A Strong State Needs a Strong Library: Annual Meeting of Industry Leaders

The Annual Meeting of Heads of Federal and Central Regional Libraries of Russia was held at the Russian State Library (RSL) on November 18—19, 2025. It was organized by the Russian Ministry of Culture, the RSL, and the National Library of Russia. Leaders and specialists from 76 regions of the country, as well as international colleagues from the Republic of Serbia, Republika Srpska, and the Republic of Belarus, participated in the event. The main theme for 2025 was A Strong State Needs a Strong Library. The forum Libraries as an Integral Component of Public Policy and National Development attracted the attention of not only the library community, but also representatives of government agencies (the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the Executive Office of the President of the Russian Federation, the Federation Council Committee of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on Science, Education and Culture, the State Duma Committee on Culture), as well as socially oriented non-profit organizations, foundations, publishing houses, etc. Such attention to library activities emphasized the special significance of these social institutions for the country and their involvement in the dynamically developing general cultural space. The presentations repeatedly emphasized that the strategic areas of library activity are inextricably linked with the development directions of culture and the country as a whole. The ideological focus of library work is strengthening, and their responsibility is increasing. The meeting addressed issues of countering extremism and terrorism; new approaches in statistics, analytics, and evaluation of library activities; opportunities for productive dialogue and collaboration between libraries, government agencies, and businesses. Considerable attention was given to examining library activities within national, departmental, industry, and corporate projects. Parallel events included a meeting of the Cooperation Council of National Libraries of Russia, the Russian-Serbian Library Forum, and other events. The 2025 meeting was particularly large-scale, and its participants made it possible to advance the original goal of the event — to foster effective dialogue between government agencies and the country’s largest libraries to determine priorities for state library policy and future development directions for libraries.