Moscow State University of Culture and Arts, staff of the Russian State Library for Youth, the State Public Scientific and Technical Library of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, professors from the Orel Institute of Arts and Culture, the Chelyabinsk Academy of Culture and Arts, and staff of regional academic, municipal, and youth libraries from Tomsk, Kemerovo, Omsk, Krasnoyarsk, and Irkutsk. This is reported in a press release from the regional government.
The organizers of the forum will be the Russian State Library for Youth, the regional youth library named after I.P. Utkin, the “Young People in Librarianship” Section, and the Association of Young Librarians of the Irkutsk Region. The Forums of Young Librarians of Russia have been held since 2006 in Moscow, Saratov, Omsk, Cheboksary, and Ryazan. Young librarians view the forum platform as a place for development, discussion, training, and practice, as well as for creating professional communications among libraries of different regions, and for creating conditions and encouraging young people to adopt modern approaches to organizing library work.
The main reason for holding the forum was the Year of Libraries, declared by the Governor of the Irkutsk Region Sergei Eroshchenko in 2013. At that time, young librarians took part in professional competitions and international projects. Since then, there has been a significant change in the libraries of the municipalities of the Irkutsk Region – a new scientific library was opened, becoming the region’s main library.
Library without Borders is the theme of the 2014 forum. The event program will include master classes and business games designed to build an understanding of the role of libraries as the most important socio-cultural link that influences the life of society. Among the topics to be discussed at the forum will be: “Technological Management in the Strategic Development of the Library,” “Leadership as a Lifestyle,” “Professional Competencies of the Modern Librarian,” “Building the Image of the Library through PR Technologies and Advertising,” and “Youth and Reading: the Digital Environment.”