Pilot project for publication of electronic books is tested in Bashkiria

Bashkortostan doesn’t intend to share its honorable rank of the most reading Russian region: more than 500 copies of newspapers and magazines fall per 1000 people in our Republic, while in Russia this index amounts just 217 copies. Now the Republic is searching for reasonable balance between computers and traditional books and intends to raise the culture of reading due to popularization of electronic books. Thus, the Minister for communication and mass communications RB Boris Melkoedov reported about development of the pilot project on wider access to electronic literature.

As he reported, the Commission for book publishing under the Government RB has for the first time reached the decision concerning publication of e-books. In 2012 the publishing house “KITAP” will issue nine books, belonging to the category of fiction.

The Ministry for communication and mass communications RB intends to spread such books with the help of special services on the sites of the participants of the project, using traditional methods of online accounts. The director of “KITAP” Zufar Timerbulatov reports the internet-shop is already opened on their site and at present time more than 50 editions, with which authors are signed corresponding contracts, are already available there.

Specialists of the National Library RB have in their turn converted 500 rare and hand-written books into electronic format and here anyone can download these books because these editions are the treasure of the whole nation and not of the library. The Ministry positions this service as a public service and intends to widen the list of the editions, being of high historical and cultural value. At that especially rare and decrepit books, which can’t be issued, will be converted into electronic format first of all.