Russian Academy of Sciences libraries tasks and functions in modern conditions

The problems of scientific libraries activities changes due to the development of network technology, the burgeoning growth of Internet available electronic publications and databases are being considered. It is shown that academic libraries are an integral part of the scientific infrastructure in the modern situation. The traditional tasks such as science information support remain the prerogative of the libraries, but they must be based on new solutions and performed with an extensive use of modern network technologies. New approaches to the traditional tasks are illustrated on the example of Library for Natural Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences (LNS RAS) (http://www.benran.ru). In addition to the traditional tasks, academic libraries are ready for new challenges in the area of bibliometrics research, digitization of printed publication materials, etc.