Overview and Welcome to the Workshop
Ann Okerson

Associate University Librarian, collections & international programs
Yale University

To our dear visitors from afar: Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine, Germany - and others not so far: from the US and from the Yale Library, it is my pleasure to welcome you to this Workshop on Digital Libraries. We hope that your time during this event is productive, instructive, and that we enjoy our time together. For those who are not familiar with our honored visitors, I would like to take a moment to describe ILIAC, the organizing body that brings these annual workshops to the US each year. ILIAC stands for "International Library Information and Analytical Center."

Some people talk about the new information society and then sit back to wait for it to arrive. ILIAC is committed to making it a reality, and to shaping that reality for Russia and the Confederation of Independent States in ways that support the development of those societies in the best way. Education, science, culture, and business cooperation are the things ILIAC's leaders focus on and they are building an impressive track record.

And their agenda is not a small one. They aim at building and strengthening relationships among and between libraries, building the information infrastructure that supports Russia's participation in the G8 and its programs, and promoting scientific, technical, and library products and services. They advance these goals by developing international exchanges, through consulting services, and by arranging events of the kind we are gathered for here today.

ILIAC is at home in Washington and in Moscow, with offices in both cities. It is incorporated and registered (since 1997) as a not-for-profit US corporation with international status and draws upon leadership representing the Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, and the USA. ILIAC is supported by an impressive group of partners, including (to name only a few) the Russian National Public Library for Science and Technology, the Russian State Library, the American Council for International Education (USA), The Library of Congress (USA), The Book Chamber of Ukraine, V.I.Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine, and the Republican Agricultural Library of Belarus. Over 100 organizations like these partner with and support ILIAC.

The driving force behind this amazing effort has been our distinguished guest, Professor Yakov Shrayberg, who is now Acting Director of the Russian National Public Library for Science and Technology and also Head of the IT and Digital Libraries Department of the Moscow State University of Culture and Arts. He has numerous other roles and responsibilities and positions, and of course, he is President of ILIAC.

He has been instrumental in launching three very successful annual professional series:

The ever growing Crimea Conference held each June; attended now in its 13th year by many hundreds of people from many nations, offering a wide range of professional development issues and topics.

The annual International LIBCOM conference: the 9th was held last fall in Moscow. The Conference covers the state-of-the-art and prospects of new information, computer and Internet technologies in library and information practice; library consortia; digital libraries and digital information resources; legal aspects of libraries and information providers activities; new educational technologies; interaction of book publishers, booksellers and libraries.

Finally, this workshop series, entitled "Digital Resources and International Information Exchange: East-West" for professional enrichment of librarians and archivists from Russia, Ukraine, and other countries.

This is the Eighth International Workshop. We are proud to join the list of distinguished American institutions that have hosted these workshops, including UCLA and the New York Public Library. It is an opportunity for us here at Yale to work closely with the visiting professionals to explore critical issues in depth, and also to develop personal and professional relations that will stand us in good stead in the future and lead to other possibilities of cooperation and collaboration. I want to express my gratitude to Dr. Shrayberg and to his colleague, Ksenia Volkova, who did so much to make this trip possible and this event a success, and to my own invaluable colleagues, Tanja Lorkovic, our distinguished Slavic and East European curator, as well as our incomparable International Program Librarian, Graziano Krätli, who has organized all the on-ground logistics, tours, programs, publicity, and much much more. He has invested many hours in making this event a success, and it shows. Also thanks to our translators, Constantine and Julia Muravnik, and many others who graciously gave their time. I'm delighted to be here, to participate, and to learn together with you about the important topic of digital copyright. I'll stop here, wish us all an outstanding day, and turn the podium over to Tanja Lorkovic to introduce our first speaker.

Send comments to ann.okerson@yale.edu