RILC – The Russian Information Library Consortium - was created in September 2003, within the framework of the EC-funded project 'Russian Libraries in the Third Millennium'.

The project, which ended in October 2004, has built up a distributed joint catalogue providing access to the bibliographic and digital resources of the five Russian libraries, partners in the consortium.

The project has substantially promoted and facilitated the exchange of knowledge and expertise between Russian and European library professionals in the fields of integration of latest technology in library processes, use of technology in uniting libraries' resources, capacity and partnerships building. This was achieved via the organization of a series of workshops and study tours and thanks to the active contribution of three European partners in the project, namely, the National Library of Scotland, the Berlin State Library, and the Italian National Library, in Rome.

Overall, the project has successfully achieved its goals, having created a strong Russian library consortium to support and maintain an advanced service for library users, and having established a human network of excellence and expertise linking library institutions and their staff both in Russia and in Europe.

The RILC project was funded under the IBPP Programme (Institutions Building Partnership Programme) of the European Commission. The IBPP Programme promotes and encourages international partnerships and exchange between organisations and institutions within European and Phare countries and their counterparts in NIS countries and Mongolia.

The overall management and co-ordination of the RILC project was undertaken by the British Council in Moscow.