The EU - Tacis Project. "Creating an Information System for the Russian State Library" - Results and Impact

Monika Segbert, Alexander Vislyi
Tacis-RSL, Russian State Library

The Russian State Library - facts and figures

The role of the Russian State Library [1] was described in 1990 for the IFLA meeting in Moscow in the following terms [2]:

"The V I Lenin State Library of the USSR (now Russian State Library) (......) was created in 1862 in Moscow as part of the Moscow Public Museum and the Rumjantsev Museum (....). The Library fulfils the following functions: the National universal book storage; the All-Union co-ordination centre of scientific-methodological and scientific-research work in the field of librarianship, bibliographic science and book science; the centre of recommendatory bibliography and inter-library lending; the central Book Museum; the central specialised organ of information on culture and arts (....). The stocks are universal in scope and the types of publications; they are acquired on the basis of legal deposit of the home publications (.....) and other sources."

Thus the Russian State Library – the former Lenin Library – is the largest library in Europe, and the second largest in the world, holding over 42 million items. The Library is unique in its comprehensiveness and universality of its collections: it acquires and stores national and foreign publications from the beginning of the book printing until today in 247 living and dead languages. It also contains an outstanding manuscript collection going back to the VI century. The Library serves first of all the national and international research community, but also fulfils the functions of a public library, welcoming up to 5 000 users and circulating more than 35 000 items daily. It co-operates with libraries and institutions in more than 100 countries through its exchange programme and services about 2 500 borrowers all over the world.

Introduction of IT into the RSL

The momentous changes in storage of and access to knowledge brought about by the convergence of technologies and media which face libraries all over the world are magnified in a library of this size: both the benefits and the risks of introducing information technologies into every day practices are in proportion to the magnitude of the existing problems - be that cabling in a protected building, harnessing IT for preservation, training of staff and users…

The RSL was one of the first libraries in the former USSR to start looking into the automation issues in the late 60-ies when the Library signed a contract with one of the leading domestic software developers to create an automated system. Nevertheless the existing technological base, the complexity of the task, the large volumes of information and the absence of automation experience caused this initiative to be not very successful. In 1990 the RSL signed a contract with the VTLS Company under which an integrated automated system would be customised to the RSL requirements upon recommendation of the library staff. According to the contract a basic version of the VTLS system was installed on a Hewlett Packard computer. The library staff was trained in the use of the system. For two years attempts were made to customise the system, but owing to the scarce funding the work had to be stopped.

In April 1994, Computerization of Library Services became a part of the RSL modernization program developed by a specially created UNESCO international high-level expert commission. As recommended by the Commission, at the end of 1994 - beginning of 1995 a team of CEC (DGXIII) experts produced a detailed analysis of main RSL problems related to automation and suggested a plan for the implementation of an integrated library system . In 1995 the RSL signed a leasing agreement with the IBM Eastern Europe/Asia Ltd. aimed primarily at creating an RSL local area network.

After the official approval of the RSL Development Strategy by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation in May 1996, a revised version of the RSL Modernization Program was developed with widest involvement of the Library staff. The Automation and IT Implementation part of the Program was discussed in detail and recognized most priority task by the UNESCO Commission at its meeting in September 1996. The main projects to be implemented were Creation of RSL LAN, Implementation of Integrated Library System, Retrospective Conversion of Catalogues, RSL Digital Library.

In 1996-97 with the support of the Moscow Telecommunication Corporation the RSL fiber optic backbone connecting separate library buildings was built. It was also connected to the Moscow Fiber Optic Backbone – since that time the RSL has had fairly stable Internet access. The first part of the RSL LAN was created by IBM Eastern Europe/Asia Ltd. in 1996-97. The Moscow Government has been paying for the connectivity, the Research and Education Network FREEnet provided free IP-service since 1996 through 1999.

With financial support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research in 1996-97 there was organized a tender for an automated library system for two national libraries of Russia. The VTLS Virtua system was recognized and announced a winner, but due to lack of funding the contract could not be signed.

The RSL retroconversion project was presented and discussed at the all-Russian Retroconversion Workshop (Moscow, RSL, 1996). The pilot stage of the project started in early 1997 with the support of the Russian-German joint venture “Prosoft-M” and resulted in test 1000 machine-readable bibliographic records in RSLMARC/USMARC format produced from conventional cards.

The concept of RSL Digital Library was developed and presented to the Russian-Japanese Digital Libraries Workshop (Moscow, RSL, 1996). The pilot stage of the RSL DL project first of all reinforced the Memory of Russia project started in 1994 as a part of the UNESCO's Memory of the World programme. In 1995 UNESCO funded hardware and software for scanning, in 1997 the Open Society Institute rendered support for storage of digital images and further digitisation in cooperation with the Institute of High Performance Computing and Data Bases (Saint Petersburg). As a result all first printed Cyrillic books were digitised and became available on the Internet by now.

As a result of all these efforts the Library was awarded an EU-Tacis pilot project for the duration of 18 months in 1997 to help it modernise its library processes and services, and to start opening up access to its invaluable collections for national and international audiences. An active realisation of the project began in 1998. The project derives its budget of 1 MEURO from the Telecommunication Sector of the Tacis programme, an European Union initiative for the New Independent States and Mongolia which fosters the development of harmonious and prosperous economic and political links between the European Union and these partner countries. Tacis does this by providing grant finance for know-how to support the process of transformation to market economies and democratic societies. The Tacis programme works closely with its partner countries and provides know-how from a wide range of public and private organisations including advice and training, developing and reforming legal and regulatory frame-works, institutions and organisations, and setting up partnerships, networks, twinnings and pilot projects.

Work Plan of the Pilot Project

The project work plan was broken down into 4 closely inter-related stages:

• Analysis of user requirements, state of the current infrastructure and information services, examining the future and expected needs of the library users bearing in mind social and cultural changes within society, and mapping the current situation within the Library; Analysis of document processing;
• Design of a conversion project for conventional library catalogues and specifying organisational structures for and required functionalities of an integrated library system; Design of the RSL local and global network architecture;
• Development of a business strategy and plan by analysing market opportunities for key library services and the definition of a fund-raising strategy, both these strategies are designed to secure the sustainability of the pilot project;

Development of a training plan based on the audit of existing and the definition of required skills;

• Implementation of a pilot project, including the construction of a model LAN and Network Operation Centre, the procurement and installation of an integrated library system including software product, server, PC's and networking equipment;

Implementation of the training plan including 2 study tours

The two initial phases of analysis and design had to partly run concurrently in the case of the design of the functional software product, as EU rules dictate a lengthy tendering process for the procurement of equipment over ECU 50 000. It was clear from the beginning that the actual implementation and testing phase had to commence no later than about 3-4 months before the end of the project, thus dictating that all equipment and software had to be specified, procured and installed, and staff trained by that time.

By the time the pilot project started, some 3 years after the initial feasibility had been concluded, the RSL had designed and developed its own in-house automated cataloguing system MEKA, and had started on-line cataloguing of current Russian books. It was therefore of prime importance to incorporate and build-on this development as an integral part of the work-plan of the pilot project.

Thus the 8 week inception phase was a crucial element of project planning, confirming or modifying the understanding of the project work plan between the various parties involved. It also provided a period for checking the latest developments, such as the existence of MEKA, and their impact on and integration into the work plan.

The Project Partners

The British Council [5] in close collaboration with the partners in the Russian State Library has been leading a group of EU and Russian experts in the implementation of the pilot project. The main project consortium includes partners from the National Library of Scotland [6], Jouve SA [7] France and EDS [8] Germany. Subcontracts for specific components were concluded with Lanit [9] Moscow, IPA (International Procurement Agency) Holland, IPF [10] (Institute of Public Finance) London and the retroconversion firm ProSoft [11] (Moscow). Russian experts from the Library of Natural Sciences [12] of the Academy of Sciences, Moscow State University Library [13], the Russian National Library in St. Petersburg [14] as well as of course many experts from the staff of the Russian State Library itself were and are involved in different aspects of design and implementation of the various components of the pilot project.

The British Council is the UK's cultural representation overseas, and acts as a project management agency delivering services to multilateral donors such as the European Commission, the World Bank and the UK Know-How Fund. The British Council is committed to library and information development and has extensive world-wide experience of managing library and information projects.

The National Library of Scotland is the largest library in Scotland with over 5 million books, and is one of the six national deposit libraries in the UK. For many years the National Library of Scotland Computer Services Division has been working in the field of information technology and development, maintenance and up-grading of library technical infrastructure.

Jouve SA (France) is a company specialising in the development of information systems. Jouve SA deploys its technical knowledge in digital conversion, data capture and output products in several media: CD-ROM, paper and on-line (Internet and Intranet). Jouve has a great deal of expertise in retrospective conversion of library card catalogues. In this project Jouve worked closely with the firm ProSoft, to establish and implement, together with the RSL experts, a methodology for the retroconversion component of the pilot project. ProSoft is a Russian firm with many years of experience of converting text information into electronic data.

EDS Germany is part of the well-known internationally renowned group of systems integrators, offering expertise and services in networking, hard- and software integration, and training. EDS Germany has extensive experience with the introduction of modern information technologies in libraries. EDS worked closely with the Russian firm LANIT, who themselves are a well known and renowned system integrator in Russia, and, especially important, with considerable experience working with the Russian State Library.

The Institute of Public Finance, UK, has over the years worked closely with the European Commission and libraries of all types across the EU and C&EE to establish library performance indicators and benchmarking standards, in order to measure the economics of library and information services.

The International Procurement Agency, Netherlands, has in-depth knowledge and experience of European Commission guidelines and rules for the procurement of goods and services.

Finally, new partners joined the project in the course of its implementation:

as a result of the tendering process for the integrated library software, Aleph 500 [15] of the firm Ex Libris was chosen, and a close working relationship is developing to implement and customise the software, translate the documentation, train staff.

The informal consultation processes for the server and the PC's were won by the local firms Heliomaster [16] and Redlab [17] respectively, who both delivered speedily and to high quality standards.

Finally, last but not least, the project has been very fortunate in attracting the generous sponsorship of Microsoft [18] and Xerox [19], both Moscow

But ultimately, no effort whatsoever by any EU specialist or commercial firm could have been remotely successful without the highly motivated and dedicated involvement and co-operation of RSL experts, and without the additional expertise harnessed from other Russian experts from the Russian National Library in St. Petersburg, the Library of Natural Sciences of the Academy of Sciences, and Moscow State University. This goes almost without saying, but still it has to be said, in order to stress most explicitly that the Tacis principle of know-how transfer relies on a mutual, two-way exchange of knowledge and expertise, and on the trust and good-will of all to work together towards a common goal. Only when this is recognised can useful results be achieved and long-lasting partnerships be forged. Not the least, it is important to note that this project will achieve a greater degree of sustainability precisely because of Russian experts pro-actively participating in project implementation.

Project Management

The management of such varied and highly specialised inputs required a disciplined structure of planning and reporting, following closely the Tacis guidelines, in order to properly document project progress and resource allocation. Regular weekly meetings by the team leader and the RSL project director – the director of the RSL IT centre - supported by an agreed agenda and resulting in agreed action points, were frequently augmented as and when required by specialist technical meetings.

The rigors of Tacis planning imposed the strict discipline of 3 monthly reporting and planning, including detailed forecast and accounting of resource inputs, whether human or financial. This proved to be a very good methodology to ensure that the project was kept on time and on budget, and that all members of the team knew clearly what was expected of them in any given period. Working closely together side by side in a result oriented and practical way also contributed significantly to the forging of a strong team with shared common understanding and goals.

EU experts were required to plan the objectives of each visit and conclude their visits with reports on outcomes and recommendations, in addition to producing specialist technical reports on findings. In the design and implementation phases specialist RSL – EU teams were set up to deal with aspects of retroconversion, conversion of machine readable data, network creation and business planning.

Regular e-mail communications ensured that all members of the teams were informed at all times of progress or outstanding solutions, thus encouraging active participation in tuning of activities or solving of problems.

One of the most important elements of successfully planning and managing the project in its various phases and technical levels was the unfailing and constant support by RSL management at director, deputy director and head of department level. Interest in project progress at that level and information sharing on the environment in which the project was trying to succeed, such as for example the coordination with other RSL IT projects, provided strong motivational support to the project team.

The building up of a project web-site and publicity in the professional press and the media led to the project gaining a good profile which in turn attracted interest by other potential investors. This PR aspect was an integral part of the business planning and fund-raising component of the project, but also contributed to the perceived success of the overall project management strategy.

Results of the Tacis Project

The main strands of the pilot project cover all the essential features of a computer based library system:

• Network: a local network for the pilot project integrated with other RSL networks
• Integrated library system: design of technical specifications, procurement, implementation, customisation
• Retrospective conversion: a model methodology to convert a sample of 10 000 cards under the pilot project
• Conversion of existing machine readable data from the RSL's own MEKA system to the new OPAC
• Training: a cadre of 15 Train the Trainers cascading training to other RSL staff
• Sustainability: business and marketing plans for new IT based services and a fund-raising strategy to ensure expansion of the pilot project

The following outputs represent mile-stones in the 18 month work plan and demonstrate the step-by-step approach taken by the project management:

• A technical report detailing present RSL information structures, including the identification of problem areas and possible solutions, outlining the structure required for the development and implementation of the pilot project
• A technical report featuring the strategic action plan on collections and bibliographic record access, providing the mapping of collections, catalogues and their formats
• A technical report on users, information and telecommunication services requirements
• A technical analysis of the catalogues and a model for the conversion of the RSL conventional catalogues to the used for the pilot implementation
• A report on the global network topology and physical network architecture including the conceptual design of the proposed RSL network and sub-networks, and the design of the RSL backbone
• A detailed design of the RSL network and the specification for the network equipment needed for the pilot phase
• An organisational plan for the RSL Network Operations Centre
• A detailed training plan mapping current with required skills and specifying the content of the various training components
• A group of 15 RSL staff trained as 'Train the Trainers'
• Tailor-made programmes and delivery of 2 study tours to UK and France
• A marketing scenarios report, validated in a workshop on marketing and pricing
• A draft marketing strategy
• A report covering survey and focus group work to gather information for the definition of a business plan
• A draft business plan
• A draft fund-raising strategy
• Two marketing and business planning workshops and a seminar on retroconversion
• A specification of the functional organisational structure of the library including the functionalities of the integrated library software
• Procurement by open tender of the integrated library software Aleph 500 and by informal consultation of the server and the PC's
• A pilot installation of the functional software product and a pilot catalogue accessible via the Intranet / Internet
• An international conference J 'Managing the Digital Future of Libraries' J stimulating international dialogue by over 200 participants from 14 countries.

EDS Germany and their Russian partner Lanit assumed the key role of system integrators, responsible for the design and implementation of the new pilot project LAN and its integration with other IT projects such as the new Internet Cafe or the LAN for the administration. Project progress benefited greatly from the fact that Lanit had already been working with the RSL as system integrator, and therefore was familiar with the challenges in hand.

The integrated library software Aleph 500 from the supplier Ex Libris was chosen in an open tender in which major international and national suppliers took part. The technical specifications for the tender were drawn up as a result of many technical discussions involving RSL, EU and local experts. The principles in defining the functionalities of the software were guided by the advice in the original EC feasibility study, namely to take a practical and realistic approach to what is achievable within time-scale and budget of the pilot project.

One of the project's components was to retroconvert 10 000 cards from the 19th Century Catalogue of Russian books (the retroconversion process of the pilot project is described in more detail by other speakers during this conference). This catalogue was chosen as being of special interest to national and international audiences, and was defined a priority in the UNESCO modernisation plan. Following an internal workshop on retroconversion, the RSL retroconversion team formulated a Request for Proposal to two local suppliers to participate in a test-run. The firm ProSoft was chosen as a result of the test run, and has successfully concluded the conversion from card to electronic records in USMarc.

The conversion of existing machine readable cataloguing files from the MEKA system include the "Current Russian Books" acquired since May 1998, "Current Foreign Books" since January 1999, and the database of Dissertations and dissertation abstracts. The result is an initial OPAC of ca. 300 000 bibliographic records.

Training is a key component of the project, to ensure the functioning and sustainability of the pilot project. The process of defining a training programme for RSL staff who will operate the pilot project started with a skills' audit, followed by the definition of the training needs and the identification of the content of the training and who will best deliver it. Training covers the needs of the system management and administration staff as well as of readers' services staff and data input operators. UNIX, Oracle, Aleph 500, Windows, Internet and 'how to train' courses are part of the overall training plan. Given the number of RSL staff, the approach has been to train a core group of 5 staff for system management and administration. A cadre of 15 train the trainers, who will provide cascade training for other staff, has been trained in using the Aleph OPAC. Furthermore, 20 key RSL staff involved in the pilot project at the strategic and technical level participated in two study tours, to the UK and to France, enabling them to exchange views on common issues in library automation and digital library creation with many EU colleagues.

Business and marketing plans for RSL IT based services and a fund raising strategy form the non-IT but vital survival part of the project. Workshops on Business Planning were held to discuss marketing theories and the current situation pertaining to the marketing of library services in Russia, as well as the promotion and pricing of services.

Impact of the Tacis Project

Many lessons have been learned by all members of the team implementing the project. Together we have been making the most of the unique opportunity to work together constructively to address the issues faced by many libraries on the verge of introducing IT and of automating library processes. The points below follow no order of priority, as each member of the team views this process differently:

• An agreed and realistic work plan based on common and shared understanding by RSL and EU experts covered all the stages of the development of an Information System, while aiming to achieve one practical result, namely the implementation of the OPAC module, as a first step of a fully fledged integrated library information system. Thus achievability has to be considered a key element in successful project implementation, backed by a constructive and flexible approach to problem solving – showing that 'it can be done' was a main motivational force;
• The principle of a fully integrated team of Russian (RSL and local experts) and EU specialists, and the recognition of a real and lively two way knowledge flow led to a constructive experience of Russian – foreign co-operation that provided valuable experience to all those involved of working in an intercultural project;
• All members of the team, even the most experienced in project management, acquired new experience and skills in the design and implementation of a project to international standards, by combining tried project management routines with the adherence to strict Tacis guidelines, while giving due consideration to local circumstancesJ
• A project management structure with clearly delegated technical responsibilities and vertical and horizontal reporting routines provided a sound frame-work for the growing number of specialist teams and equal access to information for all involved, thus ensuring synergies through exchange of views and knowledge sharing;
• The perceived successful progress of the pilot project, and the information dissemination and PR activities that went with it, have strengthened the profile of the RSL and stimulated interest in further sponsorship of the modernisation of RSL infrastructure and services;
• The EU-Russian dialogue on digital library development stimulated in the process of the pilot project may well lead to a joint EU-Russian research programme in this field;
• The approach of the project team to harness local expertise to optimise results has widened project experience beyond the RSL and has inter alia led to adopting a consortial approach of 5 libraries applying for a next library network project under Tacis;
• Continued interest by RSL management in the pilot project has also resulted in a strategic and coherent approach to close co-ordination between all RSL IT projects, thus achieving economies of scale and synergetic impact between different initiatives;
• A transparent approach to procurement has demonstrated a fair and open way to stimulate competitiveness amongst library suppliers, ultimately to the advantage of all libraries;
• The investment of trust and good-will by Russian and EU project participants alike has paid off by forging constructive and hopefully lasting institutional partnerships and personal friendships.

There are many other minor or more personal gains derived from the team effort to implement the pilot project, and maybe some which will only come to fruition at a later stage when the project is over, but we believe we speak for the whole team when we say: "We did it, and it was fun J !"

References

1. http://www.rsl.ru
2. Librarianship in the USSR, IFLA, 1991, chapter II
3. The Russian State Library. Planning for Automation 1995 – 2000. Project Definition Report. The European Commission, Directorate General XIII. Project managed by the British Council. Consultants: John Ashford, Gilles Beal, Nicolai Kalenov
4. http://europa.eu.int/comm/dg1a/tacis/index.htm
5. The British Council http://www.britishcouncil.ru
6. National Library of Scotland, http://www.nls.uk
7. Jouve SA http://www.jouve.fr
8. EDS Germany http://www.eds.de
9. Lanit http://www.lanit.ru
10. IPF http://www.ipf.uk
11. ProSoft http://www.prosoft.ru
12. Library of Natural Sciences, Academy of Sciences, Moscow http://ben.irex.ru
13. Moscow State University Library http://www.lib.msu.su
14. Russian National Library, St. Petersburg http://www.nlr.ru
15. Ex Libris http://www.aleph.co.il
16. Heliomaster http://www.heliomaster.ru
17. Redlab http://www.redlab.ru
18. Microsoft Moscow http://www.microsoft.com.ru
19. Xerox Moscow http://www.xerox.ru

About the authors

Monika Segbert MBE FLA (hon) is team leader of the EU-Tacis project "Creation of an Information System for the Russian State Library", running from 10.12.1998 – 9.6.2000. From 1995 – 1998 she worked with the European Commission DGXIII "Telematics for Libraries Department", with the primary responsibility to develop research co-operation for the sector with the accession countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Previously she held the post of Head, Libraries, Information and Books, with the British Council Germany, while being engaged in numerous professional assignments around the world. monika@rsl.ru

Alexander Vislyi is deputy director, Russian State Library and deputy director, Moscow State University Library, and the project director of the EU-Tacis project "Creation of an Information System for the Russian State Library". In 1999 he was appointed Counsellor of the Minister of Culture on the informatisation of cultural institutions in the Russian Federation, which are under the aegis of this ministry.