ebook-library-software2Soon Russians will be able to get digital books from their libraries.

A new initiative has been set forth in Russia to transform local libraries into informational and cultural hubs, Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky recently said at a meeting, according to The Calvert Journal, an outlet on Russian culture.

“Next year we will launch a national electronic library, set to be the largest collection of online texts, books, magazines and so on [in Russia],” Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky told regional governors, according to the article. “We will send you an approved model of a library, the implementation of which will allow the libraries to be turned into modern information and cultural centres at minimum cost. Successful examples of this work can be seen already in Moscow, Murmansk and Belgorod.”

Work is set to begin in transforming the libraries in 2015.

Russia has increasingly raised its profile in the ebook world as more and more people there get their books digitally. One year ago, IDC, a consultant group, stated Russia had the third largest e-book market in the world, only behind the United States and China.

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