IBT’s Library Project in Russia

This ongoing project is to distribute IBT translations of the Bible and Bible portions to libraries throughout the Russian Federation. Libraries are cultural, spiritual and information centers in cities, towns and villages where people may read Bible texts in their native languages. About 54,700 books in 72 languages have been sent to more than 3,000 libraries and suppliers in more than 1000 towns and cities – suppliers redistribute the books through local library networks. The main recipients are national and international libraries, public libraries, and libraries in schools, churches and prisons.

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A prison in the Federation may contain people from many of the different ethnic groups of the CIS, so the fact that IBT’s publications are in a wide variety of languages is greatly appreciated. One man who delivered books in as many languages as possible on a prison visit reported: “As the inmates took them, I could see they were in tears.” A prisoner detained in Russia’s Far East wrote: “You should have seen our Azeri brother in Christ when he saw the Word of God in his mother tongue. What happiness and joy were in his eyes!” Some former prisoners have even become involved in Bible translation.

When IBT publishes new translations it is now standard practice to distribute them through the regional national libraries and ministries of culture and education. In this way they reach the more remote libraries and a wider readership. In Yakutia in Siberia, for example, the National library together with ministries is to deliver the Yakut Testament to virtually every library, of which there are hundreds. In the Chukotka peninsula (opposite Alaska) the local cultural department with the help if local churches distributed books to every village in the region, while in Dagestan in the Caucasus the National Library and Ministry  of culture sent IBT books in 16 languages to remote villages. A more recent tradition has developed of launching the new editions at the regions’ national libraries, as was the case with the Ossetic and Yakut New Testaments and the Chukchi Gospel of Luke.

The Library Project enjoys the support of the Russian government and the approval of the Orthodox Patriarchal Synodal Bible Commission. A new target of the project is the educational libraries of different Christian denominations.

For more information contact us at +7 (495) 964-6446
or by e-mail: ibt_inform@ibt.org.ru