The Research and Information Center (RIS) is one of the GF’s structural units. It comprises the Foundation’s library and archive, housing extensive collections of printed and archive material, reflecting the development of the Russian state and society over the past fifteen years.
The collection is based on the materials donated by the Gorbachev family and their closest associates, including Anatoly Chernyaev, Georgy Shakhnazarov, Valentin Zagladin and others. Text, electronic, audio and visual materials, books and periodicals include documents depicting Mikhail Gorbachev’s activity first as the General Secretary, then as the President of the USSR as well as his subsequent political and public activities. Given the role top officials traditionally have played in the affairs of the country, the materials collected here are indispensable for understanding the history of the Soviet Union during the final period of its existence. Special sections in the library and archive are dedicated to Raisa Gorbachev, her life and activity. The RIS also features documents accumulated over the years of the Foundation’s activities. The RIS library and archive contain invaluable and in many respects unique materials essential for the study of perestroika and for understanding society and public developments over the period of collapse of communism and emergence of democracy in Russia.
The RIS materials are in great demand among Russian and Western journalists. Researchers from all over the world use them in their studies. Recently the Center has been visited by US scholars from the University of California, the Johns Hopkins University, Emory University, the Hoover Institution and UK researchers from Oxford and the University of Glasgow, researchers from France (Institute of Political Sciences), Italy, the Czech Republic, Japan and other countries.
The RIS materials are continuously updated. The donation of new materials, including Mikhail Gorbachev’s collection of photos and videos and Vadim Medvedev’s collection, is now being prepared. A number of book collections will soon be added. A great deal of materials donated to the Center over recent years is currently being processed and evaluated.
The process of outfitting the Center’s new premises has now been completed, covering the repository (122 sq. meters), reading room (39 sq. meters), and staff offices (41 sq. meters). The repository is equipped for storage of archive, audio, video and photo materials, books and periodicals (including 1,152 meters of shelves, acid-free cardboard file boxes, etc.). The center features state-of-the-art computer, copier, photo, audio and video equipment, including digital studio for work with video materials. The Center’s reading room provides researchers with up-to-date computer equipment united into a local net with access to Internet via a dedicated line.
The Center’s full time employees are the Center’s head, archivist, chief librarian and librarian.
Work on the Library reference system (computerized catalogs of library and archive collections) is currently underway, along with processing and inventorying of newly arrived or previously unprocessed documentary, photo, audio, video and printed materials.
After the creation of automated Library reference system the formation of text RIC collections database is planned, along with digitalizing archive, as well as photo, audio, and video materials. The long-term objectives are widening RIC information services by putting reference and documentary materials on our Web site, organizing seminars, conferences and record displays reflecting the main lines of RIC research.
The RIC library contains books, journals and newspapers reflecting Mikhail Gorbachev’s and his Foundation’s activities. The library’s collection is being supplemented by donation of books and periodicals from Russia and abroad, as well as by acquisition of books and reference books from bookstores. Many books have been donated by the Foundation’s staffers upon their return from trips abroad. The library sees its top priority as acquisition of literature on perestroika and Gorbachev’s post-perestroika activities.
The library features a reading room providing services to a broad spectrum of readers. The reading room regularly holds book displays related to events held by the Foundation and features a permanent exhibit of works by Mikhail Gorbachev and books dedicated to him and his activity. The library lends its materials for thematic exhibits.
The library has books in twenty-two foreign languages, which enables many foreign researchers to use its facilities. The library also features materials on conferences, round tables, and seminars held by the Foundation since its inception in 1992.
It may be of interest to our potential users that the library also acquires works by prominent political and public leaders, memoirs, and similar materials. A book exchange in our spheres of interest with other libraries will begin in the near future.
