Members of the Senate Committee on Social and Cultural Development and Science met with the Minister of Culture and Sports of the country. The main issues on the agenda were the state of archives and library stock, digitalization of manuscripts, rare books and valuable documents in the framework of the implementation of the President’s Address “Kazakhstan in a new reality: time for action”. The meeting was moderated by the Senator, Chairman of the Committee Murat Baktiyaruly.
Answering the questions of the deputies, the Minister of Culture and Sports Aktoty Raimkulova spoke in detail about the state of the book fund and book depositories of the country, as well as about the salaries of librarians and archival workers.
In this regard, Senator Nurtore Zhusip noted that not enough attention is given to the development of archives in our country, therefore, their condition does not meet modern standards. The issue of the lack of personnel in this area is also acute.
“We do not have enough specialists - restorers. Only 4 such experts work in the capital’s center. There is no higher educational institution that would train such specialists. Now this is done only by those specialist who have completed various international courses or internships at the National Library of Almaty. At the same time, their salaries are very low”, the senator noted.
The Senator drew attention of the Minister to the fact that the libraries do not create the necessary conditions for people with special needs.
“Special attention should be paid to libraries for the blind and visually impaired. 46.5 thousand blind and visually impaired citizens should not be limited in their rights to participate in the social and political life of the country and receive a goodeducation”, the Senator stressed.
The importance of financing searches and acquiring copies of historically significant manuscripts, rare publications and books was also discussed. At the end of the meeting, the Senators proposed to consider the issue of raising salaries of cultural workers and create a National Center where rare books and manuscripts will be kept.
