During the quarantine, people again felt the need to read books. ElitExpert spoke with Natalia Klykova, Director of the Centralized Library System for Adults in Odessa.
— To begin with, what is the current strategy of libraries?
— Our main motto is "the reader is always right." We direct all efforts to create comfort and conditions for our reader. And the city government helps us a lot in this. All branches of our library system have been renovated. 21 libraries for adults comfortably serve readers.
— Natalya Dmitrievna, pWhy did you choose library work for yourself?
— To the library named after Franko is the flagship of city libraries for adults — I went as a child, when I lived on Bazarnaya. And now it has become a second home for me. Books are everything to me! I studied at the physical and technical school No. 16. But in spite of technology, I chose philology at the Odessa University named after I. Mechnikov. What a magnificent Ukrainian language was taught to us by the luminaries of science! I remember this beautiful singing sound of the tongue to this day. Of course, I entered the philology faculty because of literature. But in the third year I realized that language is closer to me. At the university, we had wonderful, strict teachers. It was difficult to get "excellent" from them. But I still defended my diploma with an A. They offered me to study mathematical linguistics, but I was already working at a military school, teaching language. And then the circumstances turned out to be such that she temporarily decided to get a job in the library - the same "Marazlievka" named after Franko, which she used to go to as a child. Then the director was Elena Maslenko, and I was hired as the head of the reading room. It was 35 years ago! I got into the world that I liked. And when I visited the first kabustnik and saw how many talented people work in the library, the credo of my future work appeared - to develop creativity, implement interesting projects, organize a variety of events for the reader and maintain the status of an "oasis of culture". And what is very important is to preserve and improve the condition of the building, which is an architectural monument.
— And that's why you started as a director?
— When I became the director of the library in 1999, the building was in poor condition. It has not been repaired since 1948, when it was renovated after the war. The roof was leaking. The walls were green. And I understood that it was necessary to act. I prepared a speech for the report of the mayor, then Ruslan Bodelan. I was the last to be released. And the first thing I said was: "While I was walking to the tribune, everyone was thinking, 'What, does anyone still go to the library?' And everyone in the hall immediately woke up. — "And here they go!" I continued.
Then we had full halls. Children in schools were asked to write essays. There were no computers. And the guys came to us. Our librarians should be encyclopedists. They knew everything. They were given a topic, and they had to choose books.
I said at the meeting that the central city library does not correspond to its status. We must hold seminars, conferences. And she is in such a deplorable condition. I have listed all the events that we held. And then they allocated money to us. But they made a half-facade. That was enough finance. But when there was a beginning, things started. Then they made another half-facade. And thanks to the attention and care of our libraries by Mayor Gennady Trukhanov and Director of the Department of Culture and Tourism of the Odessa City Council, Tatyana Markova, we were able not only to repair all the premises of the Franko Library, but also to repair all the libraries in our system. And now they are in normal condition, they receive readers in comfortable conditions.
We are constantly allocated funds for current repairs. We replenish our book fund. And by 2022, we have a planned restoration of our cultural monument - the Marazla reading room, which remains popular at all times. Like a book.
— What fate do you think awaits the book? How did the quarantine affect the work of libraries?
— The paper book will always be in demand. Not only old people and mature people come to us, but also many young people want to read a paper book. And not only fiction, they ask for literature on psychology and philosophy, they read classics. We felt our demand when we closed for quarantine. They called us and asked when the library would open. They met us on the street and asked why the shops were open, but the library was not. And now people come to read to us.
I also want to say that there is a trend in well-to-do families to accustom children to books so that children read instead of sitting at the computer. So we also have hope for this generation.
— What new methods do you use?
— Quarantine gave us time to reflect. And pushed us to even greater mastering of information technologies. We have our own website, blog, and Instagram.
We carried out a great deal of work on the introduction of a modern classification of the arrangement of books - we transferred it from the BBK to the European UDC system. All the librarians did a colossal job, transcribing every book in their book collection. Some have 20 funds, some have 80. Just imagine, there is always work for a librarian: issuing books, reports, preparing for events.
— What will please the reader next year?
— We have three anniversaries next year. In February, we will celebrate the 130th birthday of the library - a public reading room, which was built with the personal funds of the Odessa mayor Hryhoriy Marazla. Then, in 2021, we will celebrate the 190th anniversary of his birth with "Marazlievsky readings". We published the book "On the turn of the century" about the founder of the library, its history, events. There is no such level of publication anywhere in the world. And the third anniversary is that of Ivan Franko, after whom the library was named in 1926. The name Franko is very dear to us. This is the value of Ukrainian literature. We are proud to bear his name and promote creativity. We have all of Franko's works. Every hour we hold Frankov readings and on the writer's birthday we lay flowers at his monument. True, the first time they came, they had to wash the monument. And so we already have a tradition: to take care of the monument of the great writer. During the day, we come and put the ego in order. The next day, we lay flowers and read poems with writers and the public. And already in the library, we continue Frank's readings. For the next anniversary, we have prepared a brochure - monuments to Franko in the world. Now we want to make a composition at the entrance to the library. Students of the art school named after Grekov decorated the hall for us, gave us several compositions "Search", "The Wave". For the next hour, the program includes a series of events, telebridges that will connect us with other cities and countries where the work of the Ukrainian classic is appreciated and loved. We keep up with the times. Our readers can use the Internet to find the necessary information.
Every month we hold literary meetings with writers. Our project "Consonance" is popular, in which we collected all types of art: painting, sculpture, music, literature. Masters of the artistic word Evgenia Lukina and Elena Kuklova, musicians, composers, artists, writers come to us. We hold a series of meetings with laureates of the award named after Paustovsky, we conduct the projects "Walks in Odessa", the local history marathon "Odessa is the city of friends", the library project "The book goes to the museum", the moral and aesthetic education program "Beautiful impulses of souls", "Blessed city of talented people" (meetings with talented Odessa residents ), various festivals (Bookfest, Independence Day talent festival, culinary and literary festival).
New forms of online work are being actively introduced — the poetry marathon "Favorite Times", book trailers, promotions, online seminars, conferences, training, presentations, quizzes, virtual exhibitions, etc.
By the way, we maintain relations with all Consulates in Odessa, arrange diplomatic evenings. And we continue the traditions of the people's reading room, remaining accessible to everyone who is friends with the book.
