O. V. Kononova
Creation of Net Resources of Local Lore, History and Economy - the
Contribution of the Central Library of the Arkhangelsk Region
to the Formation of Tourist Attraction of the Region
Information activities in local history are being developed by the Arkhangelsk Regional
Scientific Library named after N. A. Dobrolyubov according to the present-day realities, to the
mission of informing society in general and building a society of knowledge in future. Modern
computer technologies and Internet networking condition the priority of local history resources
development. Multiple social, economic and cultural issues in the Region and the resources
where they appear are collected at the site of the Arkhangelsk Regional Scientific Library. The
use of new technologies allows distant users to get the information on the Region, to get the idea
of its economic, cultural, historic and natural potential.
The Arkhangelsk Region is one of the largest Russian territories. It is situated in four
climatic zones; arctic, tundra, forest, taiga. They determine the richness of natural resources of
the Region. Being a bordering region and having such a huge economic potential, the
Arkhangelsk Region is strategically a very important territory in the Russian North. The long
history of the land, folk traditions of the North, natural reserves have always been an attraction
for tourists from different corners of the world. Local History Networks allow all those interested
to get more acquainted with the area, to choose their own routes for travels and rest.
The Arkhangelsk Regional Scientific Library possesses unique local history resources
and is a place where all the knowledge of the Region is collected, as well as a regional centre
where books of cultural and historical heritage are stored. Presenting our local history databases
in the Internet we position ourselves in the global cyber space thus making our local information
accessible, promoting knowledge of our Region, creating and developing local history
information needs. At the same time our activities in creating local history web resources are
beneficial for social, economic and cultural development of the Region, provide for every man’s
right to a free access to information. The priority tasks in web resources creation should be their
high quality, their universality and promptness.
The appearance of distant users’ services necessitated much renovation and widening of
the information products, changes from traditional forms of presenting information to new
information technologies. Improvements in manifold directions of local history information work
as well as project activities of the Library initiated the creation of local history web resources. At
present the site of the Arkhangelsk Regional Scientific Library contains “Resources” division
where one can find such local history resources as “To Reveal the Siya Treasure to the World”,
“Literary North” and “Ecology E-Library”.
The Monastery of Antony of Siya had always been a centre of spiritual life in the Pomor
Land. It was founded in the 16th century and has contributed much to the social and economic
development, to the cultural and historic heritage, to literacy and knowledge promotion in the
North. The joint Project of the Arkhangelsk Regional Scientific Library and the Monastery of
Antony of Siya “To Reveal the Siya Treasure to the World… The Antony of Siya Monastery:
From Past into Future” was started in 2004. The main objective of the Project is to create a web
resource on history and present-day life of the Cloister and on its famous library, to ensure
access to documentary heritage which has been removed from the Region so that it is included
into modern cultural, research and educational processes.
In May 2002 the presentation of the web-site was held at the Arkhangelsk Regional
Scientific Library. This information resource gives a historic outline of the Monastery, shows the
chronicle of historic events and tells of the manifold social, educational and cultural activities of
the Cloister today. One of the tasks of the Project is to preserve the cultural heritage of the
Monastery which has both national and world significance. The task involves wider access to the
treasures of the famous library, to the information of public importance through digitalization
and preservation of the documents. The result of this activity should be an E-library of the
Antony of Siya Monastery accessible at the site. The present-day look of the Monastery can be
seen there, too, thanks to the photographs. Exhibitions of photographs by the archimandrite
Trifon from the Antony of Siya Monastery, by Igor Nikitin from Saint Petersburg allow having a
look at the daily life in the Cloister, the Monastery household and customs. In perspective one
would see a three-dimensional model of the Cloister and have a virtual excursion to the
Monastery, to see the inner spaces and decorations of churches and other buildings. The item in
the site menu “Present-Day Activities of the Monastery” has a “Pilgrimage” sub-division which
contains information on the Pilgrimage Service, on visiting the Monastery as a pilgrim, on the
regulations of the Monastery. Thanks to the map available on the site one can easily find one’s
way to the Monastery. Another variant of having a rest suggests a comfortable accommodation
in a hotel near the Monastery. Experienced guides will accompany you around the Siya
Monastery, will tell you about its history and present-day activities. The beauty of nature, the
magnificent Cloister, the rich history of the place and comfortable rest can be of interest for
many visitors. The Project “...To Reveal the Siya to the World” is being developed, and manifold
activities in its framework allow to present the cultural and historic image of the Northern area,
to attract people to the unique phenomenon of the Russian national culture.
The Arkhangelsk North has a rich book-lore history. Northern monasteries have always
been centres of the Slavonic written language and culture. Thanks to the book-science traditions
and unique examples of oral folklore the North is considered as a well of Russian culture. It is
not accidental that many original folk-tale narrators and talented authors were born here. Since
2004 the “Russian North” Local History Department of the Arkhangelsk Regional Scientific
Library has been working on the site “Literary North”. The site is a joint product of the Library
and the Arkhangelsk Regional Branch of the All-Russian Public Organization “Russian Writers
Union”. The task is to create a database on literary life of the Arkhangelsk Region, to ensure a
free access to all those interested in the spiritual values of the North. The site contains
information on the history of the Arkhangelsk Branch of the Union, authors’ biographies and
places connected with their lives and writings. The resource is still being replenished; soon a
literary map will appear there. It will cover all the area of the Region, any distant user will be
able to find the memorial places of famous Northern writers, monuments, memorial plaques,
literary museums, and all other institutions connected with books – libraries, bookshops,
publishing houses. Special attention is paid to Arkhangelsk, its book-lore history and literary life.
“Bookshelf”, a division in the site menu, will introduce visitors to new works by the
Arkhangelsk authors, to full-texts of some writings by Stepan Pisakhov, Boris Shergin, Fedor
Abramov, Vladimir Lichutin, Nikolai Rubtsov, Olga Fokina and Arkady Gaidar. They will
become much closer to their readers thanks to the site “Literary North”. The virtual excursion to
literary places will attract more tourists to the Arkhangelsk Region.
When speaking of the rich cultural and historic heritage of the Arkhangelsk Region we
must mention the beauty of the northern nature. It combines in a wonderful harmony the
originality of natural conditions and unique resources. But development and modernization of
industries in the Region give rise to a burning issue – the preservation of natural riches. A new
information resource “Ecology E-Library” is a step forward to create an integrated ecology
resource which will completely satisfy users’ needs. Its task is to ensure a free access to the
Regional ecological information. The resource is being fulfilled in the framework of the Project
of the Russian National Piblic Library for Science and Technology, many libraries and
information services of the Federal subjects join in it to create a network of ecological
information centres. The Arkhangelsk Regional Library’s partners in the project are state nature
preservation services, research institutions, non-state and public organizations, mass media.
“Ecology E-Library” contains information on ecology conferences, forums and exhibitions,
presents ecology e-resources, highlights the ecological activities in the Arkhangelsk Region and
collects official documents and new books on ecology. “Internet Resources” division of the site,
the page called “Special natural areas secured by Law” has links to the sites of the Pinega and
Nenets Natural reserves, of the Siya reserve, of the Kenozero and Vodlozero national parks. The
data collected promotes the development of ecological and cultural tourism in the Region. This
kind of holidays may attract those who does not only enjoys the beauty of the North and visits to
the famous places, but wants to take part in charity actions, help people, help nature by making
ecological situation here better.
The Arkhangelsk Regional Library site presents bibliographical resources, too. At
present, using different ways of information search we can retrieve bibliographic data in all
fields of knowledge for a huge time period. As for information on culture and tourism, it is
presented in many aspects. One can find different information on museums, libraries, theatres,
folklore groups, music, painting, amateur groups, folk arts and crafts. Bibliographical
information about natural reserves, national parks, special preservation areas can be found in the
electronic catalogue and databases of the library in the Internet.
Network local history resources of the Arkhangelsk Regional Scientific Library are
constantly developing. In future we shall have a local history portal on the Library site. Its task
will be to ensure the users an access to the whole spectre of information on the Arkhangelsk
Region, on social, economic, natural and cultural riches of the Region. New information
technologies allow us to develop and enhance the methods of local history presentation. But our
main task is the same – to ensure an access to high quality local information, to meet the needs
of any user.