Abstract:

The paper deals with the relevant issue of using digital libraries for research and education. It is necessary for universities to adopt the nature and scope of online digital technologies (digital libraries) in order to expand their options and services to a new research and educational paradigm. There are several reasons for it. Academic libraries seek to apply maximum of the research and educational potential of digital libraries by providing open access not only to traditional resources (books, journals, articles, documents), but also to data sets related to particular projects. Modern online technologies in educational process allow to create better and more extended educational programs. Sharing scientific data affects not only the processes of knowledge creation, but also increases the effectiveness of education, data and knowledge processing. Research and scientific projects generate enormous amounts of data and findings accessible at any place by any researcher/student via the Internet. Metadata can be updated over time. Using online digital collections creates the conditions to involve wider groups in research and educational process: students, postgraduates, PhDs, librarians, etc. Besides, using digital resources and research findings in educational process increases the value of scientific knowledge across society. In the paper the authors pay special attention to the image of the Ural region in British and French media discourses of the Great Patriotic War period. The research advances work toward interdisciplinary contrastive analysis of media discourses of the two countries. The study is based on the data drawn from two rich digital resources: the British Newspaper Archive and Gallica. The objective is threefold: analyzing the image of the Ural region in media discourses of the two countries; creating and managing a digital library “The Ural region in Wartime” for further use in interdisciplinary research; integrating the findings of the study into the educational programs of South Ural State University and the museum practice.

Keywords:

Media discourse, Ural region, digital library, higher education, museum practice, exhibition.