Klavdia Prenz was born on July 14, 1946 in the village of Hrebienka, Chervien district, Minsk region. After finishing eight classes in 1961, she entered the Mahiliou Library Technical School named after A.S. Pushkin.
Having received a secondary specialized education, the girl did not stop there and continued her studies at the Minsk State Pedagogical Institute named after Maxim Gorky with specialization "Library Science and Bibliography" (now the Belarusian State Pedagogical University named after Maxim Tank). In June 1968, she finished her studies and until the end of the year worked at the Homiel Regional Library named after V.I. Lenin.
In early 1969, Ms Prenz was admitted to the temporary position of librarian at the State Library of the BSSR named after. V.I. Lenin (now the National Library of Belarus), to which she later devoted nearly 50 years of her professional life.
For the first two and a half years, Ms Prenz worked in the patent department, and then she was transferred to the position of bibliographer of the art department. In 1975, under this department, an information group on the problems of culture and art was organized, consisting of three people. Ms Prenz was appointed senior editor of this group.
By order of the Ministry of Culture of the BSSR dated August 27, 1976, the group was transformed into a department of scientific information on the problems of culture and art. Its functions were to provide the apparatus of the Ministry of Culture of the BSSR, scientists and specialists of national institutions and higher educational institutions of culture and art with the disciplinary information. Ms Prenz became Chief Librarian of the department, and since October 1979, she headed the sector for scientific processing of national materials.
Ms Prenz was a very hardworking, diligent and competent employee.
Being a highly qualified specialist in the field of bibliographic work, she provided information service for specialists in the museum business, managed protection of historical and cultural monuments in the field of fine arts; she prepared analytical materials for scientific information collections "Operational information on the problems of culture and art", "Actual problems of culture and art"(more than 120 publications), carried out analytical and bibliographic requests for specialists in the cultural sector, employees of the apparatus of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Belarus and others.
Ms Prenz successfully worked on the compilation of a recommendatory index "Literature and Art of the BSSR", a bibliographic review "Belarusian cinema now (as an appendix to the publication "New Books of the BSSR"), was involved in organizing and reorganizing a systematic catalogue of sheet music.
Good command of foreign languages allowed her to compile a card index "Contemporary art and material culture" on the basis of journal publications of foreign and Soviet editions.
Ms Prenz prepared for publication a monthly bibliographic index "New literature on culture and art of the BSSR", bibliographic information on Belarusian sources for the publications of the All-Union Information Center promptly and efficiently.
Relocation to a new building opened new areas of work for the National Library of Belarus. Creation of publishing and virtual projects, popularizing the national historical and cultural heritage received a new impetus. Ms Prenz took an active part in this work as well. Projects such as “Poet of beauty and harmony: to the 120th anniversary of M. Bahdanovich”, “Do not leave our Belarusian language: to the 170th anniversary of the birth of F. Bahushevich"," Our bagpipe lives between us…: to the 200th anniversary of the birth of V. Dunin-Martsinkievich", "Faith and truth passed through the era: to the 120th anniversary of the birth of K.Krapiva "and others.
The career of Ms Prenz is closely connected with the public life of the Library and the country as a whole: she was the trade union leader of her department, a member of the people's control group, chairperson of the society for the protection of historical and cultural monuments.
Over the years, Klavdia Prenz received a number of gratitudes and awards, including the Honorary Badge of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Belarus (2001). In 2015, she was awarded the title "Best in Profession" in the nomination "For Contribution to the Development of Librarianship".
Ms Prenz retired on November 11, 2016. Unfortunately, shortly thereafter, in 2017, she was gone.
Klavdia Prenz will forever remain in the memory of colleagues as a highly professional specialist, reliable friend, and also a beautiful woman.
Photos from the personal archive of Sviatlana Bazylieva-Lanko are used in the article.
Bibliology Research Department
