In 2010 the UN Department of Global Communications took the initiative to establish language days for each of the Organization's six official languages.

For English Language Day the 23rd of April was selected since William Shakespeare, a renowned English poet, playwright, and actor, was born on this day in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. The day is also believed to be the date he died in 1616. He is also considered the founder of modern-day literary English. His famous plays (tragedies, comedies), sonnets, and poems have been translated actually into every living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.

Electronic Library Systems “University Library ONLINE” and IPR SMART contain Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets in English and Russian. Apart from this, “University Library ONLINE” offers a unique multivolume edition in Russian published by Brockhaus and Efron in early 20th century. The collection of the Circulation Desk of Foreign Literature (4 Turgeneva St., room 356) includes printed Shakespeare’s editions by the world leading publisher Oxford University Press.

UK is the birthplace of English, however, it is widespread beyond the borders of the state. English as a means of international communication is number one in the world wherever it is used: politics, sports, arts, and, naturally, science. Every researcher seeks to publish in the world top academic peer-reviewed journals. Despite the access to the leading bibliometric databases Scopus and Web of Sciences has been suspended in Russia, there are still many international subscribed and open-access databases, among them SpringerLink and Springer Open, Wiley, Taylor & Francis open access journals, and many others. The available databases are listed on the Library site. You can consult how to use and search them in the Library information centres.

It so happened that English did not become the sole hero of the day. April 23, 1616 is also the date of death of the greater world writer in the Spanish language, Miguel de Cervantes, famous for his novel “Don Quixote”. And the UN decided to make it also Spanish Language Day (Día del Idioma Español). Thus, the date is the UN bilingual holiday. Spanish is widespread beyond Spain. It is spoken in the USA, Mexico, countries of the Latin and South America, and some African states.

The novel about Don Quixote in English and in Spanish is included into Electronic Library System IPR SMART. The Circulation Desk of Foreign Literature (4 Turgeneva St., room 356) contains a comprehensive collection of items in Spanish.

UrFU is an international university uniting students from all over the world. When people meet who can not understand each other’s native languages they speak English. And we’d like to highlight that Information Centre of Library Resources (19 Mira St., room Б-202) provides seminars on working with electronic resources for international students in English. You can request a seminar in person in room Б-202 or on the Library site.