Russian State Library Leninka. Russian State Library (RSL)

The largest public library of the world.

Any citizen of Russia or another state, if he is -et-stu-den-tom wu-for li-bo up to 18 years old.

Within the walls of the RSL there is a unique collection of domestic and foreign documents in 367 languages -ra. The volume of funds exceeds 45 million 500 thousand units of storage. Representing-le-we-spe-tsi-a-li-zi-ro-van-nye collections of maps, notes, sound-for-pi-this, rare books, dis-ser- ta-tsy, newspapers and other types of da-ny.

History reference:

1784, May 17. The first written mention of the beginning of the collecting activity of N.P. Rumyantsev.

1827, November 3rd. Letter to S.P. Rumyantsev to Emperor Nicholas I: “Most Merciful Sovereign! My late brother, expressing his desire to me about the compilation of the Museum ... ".

1828, January 3rd. Letter from Emperor Nicholas I to S.P. Rumyantsev: “Count Sergei Petrovich! I learned with particular pleasure that, following the promptings of your zeal for the common good, they intend to transfer the Museum, which belongs to you, known for its precious collections, to the Government in order to make it accessible to everyone and thereby contribute to the success of public education. I express to you my favor and gratitude for this gift, which you bring to the sciences and the Fatherland, and wishing to preserve the memory of the founders of this useful institution, I ordered this Museum to be called the Rumyantsev Museum.

1828, March 22. Nominal decree to the Senate of Nicholas I “On the establishment of the Rumyantsev Museum”: “To those who are here in St. Petersburg in the 1st Admiralty part of the 4th quarter under No. 229 and 196, houses bought by the late State Chancellor Count Rumyantsev from the English merchant Thomas Var and bequeathed by him to the newly established Public Scientific Institution , which should be called the Rumyantsev Museum. We command: in pursuance of this will of the owner, although only verbally expressed by him, but approved by the testimony of his brother and sole heir, the Real Privy Councilor Count Rumyantsev, to recognize from now on as the property of the Ministry of Public Education ... ".

1828, March 22. The highest rescript given in the name of the Minister of Public Education - “On admission to the department of the Ministry of Public Education of the Rumyantsev Museum, and on the rules by which this institution should be managed”: “Alexander Semenovich! (Minister A.S. Shishkov)...

I command you, in accordance with these assumptions: 1. Appointed for the premises of the Rumyantsev Museum and other buildings belonging to it ... accept ... without committing an act of sale on them, within the period specified by him on May 1 of this 1828 2. Accept ... and the library and collections stored in the Museum manuscripts, coins and minerals… works of art… 3. Establish as a rule that the Rumyantsev Museum, as a public institution, will be open to the public once a week… 4. Draw up… a draft Charter… and staff…”.

1831, May 28. The highest approved opinion State Council on the approval of the Regulations, budget and staff of the Rumyantsev Museum:

"Establishment of the Rumyantsev Museum". Dep. I On the purpose of the museum.

§ 1. The collection left by the late State Chancellor Count Nikolai Petrovich Rumyantsev ... is assigned for public use, being called, by the Highest will, the Rumyantsev Museum.
§ 2. Every Monday from 10 o'clock in the morning until 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the Museum is open to all readers to inspect it. On other days, except Sundays and holidays, those visitors who intend to engage in reading and extracts are allowed ...
§ 4. The Rumyantsev Museum is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Public Education, sent by the Senior Librarian of Onago (Complete collection of laws of the Russian Empire).

1831, June 27. A.Kh. Vostokov (1781 - 1864) - poet, paleographer, archaeologist. From 1824 he worked as a librarian in the Department of Spiritual Affairs and (since August 1829) in the Imperial Public Library as a curator of manuscripts.

1838, January 24. S.P. died. Rumyantsev. At the same time, by decree of Nicholas I, the Minister of War transferred to the Rumyantsev Museum rescripts, letters, diplomas, letters given to the Rumyantsev family. The gift brought was the only major addition to the Museum's fund in the first half of the 19th century.

May 15, 1844 E.M. was appointed to the position of Senior Librarian, Head of the Rumyantsev Museum. Lobanov (1787 - 1846) - writer, poet. He was awarded the title of Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1845. A friend and first biographer of I.A. Krylova, N.I. Gnedich.

1845, 21 August. The highest approved regulation of the Committee of Ministers "On the subordination of the Rumyantsev Museum to the authorities of the Imperial Library." “... The Committee, taking into account that the Museum provided by Count Rumyantsev at the disposal of the government was given the name Rumyantsev and that two houses were donated by Count Rumyantsev for it, found that the perfect merger of this Museum with other similar institutions would be inconvenient and would violate the will of the founders; but in order to reduce the costs required for the maintenance of the aforementioned Museum, which fall mostly on the State Treasury ... to subordinate it to the authorities of the Imperial Public Library, especially since an Assistant has been assigned to the Director of this Library, who can easily be entrusted with the closest supervision of the Museum ... ".

1846, May 27. The Charter of the Rumyantsev Museum was approved by Nicholas I: "§ 6. The Rumyantsev Museum, being under the jurisdiction of the Minister of Public Education, ... "is under the control of the Director of the Imperial Public Library and the closest supervision of his Assistant."

1846, July 12. The Assistant Director of the Imperial Public Library, Prince V.F. Odoevsky (1804 - 1869) - writer, musicologist, philosopher, assistant director of the Imperial Public Library from June 20, 1846

1850, February 20. Highly approved by Nicholas I "Additional Regulations on the Imperial Public Library and the Rumyantsev Museum": "§ 1. The Imperial Public Library and the Rumyantsev Museum, belonging to the general composition of the Ministry of the Imperial Court, are directly controlled by the Director.

1861, May 23. The position of the Committee of Ministers - "On the transfer of the Rumyantsev Museum from St. Petersburg to Moscow" was approved by Alexander II.

1861, June 27. Commission consisting of: N.V. Isakov, A.V. Bychkov, V.F. Odoevsky - began to transfer the Rumyantsev Museum to the Ministry of Public Education and prepare for the transfer of the collection of N.P. Rumyantsev in Moscow.

1861, August 5 Reports of the Director of the Imperial Public Library M.A. Korf to the Minister of the Imperial Court V.F. Adlerberg: "I have the honor to inform you, Gracious Sovereign, that the delivery of houses and all property of the Rumyantsev Museum, together with the residual amounts of this institution, to the department of the Ministry of Public Education was completed on August 1 ... ".

A painting painted on canvas by the painter Torelli in 1773, representing the solemn procession of Catherine the Great to the lands conquered from the Turks. This painting was kept in the Hermitage, but at the most humble request of Count Sergei Petrovich, it was granted to the Rumyantsev Museum.

By 1853, i.e. 25 years after the establishment of the Rumyantsev Museum and the receipt of the collection of N.P. Rumyantsev for state storage, its volume has changed insignificantly. The Rumyantsev Museum kept 966 manuscripts, 598 maps and drawing books (atlases), 32,345 volumes of printed publications. His jewels were studied by 722 readers who ordered 1,094 items. storage. 256 visitors visited the exposition halls of the museum.

Translation Rumyantsev Museum to Moscow was predestined. In the 1850-1860s. in Russia, the movement for the creation of public libraries, museums, educational institutions. The abolition of serfdom was approaching. In Moscow during these years, new enterprises, banks, and railway construction were expanding. Working people, raznochinny youth poured into the Mother See. The need for a free book has increased exponentially. A public library could fill this need. Such a library was in St. Petersburg. Moscow had a university founded in 1755 with a good library serving professors and students. There were rich bookstores, excellent private collections. But this did not solve the issue, and many saw the need to solve it.

In the 1850s trustee of the Moscow educational district E.P. Kovalevsky decided to create a public museum based on the collections of Moscow University, and to place the university library in a special building and make it more accessible. Professor of Moscow University K.K. Hertz was one of the first in his books, articles, and lectures to prove the need for a foundation in Moscow art museum as early as 1858. There was talk of founding an accessible museum and library in Moscow and in a Moscow literary circle, which included T.N. Granovsky, A.I. Herzen, V.G. Belinsky, translator and publisher E.F. Korsh, who became the first librarian of the Moscow Public and Rumyantsev Museums (hereinafter referred to as the Museums of the Rumyantsev Museum), a major industrialist, publisher, philanthropist K.T. Soldatenkov is one of the most generous donors to the Museums.

In 1859, N.V. became a trustee of the Moscow educational district. Isakov, about whom they wrote: “In the person of him, the district, and with him the Moscow intelligentsia, met an “actively sympathetic” trustee of public education in the broad sense of the word. At a new place of service for him, N.V. found complete satisfaction of his spiritual needs.”

On May 23 (O.S.), 1861, the Committee of Ministers adopted a resolution on the transfer of the Rumyantsev Museum to Moscow and on the establishment of the Moscow Public Museum. In 1861, the acquisition and organization of funds began. The transfer of Rumyantsev collections from St. Petersburg to Moscow began.

We must pay tribute to the Moscow authorities - Governor-General P.A. Tuchkov and the trustee of the Moscow educational district N.V. Isakov. With the support of the Minister of Public Education E.P. Kovalevsky, they invited all Muscovites to take part in the formation of the newly created, as they said then, "Museum of Sciences and Arts." They turned for help to Moscow societies - Noble, Merchant, Meshchansky, to publishing houses, to individual citizens. And Muscovites hastened to help their long-awaited Library, their Museums. More than three hundred book and manuscript collections, individual priceless gifts, joined the fund of the Moscow Public and Rumyantsev Museums.

Emperor Alexander II on July 1 (June 19, O.S.) 1862 approved (permitted) the “Regulations on the Moscow Public Museum and the Rumyantsev Museum”. The “Regulations…” became the first legal document that determined the management, structure, activities, entry into the Library of Museums of a legal deposit, the staffing table for the first public Museum created in Moscow with a public library that was part of this Museum.

The Moscow Public and Rumyantsev Museums included, in addition to the Library, departments of manuscripts, rare books, Christian and Russian antiquities, departments of fine arts, ethnographic, numismatic, archaeological, and mineralogical departments.

The book collection of the Rumyantsev Museum became part of the book collection, and the manuscript collection became part of the manuscript fund of the Moscow Public Museum and the Rumyantsev Museum. Rumyantsev - to serve the benefit of the Fatherland and good education.

A special role in the formation of the Moscow Public and Rumyantsev Museums belonged to the St. Petersburg libraries and, above all, the Imperial Public Library, whose director Modest Andreevich Korf not only himself instructed Vladimir Fedorovich Odoevsky to compile a note on the plight of the Rumyantsev Museum in St. Petersburg and the possibility of transferring it to Moscow, but also " wanted to show new sign of his sincere sympathy and assistance to the further success of the Moscow Public Library, petitioned for the circulation of books in it. "Many thousands of volumes of Russian, foreign, early printed books from the Imperial Public Library doublets in boxes with registers, catalog cards were sent to the newly created library in Moscow. Here doublets were also sent from the funds of the Imperial Hermitage transferred to the Imperial Public Library.M.A. Korf wrote on June 28, 1861 to N.V. and other libraries and organizations of St. Petersburg assisted the Library of Museums in its formation. Russian Academy Sciences, the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, the Department of the General Staff helped the Moscow Public and Rumyantsev Museums, the Library in the early years of their formation.

The Rumyantsev Museum, established in 1828 and founded in 1831 in St. Petersburg, since 1845 was part of the Imperial Public Library. The museum was poor. Curator of the Rumyantsev Museum V.F. Odoevsky, having lost hope of obtaining funds to maintain the museum, offered to transport the Rumyantsev collections to Moscow, where they would be in demand and preserved. Odoevsky’s note on the plight of the Rumyantsev Museum, addressed to the Minister of the State Court, was “accidentally” seen by N.V. Isakov and gave her a move.

In 1913, the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty was celebrated. The celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Moscow Public and Rumyantsev Museums was timed to the same time. It has already been said, in connection with donations to the Museums, about the role of the imperial family in the life of the Museums. From the very beginning, one of the Grand Dukes became a trustee of the Moscow Public and Rumyantsev Museums. Members of the imperial family were elected honorary members of the Museums.

They often visited Museums, leaving notes in the Book of Honored Guests. On January 12, 1895 (December 31, 1894 O.S.), the Museums had their first patron. It was Emperor Nicholas II.

Since 1913, the Moscow Public and Rumyantsev Museums, in accordance with highest decision became known as the Imperial Moscow and Rumyantsev Museum. In connection with the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty, the State Duma, in the course of discussing the anniversary events, considered that the best monument This event will be the "All-Russian Folk Museum", the role of which the Moscow Public and Rumyantsev Museums were called upon to play.

This required the director Golitsyn, the employees of the Museums to mobilize all organizational, intellectual, material efforts. And although the Rumyantsev Museum was never officially called the "All-Russian Folk Museum", in fact, during the years of Golitsyn's directorship, the Museum became such. Prince Vasily Dmitrievich Golitsyn was well aware of how significant the public face of this essentially national and imperial Museum should be. Under him, among the honorary members of the Museums, along with outstanding statesmen Russia, Russian and foreign scientists, directors of leading libraries and museums are elected.

Since 1913, the Museum's Library for the first time began to receive money to complete the fund.

By the beginning of the 1920s. The library of the Moscow Public and Rumyantsev Museums, the Imperial Moscow and Rumyantsev Museums, since February 1917 - the State Rumyantsev Museum (RMM) was already an established cultural and scientific center.

Vasily Dmitrievich Golitsyn continued until March 1921 to remain the director of the State Russian Museum. From March 1921 to October 1924, the director of the State Rumyantsev Museum, who served in the Museums since 1910, was the future famous writer, author of the books "Three Colors of Time", "The Condemnation of Paganini", "Stendhal and His Time" and others, Anatoly Kornelievich Vinogradov.

Under Vinogradov, on January 24, 1924, by decision of the People's Commissariat of Education (departmental, not government decision), the State Russian Museum was named the Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Lenin) Russian Public Library, although officially (as evidenced by documents) it continued to remain the State Rumyantsev until February 6, 1925 museum. A.K. Vinogradov resigned as director due to illness, and a temporary Management Board headed by the head of the scientific department of World History, Professor Dmitry Nikolaevich Egorov (October 1924 - February 4, 1925) took his place. From May 5, 1925, he was the director of the Library of the State Russian Museum, which, from February 6, 1925, was transformed into the State Library of the USSR named after V.I. Lenin, a doctor, professor, party historian, statesman and party leader Vladimir Ivanovich Nevsky was appointed. After his arrest in 1935, for the first time in the history of the Library, a woman Elena Fyodorovna Rozmirovich, a participant in the revolutionary movement and state building, was appointed director. In 1939, she was transferred to the position of director of the Literary Institute, and director of the State Library of the USSR named after V.I. Lenin became a state and party leader, candidate of historical sciences, former director of the State Public Historical Library Nikolai Nikiforovich Yakovlev.

Until 1917, the Committee, Council, after 1917 - the Academic Collegium, since March 14, 1921 - the Academic Council, was a collegiate advisory body under the director of the Museums, then the Libraries.

The return of the capital to Moscow in March 1918 changed the status of the State Russian Museum Library, which soon became the main library of the country.

All changes in the state directly affected the change in the nature of the Library's activities, the composition of its fund, the composition of readers, the volume and forms of service. A cultural revolution was taking place in the country, the purpose of which was the People's Commissar of Education A.V. Lunacharsky defined it as the formation of a comprehensively developed harmonic personality. For this, according to its organizers, it was necessary to win over the "old" intelligentsia, use the "old" cultural heritage, create a new intelligentsia, form a new worldview, displacing religious and bourgeois consciousness. The literacy of the population grew. If in 1897 literacy among people over the age of 9 was 24%, in 1926 - 51.1%, then, according to the All-Union Census of 1939, literacy reached 81.2%. The administrative system was forced to use talented people brought up before the revolution.

In the new socio-political conditions, the Library continued its traditionally high mission of a cultural institution - to collect and carefully preserve the collection, to make it optimally accessible to a new reader.

In 1918, an interlibrary loan and a reference and bibliographic bureau were organized in the Library of the State Russian Museum.

In 1921 the Library became a state book depository. The library fulfilled its historical mission of collecting, preserving and providing book and manuscript collections to users by taking part in the implementation of the CEC Decree of 1918 "On the Protection of Libraries and Book Depositories", by incorporating abandoned, ownerless, nationalized book collections into its funds. As a result, the Library's fund grew from 1,200,000 items as of January 1, 1917 to 4 million items, which needed not only to be placed in insufficient space, but also to be processed and made available to readers.

From the very foundation of the Museums, the Library, following the Library of the Academy of Sciences and the Imperial Public Library, received the right to preserve what censorship forbade other libraries from storing. Now, in the 1920s and 1930s, this function of the Library acquired a new and extraordinary significance. In 1920, a secret department was created in the Library. Access to the funds of this department was limited. But today, when the restrictions have been lifted, we must pay tribute to several generations of employees of this department for the fact that they have preserved the books of those who left Russia after the revolution, the books of great scientists, writers from the "philosophical ship" of 1922, members of numerous groups and associations cultural figures from the RAPP to the unions of the bourgeois intelligentsia, victims of the struggle against formalism in literature and art, thousands of repressed. In conditions of fundamental changes in the class structure Soviet society, ideological purges, repressions The library has managed to keep the fund of special storage.

Taking advantage of the favorable conditions provided to it as the main library of the country (July 14, 1921 - Resolution of the Council of People's Commissars "On the procedure for the acquisition and distribution of foreign literature", other resolutions), the Library maintains great job for the acquisition of foreign literature and, above all, foreign periodicals.

The creation of the USSR, the formation of a multinational Soviet culture predetermined one of the most important directions acquisition of the library fund - collection of literature in all written languages ​​of the peoples of the USSR. The Eastern Department was created with a group (sector) of the literature of the peoples of the USSR, the processing of this literature was organized in a short time, an appropriate system of catalogs was created, the processing of literature and catalogs were as close as possible to the reader.

Special mention should be made of the systematic catalogue. Until 1919, the collection of the Rumyantsev Museum Library was reflected in only one alphabetical catalogue. By this time, the volume of the fund had already exceeded one million units. The need to create a systematic catalog was discussed earlier, but due to the lack of opportunities, the issue was postponed. In 1919, by a decree of the Council of People's Commissars, the State Rumyantsev Museum was allocated significant funds for its development, which made it possible to increase staff, create scientific departments, attract leading scientists to work, start creating new Soviet tables of library and bibliographic classification, and building a systematic catalog on their basis. Thus began a huge work that required more than one decade of labor not only from the staff of the Lenin Library and other libraries, but also from many scientific institutions, scientists different areas knowledge.

Since 1922, the Library's receipt by the Library of two obligatory copies of all printed publications on the territory of the state made it possible, among other things, to promptly provide thousands of readers with not only literature in the languages ​​of the peoples of the USSR, but also its translations into Russian. All this, especially after 1938, when compulsory teaching of the Russian language was introduced in all national schools, made multinational literature accessible to everyone. The role of the Library in the dissemination of multinational literature is significant. The library not only replenished its funds, but also did a lot to preserve them. In the storage department, a hygiene and restoration group with a research laboratory was created.

In the 1920-1930s. State Library of the USSR named after V.I. Lenin is a leading scientific institution. First of all, it is the largest information base of science. There is no scientist in the country who would not turn to this source of wisdom. There is no Russianist in the world who has not worked in Leninka. 1920-1930s - this time great achievements in national science. Her successes are associated with the names of N.I. Vavilov, A.F. Ioffe, P.L. Kapitsa, I.P. Pavlova, K.A. Timiryazev, A.P. Karpinsky, V.I. Vernadsky, N.E. Zhukovsky, I.V. Michurin. Here is what was written in the greeting of the Library to the Academy of Sciences of the USSR on July 27, 1925: "The All-Union Library named after Lenin is happy to send its enthusiastic greetings to the All-Union Academy of Sciences. Your seed is our bins; the fattening of the fields, the preparation of new harvests are common: laboratories, scientific classrooms , special institutes, the library - are intertwined into a single creative creative circle, and not a single link in this powerful scientific and working chain can be considered superfluous.

On May 3, 1932, by the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR, the Library was included in the number of research institutions of republican significance.

The leading scientists of the country worked in the Library part-time or freelance during these years, helping to create the first Soviet library and bibliographic classification, which in 1981 became the only library work awarded the State Prize in the field of science. The largest scientists, such as the physico-geographer A.A. Borzov, astronomer S.V. Orlov, historians Yu.V. Gauthier, D.N. Egorov, L.V. Cherepnin, S.V. Bakhrushin, philologists V.F. Savodnik, S.K. Shambinago, N.I. Shaternikov, book critic N.P. Kiselev, literary critic I.L. Andronnikov and many others worked for the most part in academic institutions, at Moscow University. At the same time, they made a great contribution to the development of the Library as a scientific institution, assisted in the creation of the Systematic Catalogue, in reference and information work, and in the preparation of scientific publications. But the Library's contribution to science in the 1920s and 1930s was not limited to this.

The library stands at the head of one of the important branches of science - library science. Since 1922, the Library has included the Cabinet, and since 1924 the Institute of Library Science, headed by an outstanding figure in library science, Lyubov Borisovna Khavkina. In 1923, the first four volumes of the "Proceedings" of the Library were published: "The Diaries of A.S. Pushkin (1833-1835)", "K.P. Pobedonostsev and His Correspondents" (2 vols.), Stein V.A. "Library Statistics: A Guide to Statistics for General Education Libraries". Published scientific collections. Since 1938, "Notes of the Department of Manuscripts" have been published. The library takes part in the 1st All-Union Congress of Library Workers (1924), in the 1st Conference of Scientific Libraries (1924), the II All-Union Bibliographic Congress (1926). In 1931, the Association of Scientific Libraries was created and V.I. Nevsky. He was also the editor-in-chief of the journal "Library Science and Bibliography". In 1934, Nevsky wrote: “Now over 400 research institutions are with us in the closest scientific connection. We not only give them books, but they turn to us for information, for clarification of all kinds of questions ... Near the Lenin Library was created, as near the center, the Association of Scientific Libraries of Moscow ... Such a powerful scientific and bibliographic organization as the All-Union Association of Agricultural Bibliography, such organizations as the Book Chamber, as "Index scientific literature". (With the participation of V.I. Nevsky, the Yearbooks of the Commission of Indices are published")

One of the tasks of the Library of V.I. Nevsky saw in the disclosure of its funds. "... No matter how scarce our means, no matter how little we have at our disposal, we set ourselves the task of publishing our works, publishing the treasures that are in the manuscript department, leading along a new path, publishing works that meet the immediate needs of the young scientific community ..." .

Director of the Library V.I. Nevsky begins the construction of a new building of the Library, restructures the entire work of the Library, helps to publish the Trinity List of Russkaya Pravda from the Department of Manuscripts, actively participates in the activities of the ACADEMIA publishing house (several volumes of the Russian Memoirs, Diaries, Letters and Materials series published under the general editorship of Nevsky "on the history of literature, social thought are built on the materials of the Library's fund and are distinguished by a high scientific level, culture of publication). IN AND. Nevsky and D.N. Egorov belonged to the "general idea and the general direction of the implementation" of the collection "Death of Tolstoy". Nevsky wrote an introductory article to this collection. D.N. Yegorov was repressed and died in exile. IN AND. Nevsky in 1935 was repressed, in 1937 he was shot. The director of the State Rumyantsev Museum V.D. was repressed. Golitsyn (1921), historians, staff members of the Library Yu.V. Gauthier, S.V. Bakhrushin, D.N. Egorov, I.I. Ivanov-Polosin in 1929-1930 were arrested in the academic case. Dozens of Library employees were repressed in the 1920s and 1930s. We are now trying to recover their names.

Much has been done by the Library, which was part of the Cabinet (Institute) of Library Science and for the training of library personnel. Two-year, nine-month, six-month courses, postgraduate studies (since 1930), the creation in the Library in 1930 of the first library university, which in 1934 separated from the Lenin Library and became independent.

When they talk about culture, they also mean the moral climate in the country, in a single team. In the Library, next to the graduates of the Sorbonne and Cambridge, very young people worked, nominees who received education and profession on the job. Nevsky dreamed of educating a new Soviet intelligentsia in the Library, and he did a lot for this. It is impossible to take the Library out of the context of the country's history. And there was also nervous tension, suspicion, denunciations, fear, the need for constant self-control. There were purges, arrests, persecutions. But there was something else. They loved their work, their Library, they were proud of their multinational Motherland, they were true patriots, and they proved it in 1941.

In the 1920-1930s. The library, being an integral part of national and world culture, has made a significant contribution to science and culture. She did a lot to raise the level of culture and education of citizens, to meet the information needs of culture, science, literature, to preserve and replenish her fund, which by the beginning of 1941 totaled 9600 thousand (like the Library of Congress at that time). She preserved for us (and many future generations) books that could have perished after their authors. 6 reading rooms of the Lenin Library served thousands of readers every day. 1200 employees at the beginning of 1941 provided all the activities of the Library.

The richest multinational fund of the main library of the country, the constantly improved system of services, reference and bibliographic services allowed the Library to take its rightful place in the system of cultural institutions of the country, in the preservation of cultural values, in influencing public consciousness. The close relationship with other cultural institutions was determined by the fact that from the very foundation of the first Moscow public library, it saw one of the most important tasks in the active dissemination of culture: exhibitions, excursions, and assistance to readers in their work. Historical conditions 1920-1930s suggested new forms of this work. Houses and Palaces of Culture are being created in the country, Parks of Culture are being opened. The Lenin Library opens its branches in the Central Park of Culture and Leisure named after M. Gorky (1936). Later, similar branches were created in the Sokolniki Park, in the House of Culture for the Children of Railway Workers. Since 1926, as a branch, the House-Museum of A.P. Chekhov in Yalta.

The Library was closely connected with theaters. Here is what was written in a greeting from the Lenin Library on the 30th anniversary of the Moscow Art Academic Theater in October 1928: "New productions of the Art Theater have always been the result of persistent and creative research work. The study of book sources, art collections, preliminary abstracts, often - printed articles explaining the play in the understanding of directing - defined the Theater precisely as a research scientist. The doors of the Public Library of the USSR named after V.I. Lenin, and more than once she saw at her place groups of workers of the Theater for multilateral studies of which separate halls were assigned. Now the Library carries its congratulations to the hero of the day in the firm belief that in the future it will also communicate with the employees of the Theater on the basis of joint work."

The Lenin Library was especially closely connected with literature and writers. In the Library in the 1920s-1930s the Central Literary Museum was created, in 1925 it included the Museum of A.P. Chekhov in Moscow, Museum of F.M. Dostoevsky, Museum of F.I. Tyutchev "Muranovo", M. Gorky Museum, L.N. Tolstoy, the Book Museum is being created. It organizes exhibitions dedicated to writers (I.S. Turgenev, A.I. Herzen, N.A. Nekrasov, A.S. Pushkin, M. Gorky, V.V. Mayakovsky, Dante, etc.). The library takes an active part in the publication of the complete scientifically prepared collected works of L.N. Tolstoy, A.S. Pushkin, N.A. Nekrasov, whose archives were kept in the Lenin Library.

Even earlier, the Library was visited by V.V. Mayakovsky, M. Gorky and many other writers. In the House of Writers in Moscow on the memorial plaque - 70 names of writers who died in the Finnish and Great Patriotic War. 100 Moscow writers died from repressions. And across the country - about 1000. Their works are preserved by the Lenin Library. On October 8, 1928, Vechernyaya Krasnaya Gazeta wrote: “The RKI [Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspectorate] conducted a survey of the Lenin Public Library (former Rumyantsevskaya) and established that the library had become a refuge for a group of counter-revolutionary-minded intelligentsia, who in every possible way hindered the work. employees were listed as 62 former noblemen, 20 hereditary honorary citizens.All of them had nothing to do with librarianship until 1918. The RCT requires the dismissal of 22 people, including A.K. Vinogradova (former director of the library), assistant librarians E.V. [Yu.V.] Gauthier and D.S. [V.S.] Glinka, head of the repository K.N. Ivanova and others". They were filmed, repressed, but what they did was preserved.

All this huge work was carried out within the walls of the Pashkov House. True, by a decree of the Council of People's Commissars of December 12, 1921, the house at Mokhovaya, 6 was assigned to the State Rumyantsev Museum. both outbuildings with the main house. The house belonged to the Shakhovsky princes. At the beginning of the XX century. the estate was sold to the merchant Krasilshchikov, and after 1917 it was nationalized. Various organizations were located here, as well as the collection of impressionists of the State Russian Museum (before it was separated from the Library). In 1921, the house was completely handed over to the State Russian Museum. Now, in different years, organizations and services of the Rumyantsev Museum, the Lenin Library were located here: the Museum of Ethnography, the Institute of Library Science, the Literary Museum, bookbinding workshops, living quarters, for the most part inhabited by employees of the Lenin Library. In 1934, the Institute of Library Science (it became part of the MGBI) and the Literary Museum separated from the Library. The building no longer belongs to the Library. Until the Center for Oriental Literature of the RSL is located here.

Speaking about the Library and culture of the 1920s-1930s, one should especially emphasize the donor, "mother" role of the Lenin Library. In 1921, on the initiative of the employees of the State Russian Museum, the People's Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR decided to separate the museum collections from the Library itself and the Department of Manuscripts. The dissolution of the Rumyantsev Museum began, which lasted until 1927. Hundreds and thousands of museum items, priceless paintings, engravings, sculptures, ethnographic, archaeological materials replenished the Museum of Fine Arts, Tretyakov Gallery, Historical Museum. The main reason for the separation was the lack of space for storing books and manuscripts, for serving readers. The Literary Museum became independent. Separated from the Library and continued their independent life Museums F.M. Dostoevsky, A.P. Chekhov, F.I. Tyutchev, M. Gorky, later - the House-Museum of A.P. Chekhov (Yalta). "Left" from the Library in accordance with the decisions of the government, lovingly transferred at one time to the Moscow public Rumyantsev Museum and carefully preserved by the Museums, the State Library of the USSR. IN AND. Lenin until 1937-1939, manuscripts by A.S. Pushkin and L.N. Tolstoy. They became an adornment of the "Pushkin House" (St. Petersburg) and the Museum of L.N. Tolstoy (Moscow).

Each page of the history of the Russian State Library has its own characteristics, but all of them are connected by what they have in common: service to the Fatherland, cultural enlightenment, devotion to the common cause, the continuity of good deeds and traditions, support for society, and above all Moscow, the need and deprivation that accompanied the Library from first years. Special page - Library during the Great Patriotic War.

Throughout the history of the Library, the main thing for her was acquisition, storage of the collection and service to readers. And in these difficult years, the Library continued to replenish its funds, ensured the receipt of a legal deposit, which had been donated to the Library of the Moscow Public and Rumyantsev Museums. In the first two war years, 58% (1057 book titles) and over 20% of the periodicals that were not received from the Book Chamber in the order of legal deposit were purchased. The leadership of the Library achieved the transfer to it of newspapers, magazines, brochures, posters, leaflets, slogans and other publications issued by the Military Publishing House, political departments of the fronts and armies.

In 1942 the Library had book exchange relations with 16 countries, with 189 organizations. The most intensive exchange was carried out with England and the USA. The second front will not open soon, in 1944, but here, in the incomplete first war year (July 1941 - March 1942), the Library sends different countries, primarily in English, 546 exchange proposal letters, and consent was obtained from a number of countries. During the war years, more precisely since 1944, the issue of transferring candidate and doctoral dissertations to the Library was resolved. The fund was also actively completed through the purchase of antiquarian domestic and world literature.

During the war years, in the conditions of the approach of the Nazis to Moscow, enemy air raids, the question of preserving the fund acquired. On June 27, 1941, a resolution of the party and government "On the procedure for the export and placement of human contingents and valuable property" was adopted. Our Library immediately began preparations for the evacuation of its most valuable collections. Director of the Library N.N. Yakovlev was appointed authorized by the People's Commissariat of Education for the evacuation of library and museum valuables from Moscow. About 700 thousand units (rare and especially valuable editions, manuscripts) were evacuated from Leninka. On a long journey - first to Nizhny Novgorod, then to Perm (then the city of Molotov), ​​the selected, packed books and manuscripts were accompanied by a group of GBL employees. All the valuables were preserved, in 1944 they were re-evacuated and placed on the shelves of the Library's storages.

Both the front and the rear turn here, to the Lenin Library, for help, information necessary to solve a single task for the whole country - to win. 7% more certificates were issued during the war years than during the same period in the prewar years.

Our fund was also saved by the builders, who managed to build an 18-tiered iron and concrete book depository for 20 million items by the beginning of the war, and, of course, by the Library staff, who carried (did not have time to introduce the planned mechanization) the entire fund and all the catalogs from fire hazardous Pashkov's house in a new storage. And, of course, our girls from the MPVO team, who were on duty on the roof of the old building. According to incomplete data, they extinguished more than 200 incendiary bombs. There was an anti-aircraft gun on the roof of the new building of the main book depository. And our Red Army, our militias, in the ranks of which fought 175 employees of the Library, who left its walls to fight, smashing the Germans near Moscow, didn’t they help save our fund? And the fact that the Library staff participated in the construction of defensive lines near Moscow, helped in hospitals to restore the health of our soldiers - was it not done, among other things, to preserve the priceless wealth entrusted to the Library by the country?

In the Library, since its stay in the Moscow Public and Rumyantsev Museums, there have been restoration work. Then, for these purposes, a group was formed in the storage department. In the interests of better preservation of the fund, the organization of preventive measures on the basis of this group, in February 1944, the Department of Hygiene and Restoration was created in the Library with a research laboratory attached to it.

The reference apparatus was preserved - catalogs and file cabinets. This is primarily the General Alphabetical Catalog (4000 catalog boxes) and the General Systematic Catalog (3600 boxes). In May 1942, in order to more fully account and bring into proper system the most important bibliographic resources - catalogs and file cabinets - the Library began their certification, completing it even before the end of the war. Work was underway to create a Consolidated Catalog of Foreign Publications of Moscow Libraries.

The Lenin Library took an active part in the work of the State Fund, created in 1943 (it was located on the territory of the Library in the church building and the old repository along Znamenka (then - Frunze Street) to restore the destroyed libraries in the territories liberated from the Nazis. And the Library itself, and not through the State Fund, provided assistance to libraries that suffered from the Nazis in the temporarily occupied areas. For example, about 10 thousand books were transferred to the Tver (then Kalinin) Regional Library. Readers also participated in the collection of books for these purposes at the call of the Library's management. Our employees worked as experts of the Extraordinary Commission for establishing and investigating the atrocities of the Nazi invaders and their accomplices and the damage they caused to citizens, collective farms, public organizations, state enterprises and institutions of the USSR.

That for the sake of which the first public library of the Mother See of the capital was created in 1862 is a free, public book service. During the Great Patriotic War, the Library did not stop serving readers for almost a single day. Changed in appearance military uniform prevailed in the reading rooms) and by the nature of their requests, our reader. The reading area of ​​the complex of new buildings has not yet been built. There was only one reading room at the beginning of the war - the Main (General)

On May 24, 1942, the Children's Reading Room was solemnly opened for the first time in this Library. Many writers and poets came to this celebration, some of them straight from the front. The Nazis have just been driven away from the walls of Moscow, and the leadership of the main library of the country is repairing its most beautiful hall - Rumyantsevsky, where N.P. Rumyantsev, and, entering the hall, the young reader immediately met the chancellor's eyes in his portrait by the artist J. Dow. In 1943, a department for children's and youth literature was created. If before the war the Library had six reading rooms, at the beginning of the war - one, then by the end of the war there were ten rooms.

In the extreme conditions of wartime, the Library performed all its functions. When the Nazis approached Moscow, when many residents of the city were leaving the capital, there were 12 readers in the Library's reading room on October 17, 1941.

They were served, books were picked up, delivered from the new storage to the reading room in the Pashkov House. Incendiary bombs fell on the library building. Air raids during the raids forced everyone, both readers and employees, to go to the bomb shelter. And it was necessary to think about the safety of books in these conditions. Instructions on the behavior of readers and employees during an air raid are developed and strictly followed. There was a special instruction for that for the Children's Reading Room.

In the interests of readers, travel is organized, active servicing of readers in the MBA is carried out, books are sent as a gift to the front, to the hospital library.

The library carried out intensive scientific work: scientific conferences, sessions, monographs were written, dissertations were defended, postgraduate studies were restored, and the work begun in the pre-war years on the creation of the Library and Bibliographic Classification continued. The Academic Council gathered, which included famous scientists, including 5 academicians and corresponding members of the Academy of Sciences, writers, cultural figures, leading experts in the field of library and book business.

For outstanding services in collecting and storing book collections and serving the broad masses of the population with books (in connection with the 20th anniversary of the transformation of the Library of the Rumyantsev Museum into the State Library of the USSR named after V.I. Lenin) in the days when the war was still going on, March 29, 1945 The library was awarded the highest government award - the Order of Lenin (the only one of the libraries). At the same time, orders and medals were awarded large group library staff.

Among the recipients are the Director of the Library, on whose shoulders lies a huge responsibility for the Library, for each employee in these extreme conditions. This is Nikolai Nikiforovich Yakovlev, who led the GBL in 1939-1943. and Vasily Grigoryevich Olishev, historian, journalist, candidate of historical sciences, who from January 1941 was the head of the department military literature, in 1941-1943. was at the front and, after being seriously wounded, returned to his Library. He headed it in 1943-1953.

2600 employees worked in different time during the war years in the library. This allowed us to identify the documents of the Library Archive.

In January 1941, the Library had more than a thousand employees. In July 1941, at the very beginning of the war, there were already five times fewer of them - people went to the front, to defense enterprises, to the collective farm, and were evacuated with their children. Two hundred employees of the first, difficult months of the war.

In connection with the growth in the volume of work in the Library itself, the directorate repeatedly during the war years raised the question of increasing the staff, increasing wages employees. Despite the hardships of wartime, the country found an opportunity to satisfy these requests. By the end of the war, the number of the Library staff exceeded 800 people.

Someone came here long before the start of the war and left the Library many years after the Victory. Someone worked less than a month, but these were days of intense work in the conditions of bombing, alarming reports from the front, night shifts in hospitals, and you never know what else.

If they did not themselves go on duty on the roof - extinguish lighters, then they went to the hospital, to build defensive barriers around Moscow; if others went there, then those who remained worked for two, three at their jobs. Next to the 14 - 15-year-old girls were working people whose year of birth went to the 60 - 90s. 19th century

The library was itself a fighter in this war. I fought with every book. In her heart, the most peaceful people, librarians, took her to the front with them. And those who remained in Moscow extinguished lighters. Wearing white coats, they fought for the lives of the wounded in the sponsored hospital. Picking up shovels, they went to build defensive barriers on the outskirts of Moscow. Women, girls, who never held saws and axes in their hands, worked for months at the wood harvesting. Upon mobilization, they were recalled to military production, to a collective farm, to the mines of the Moscow region coal basin, to the construction of the subway, to work in the police ... The library fought. The Library staff also donated money to the defense fund, for the construction of the Moskva air squadron, the Lenin Library aircraft. The gratitude of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief for this is stored in the Archives of the Library.

In 1944, the Book of Honor and the Board of Honor were established, where photographic portraits of the best of the best were entered for many years.

The rigid discipline of wartime did not allow even minute delays to work. And those who worked nearby could not let their comrades down. Mutual assistance and mutual assistance meant more than in peacetime. That is why not a single name of those who worked in the Library at that time should be forgotten.

We have published a book of memoirs of those who worked in the Library during the war years, "Voice of the Past: State Order of Lenin Library of the USSR named after V.I. Lenin during the Great Patriotic War" (Moscow, 1991). It was the first time. The voice of a living person resounded, bringing us closer to those days. The book evoked a response from the scientific community. But the main thing is that she found her reader among the librarians of today. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Victory, the "Book of Memory of the Russian State Library" was published (Moscow, 1995), which contains all the information available to us today about those who worked in the Library during the war years.

Today, new documents and new eyewitness accounts have been introduced into scientific circulation. The history of the Library rightfully includes a man. The result of the research work is that 175 employees who left the Library for the front were identified, of which 44 died or went missing. The names of all these 175 employees are on the Memorial plaque installed in the Library in the year of the 50th anniversary of the Victory. Articles are published about those who worked in the Library during the war years. One of the articles is titled human face Victory". It is fundamentally.

Work on the history of the Library during the war years continues. As we remember Nikolai Petrovich Rumyantsev's civil feat in the name of the Fatherland and culture, the feat of the heroes of 1812, so we must not forget the feat of librarians during the Great Patriotic War.

The most important activities of the RSL in the postwar years were: the development of a new building, technical equipment (conveyor, electric train, belt conveyor, etc.), organization of new forms of document storage and service (microfilming, photocopying), functional activities: acquisition, processing, organization and storage of funds, formation of a reference and search apparatus, user service. Receives a certain development of scientific - methodological and scientific work.

Construction and development of the new building stretched for a long time. The Library management is taking a number of measures to intensify this process.
1950 - March 28, director of the GBL V.G. Olishev addressed a letter to the Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR K.E. Voroshilov with a request to assist in accelerating the construction of new GBL buildings (RSL archive, op. 220, d. 2, l. 14-17).
1950 - On October 9, the director sent a letter to the secretary of the Central Committee and the Moscow Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, N.S. Khrushchev, in which he asked for help in activating the completion of the construction of new GBL buildings.
1951 - On March 28, V.G. Olishev addressed the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR I.V. Stalin with a written request for help in completing the protracted construction of new GBL buildings (RSL archive, op. 221, d. 2, l. 16) .
1951 - On April 26, I.V. Stalin signed the decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR “On the completion of the construction of the State Library of the USSR. V.I. Lenin, in which the deadline for completion of construction work was 1953 (archive of the Russian State Library, op. 221, d.2, l.27 - 30).
1952 - On March 15, the director of the GBL, V.G. Olishev, sent a letter to the secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, G.M. op.222, d.1, l.5)
1954 - building "G" of the GBL was mastered, 1957 - building "A".
1958-1960 - building "B" was mastered.

During these years, a number of status changes take place.
1952 - On December 30, the Committee for Cultural and Educational Institutions under the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR approved the new “Charter of the State Order of V.I. V.I. Lenin” (GA RF, f.F-534, op.1, d.215, l. 35-40).
1953 - in April, in connection with the formation of the Ministry of Culture of the RSFSR and the dissolution of the Committee for Cultural and Educational Institutions under the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR, the GBL was transferred from the jurisdiction of the Committee for Cultural and Educational Institutions under the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR to the Ministry of Culture of the RSFSR.

Significant undertakings during this period are connected with the preparation of a consolidated catalogue, the development of the Soviet classification, which had not only scientific, technological, but also ideological significance, the rules of bibliographic description.
1946 - the question of creating a consolidated catalog of Russian books is raised. In 1947, the “Regulations on the Consolidated Catalog of the Russian Books of the Largest Libraries of the USSR” and the “Work Plan for Compiling this Catalog” were approved, a methodological council was created at the GBL from representatives of the GPB, BAN, VKP and GBL, a sector of consolidated catalogs was organized within the GBL processing department, work began on preparing the base for a consolidated catalog of Russian books of the 19th century. In 1955, a consolidated catalog of Russian books 1708 - January -1825 was published. In 1962-1967 a consolidated catalog of Russian books of the civil press of the 16th century was published. in 5 t.
1952 - unified rules for describing musical publications were published.
1955 - the Cartography Sector began to issue and distribute a printed card for maps and atlases arriving at the Library in a legally binding copy.
1959 - by order of the Ministry of Culture of the RSFSR, an editorial board was formed to publish LBC tables. During 1960 -1968. 25 issues (in 30 books) of the first edition of LBC tables for scientific libraries were published. In 1965, the Board of the Ministry of Culture of the USSR adopted a resolution on the introduction of the first edition of the LBC into the practice of libraries, and in 1956 the First All-Union Seminar on the study of the LBC was held in Moscow. The Library began to systematize new acquisitions from the LBC and organized the second row of the catalog.

The post-war years are characterized by the growth of funds, their wide availability, which was expressed in the duration of the work of reading rooms, the possibility of using the Library to readers of different ages and social status. There was a system of reading rooms in the new premises. The library has intensified mass educational work. Technical means, new for that time, are being introduced into user service. During these years, a base for microfilming of documents was prepared, experimental microfilming was carried out.
1947 - a 50-meter vertical conveyor for transporting books was put into operation, an electric train and a belt conveyor were launched to deliver requirements from the reading rooms to the book depository.
1946 - On April 18, the first reader's conference in the history of the Library took place in the conference hall (Izvestia. 1946. April 19, p. 1)
1947 - Photocopy service for readers started.
1947 - a small room was organized for reading microfilms, equipped with two Soviet and one American apparatus.
1955 - renewal in GBL of the international subscription
1957 - 1958 - opening of reading rooms No. 1,2,3,4 in new premises.
1959-1960 - a system of branch reading rooms was formed, auxiliary funds of scientific halls were transferred to an open access system. In the mid 1960s. The Library had 22 reading rooms for 2330 seats.

Of great importance for the development of the Library as a scientific center in the field of library science and bibliography were its periodicals and ongoing publications.
1952 - Bulletin Scientific Libraries of the USSR. Experience of work”, transformed into a collection “Libraries of the USSR. Experience”, since 1953 - “Soviet library science”.
1957 - the publication of Proceedings of the State Library of the USSR. V.I. Lenin.
During this period, the directors of the Library were: until 1953 - V.G. Olishev, 1953-1959. - P.M. Bogachev.

During this period, the status of the Library as a national book depository was strengthened. The GBL is entrusted with the function of a nationwide coordinating center for interlibrary loan (Regulations on Interlibrary Loan, 1969). The library has become a center of international library cooperation.
1964 - The library was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Culture of the USSR (previously it was of republican subordination).
1973 - On February 6, according to the order of the Minister of Culture of the USSR No. 72, a new charter of the GBL was approved.
1973 - GBL was awarded the highest award in Bulgaria - the Order of Georgy Dimitrov.
1975 (February) - celebration of the 50th anniversary of the transformation of the Rumyantsev Public Library into the State Library of the USSR. V.I. Lenin.
1991 - The Library is one of the main organizers of the 57th IFLA session in Moscow.

In connection with the creation in the late 1950s - 1960s. of the national system of scientific and technical information (NTI), differentiation and coordination of the activities of libraries, “the place of the GBL in the NTI system was determined by two factors: the need for universal bibliographic information, due to the integrative nature of the development of modern knowledge, the need to create within the framework of the national system of scientific and technical information sectoral subsystem for culture and art "(State Library of the USSR named after V.I. Lenin in the system of libraries". M .: 1989. P 8). GBL remained the largest universal scientific library and at the same time became an industry information center.
The sectoral subsystem of information on culture and art organizationally began to take shape with the creation in the GBL in 1972 (August 28) of the Information Center on the Problems of Culture and Art (Informkultura), which began to form a fund of unpublished documents. In the mid 1980s. The information center has been transformed into a research department for analyzing and summarizing information on problems of culture and art (NIO Informkultura), since 2001 (April) - Research Center for Culture and Art (NITs INFORMKULTURA). During the period under review, Informkultura created a network of subsystems in the regional (territorial) and republican libraries of the USSR.
In connection with the coordination of the activities of the GBL with other libraries, it limits the flow of readers only to scientists and practitioners. The scope of services for party and government institutions has been expanded. At the same time, services for children and youth were discontinued in connection with the organization of special libraries. The following events have occurred in the service area.
1960s (beginning) - the opening of the reading room of the music and music department for 12 seats took place, in 1962 listening to sound recordings was organized in it (3 reading places with headphones), in 1969, after moving to building "K", a reading room for 25 seats was allocated and a room for listening to sound recordings for 8 people, a room with a piano for playing musical works.
1969 - the "Regulations on a unified nationwide system of interlibrary loan in the USSR" was adopted, according to which the GBL was assigned the functions of a nationwide coordination center.
1970 - opening of the dissertation hall in October.
1970s - the leading direction of the information activity of the Library was the service of the governing bodies of the state. In 1971-1972. in the reference and bibliographic department, an experimental introduction of a system of selective dissemination of information (SDI) was carried out. In 1972, an expert commission was formed under the directorate of the GBL to organize priority services.
1974 - a new procedure for enrolling in reading rooms was established in the GBL, limiting the influx of readers to the status of a research worker, a specialist - a practitioner with a higher education.
1975 - the common reading room is closed
1975 - A point for receiving orders for copying was organized in the GBL.
1975 - a reading room for 202 seats was opened in Khimki.
1978 - a permanent exhibition of author's abstracts of doctoral dissertations was organized in the pre-defense period.
1979 - Department "Informkultura" provided a new type of service - the deposit of manuscripts.
Mid 1980s - there were commercial exhibitions.
1983 - opened permanent exhibition Book Museum
"History of the book and book business X1 - early XX centuries."
1984 - the University of Library and Bibliographic Knowledge was established in the Library.
1987 - The service department conducts an experiment on temporary registration without restrictions for everyone who wants to visit the Library in the summer.
1987 - "Regulations on the bibliographic work of libraries in the USSR" was adopted.
1990s - the number of requests for legal, economic and historical literature is growing.
1990 - paid services were put into practice.
1990 - relations were canceled - applications from the place of work, presented when enrolling in the Library, enrollment of students was expanded.

In connection with the solution of new tasks for the organization and storage of funds, including on new media, servicing readers, scientific, methodological, research problems, the number of departments increased by almost one and a half times (musical music, technology departments, departments of cartography, art publications were created). , exhibition work, Literature of the Russian Diaspora, Hall of Dissertations, Research Department of Library and Bibliographic Classifications, Museum of the Library, etc.).
1969 - the storage department began (completed in 1973) work on compiling a perforated card index for the newspaper fund.
1975 - for the purpose of safety, the music department began recording on magnetic tape the single copy of musical works received from Germany, Sweden, the USA in the library. We started processing part of the reserve fund, which came in the 1920s.
1976 - the recatalogue of the consolidated catalog of Russian books was completed, which lasted 30 years.
1980-1983 - published LBC tables for regional libraries in four volumes with digital indexing.
1981 - LBC tables were awarded the State Prize and 8 GBL specialists were awarded the USSR State Prize in the field of science and technology for the development and implementation of the LBC.
1983 - VNTIC began to transfer to the GBL the second copies of microcopies of dissertations defended since 1969. In 1984, the GBL held a scientific and practical conference of Moscow libraries working with the dissertation fund.
1984 - The All-Union Conference on the Problems of Systematization and Systematic Catalogues, organized by the GBL, was held.
1987 - the Interdepartmental Commission, headed by the Glavlit of the USSR, began its work on reviewing publications and rearranging them in "open" funds.
1988 - CSB became the custodian of the Library's only copy of state bibliography publications in the languages ​​of the peoples of the USSR, accepted for storage information materials on microcarriers (microfiches) and organized their use in the reading room.
1989 - the alphabetical and systematic catalogs of articles were liquidated and the conservation of the subject catalog was carried out.
In the 1990s work began on the study of the restitution fund.

During this period, significant technical and technological changes took place in the Library, it began to introduce electronic computers and other technical means.
1970s - in the Department of Cartography, the development of an automated information retrieval system for cartographic publications began; the development of a draft model of the bibliographic record format and a system for coding musical publications for computers began.
1972 - trial operation of the first subsystems of AIBS GBL on the Minsk-22 computer began.
1974 - Cartridge pneumomail was organized.
1981 - experimental operation of the subsystem for the production of printed publications on a computer using a phototypesetter was carried out, on this basis the annual release of a consolidated catalog of new foreign maps and atlases received by the libraries of the USSR begins.
1986 - registration files are converted to microfiche and stored in the service department.
1986 - SBO experimentally implemented the introduction of an automated bibliographic search system into practice.
1989 - The Library entered into an agreement with NPK "Modem" in order to organize teleaccess to the databases of VINITI, GPNTB, INION via a dial-up communication channel using a PC "Robotron".
1990s - The library, together with the firms "Adamant", "ProSoft - M" is developing projects for scanning catalogs and publications. New receipts are processed on the basis of the MEKA system.
1990 - Readers were served in an automated mode using the Science Citation Index (SCI) bibliographic database based on optical CDs. During this period, the directors were: I.P. Kondakov (1959 - 1969), O.S. Chubaryan (1969-1972), N.M. Sikorsky (1972-1979), N.S. Kartashov (1979-1990), A.P.Volik (1990-1992).

In the 1990s In connection with the socio-economic and political changes in the country, the Library is undergoing significant qualitative changes, both in terms of status and organization, and technical and technological. It became the Russian State Library and lost functions related to coordinating the activities of the libraries of the Union republics (in this regard, for example, in 1995 archiving of publications from the CIS countries was discontinued). Its ties began to strengthen and coordination of activities with the National Library of Russia began to develop. In the first half of the 1990s. The library is experiencing financial difficulties hindering its development. However, in the second half of the 1990s The library enters the path of informatization. In accordance with the new information needs, a department of official publications, a center for literature in the languages ​​of the East, etc. are being created. International relations are expanding.
1992 - Based on the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Federation of 2 August. No. 740 State Library of the USSR. V.I. Lenina was transformed into the Russian State Library.
1993 - The department of art publications became one of the founders of the Moscow Association of Art Libraries (MABIS).
1995 - The library starts the project " Cultural heritage Russia" ("Memory of Russia").
1996 - The Strategy for the Modernization of the Russian State Library was approved.
2000 (September 13) - The Russian Ministry of Culture approved the "National Program for the Preservation of Library Collections of the Russian Federation"
2001 (March 3) - the new Charter of the RSL was approved. The introduction of new information carriers, information technologies changes technological processes.

1993 - the old part of the General Systematic Catalog was transferred to microcarriers.
1993 - a database is created for the Russian poster.
1994 - 1995 - The RSL stops compiling domestic patents on paper, by agreement with the VPTB receives a mandatory electronic version of this type of documents and provides users with a CD-ROM version of patents.
1990s (second half) - the SD-ROM fund is created in the CSB.
1996 - an electronic catalog of dissertations is created
1998 - the beginning of the formation of an electronic catalog of current receipts of the RSL
1999 - A new fund of backup copies of microforms was opened in Nagatino.
1999 - Pioneer equipment for re-recording of musical recordings was purchased for the note-music department in order to ensure the safety of the phono fund.
2000 - the main stage of the TACIS pilot project was completed, the result of which was an electronic catalog operating in industrial mode.
2000 (July) - the main book depository was closed for reconstruction, connected, among other things, with the transition to new technologies.
2000-2001 - Prosoft-M has created graphic images of the union catalog in electronic form. More than 500 thousand bibliographic records in MARC-format have been translated into CD-ROM.

In the field of reader service, the changes are not only related to information technology, but also with the expansion of the composition of users.
1993 - after a 20-year break, the Library's reading rooms are again available to all citizens from the age of 18.
1993 - two reading rooms were merged - for readers in the field of natural and technical sciences.
1993 - a reading room for 48 seats was opened, called the general one. In 1994, the number of reading places in this hall became 208.
1994 - Informkultura provides users with a database on CDs.
1999 - the hall of the electronic catalog is organized.
2000 - new re-registration of readers.
2000 - the service department moves to a universal system of reading rooms, branch auxiliary funds are merged into a single Central auxiliary fund.
2000 (June) - lending of books from the main storage was stopped due to its reconstruction.
During this period, the directors were: I.S. Filippov (1992-1996), T.V. Ershova (1996), V.K. Egorov (1996 - 1998), since 1998 - V. AT. Fedorov.
Performers: M.Ya. Dvorkina, A.L. Divnogortsev, E.A.Popova (sector of the history of librarianship of the Scientific Research Institute of Library Science of the RSL).

I was contacted by the RSL and offered to make a report about our main library, of course, I happily agreed.

Within the walls of the Russian State Library there is a unique collection of domestic and foreign documents in 367 languages ​​of the world. There are specialized collections of maps, sheet music, sound recordings, rare books, dissertations, newspapers and other types of publications. The library grants the right to use its reading rooms to all citizens of Russia and other countries who have reached the age of 18. About 200 new readers sign up here every day. Almost 4 thousand people come to the RSL every day, and virtual reading rooms located in 80 cities of Russia and neighboring countries serve more than 8 thousand visitors daily.

Today is the first part of a big story about the Russian State Library. In it you will learn how to borrow a book from the library, look at the vaults and the secret underground passage to the Kremlin.

01. First you need to come to the metro station. "Library them. Lenin. It will never be renamed. Previously, the RSL (Russian State Library) was also called the “Library. Lenin. To get into the library you need to have a library card, it is made in the second entrance. With you in your hand: passport, student (if a student) and 100 rubles for a photo. We fill out the questionnaire, press the button "electronic queue". The ticket comes out. Take it in your hands - it's yours. Numbers are lit on the scoreboard above special small cabinets. Wait for yours and come in. There, a specially trained woman will take your questionnaire and take a picture. You need to immediately decide reading room where you will be given books. It is not very clear how to do this without seeing the halls. In 5 minutes the plastic card will be ready. It takes no more than 10 minutes to get a library card.

02. Login. The RSL is guarded by a special police regiment. Turnstiles are one of the latest innovations in the library, which, however, was ambiguously perceived by readers. Access is by barcode on the library card. It is impossible to pass with books, cameras and large bags, they need to be done in a storage room.

03.

04. If you already have a list of references - that is, you know exactly what books you need, feel free to step into the hall of the card catalog.

05.

06. The funds of Leninka contain more than 43 million items of storage. There are specialized collections of maps, notes, sound recordings, rare books, dissertations, newspapers and other types of publications.

07.

08. There are always consultants in the hall who will help you navigate through a huge amount of information.

09.

10.

11. After you have found the book you need in the catalog, you need to get a demand sheet from the consultant.

12. And rewrite all the information about the book into it.

13. For advanced readers, racks with the RSL electronic catalog have been installed. I honestly tried to take something from Pushkin...

14. I must have been too worried because I got a book about potatoes. By the way, since at present the process of transferring a paper catalog to an electronic form has not yet been completed, it does not have all the books, so many people are looking in the old fashioned way in a file cabinet.

16. Once every 15 minutes, a pneumatic mail operator comes for the sheets of demand.

17. The operator is hiding from prying eyes behind this cabinet.

18. And here is the pneumatic mail point itself. The system was installed in the library back in the 70s.

19. The sheet is folded, placed in the “cartridge” and sent to the storage tier where the book you ordered is located. For this, ciphers on cards are needed.

21. By the way, a demand sheet is not always put in the cartridge. It can be used to send cigarettes, a pen or a love note. Before the new year, employees like to send sweets.

22. This is how the scheme of the receiving-departure station looks like.

23. Pneumomail channels descend into the cellars of the library. By the way, this is a secret passage to the Kremlin, but they asked not to write about it.

24. This is a pneumatic mail repairman. Sometimes negligent employees try to pass prohibited items (for example, pens), the cartridge can open and then, in order to find and remove the handle, you have to allow pipes. Often the caps just fly off the cartridges, it is also problematic to get them.

25. In the early 90s, this miracle machine was installed. They say she can beat Kasparov at chess, but now she simply manages the entire pneumatic mail network in the RSL.

26.

27. So, while your request is being processed, which is about 2 hours, you can go have fun.

28.

29. For example, you can read periodicals - the RSL has all the magazines that are sold in print kiosks - including for the current month. You can do this in the reading room of periodicals.

30. Five visitors open the doors of the Library every minute.

31. According to the "Law on the legal deposit of documents, the Russian State Library is the place of storage of the legal deposit of all printed materials published in Russia.

32. There is also an excellent canteen in the RSL. Some come here just to drink tea in a warm comfortable environment. Tea costs 13 rubles, but boiling water is free, some "readers" use this. By the way, the smell in the dining room does not allow you to stay there for too long.

33. While you are drinking tea and absorbing the aromas of home cooking, your request is being processed in the book depository.

34. Overall length bookshelves The RSL is about 275 kilometers long.

35. The ceilings are very low, once there was a case when a worker received a concussion, she was taken to the hospital.

36. There is a story in the RSL that the ghost of Nikolai Rubakin lives in storage. At night, when the floors are locked and sealed with wax seals, the night watchmen hear someone walking, footsteps are clearly audible, doors open and close. Perhaps the fact is that in his will Rubakin indicated that he bequeathed his entire personal collection (which is 75,000 books) to the Lenin Library. They did so after his death. Only together with the books they brought an urn with his ashes and for some time it was kept here. Well, what is a personal collection - it's a part of the soul, pencil marks in the margins, folded pages and a lot of thoughts. Rubakin was buried in Moscow, but his ghost continues to roam the floors... perhaps turning pages, rearranging books...

37. Rubakin - the creator of bibliopsychology - the science of text perception. Author of the book "Psychology of the reader and the book." Developed the ideas of Emile Ennequin, author of Estopsychology. His ideas are widely used in psycholinguistics.

38. "Note" is received by storage workers, they take your book and send it to the reading room with the help of conveyors. There are two conveyors in the RSL: the vertical one was designed by Sukhanov in the 70s.

39. Large chain conveyor, put into operation in 1953.

40. “This is a metro construction, there are the same gears as on escalators in the subway.” Nevertheless, it is high time to replace the mechanism with a much more modern analogue. But, as the general director of the RSL explained, in order to introduce a new technical system, the conveyor must be stopped, and this threatens that the activity of the entire Library will actually be paralyzed. Only with the commissioning of a new building will it become possible to replace the conveyor.

41. There is also a small version of the chain conveyor. To store 41,315,500 copies, rooms with an area equal to 9 football fields, and there are 29,830 items in storage for every librarian.

42. In 1987, the fund of the Special Storage Department consisted of about 27,000 domestic books, 250,000 foreign books, 572,000 issues of foreign magazines, about 8,500 annual sets of foreign newspapers. These books and magazines could not be obtained by an ordinary reader.

43. Books from the repository are waiting for readers.

44. You can't take books home. For reading in the RSL there are 37 reading rooms for 2238 seats, of which 437 are computerized.

45.

46. ​​Reading room No. 3 is the largest, it is a kind of visiting card of the RSL, you can come into it with your laptop, there are dictionaries on the side shelves, for example, ancient Greek-Russian.

47. You can make a copy of a book, it costs 6 rubles per page, but you can’t take pictures. No one really explained to me the reason for the ban on photography, there was something incomprehensible about copyright, then about the fact that books deteriorate. It seems to me that a photocopier ruins books more than a camera, and if people are allowed to take pictures, for example, illustrations, they will be cut out less and pages will be torn out.

48. Indicators of one day:
- registration of new users (including new users of EDL virtual reading rooms) - 330 people.
- attendance of reading rooms - 4.2 thousand people.
- number of hits to the websites of the RSL - 8.2 thousand,
- issuance of documents from the funds of the RSL - 35.3 thousand copies.
- receipt of new documents - 1.8 thousand copies.

49. At the beginning of 2010, 2,140 people worked at the RSL, of which 1,228 were librarians.

50. Women make up about 83% of total number RGB staff. The average age of the Library staff is 48.6 years. The average size wages - 13,824 rubles.

51. Reading room of the electronic library.

52. Here you can use remote resources and databases to which the RSL is connected - for example, the Cambridge library, and the bases of the Springer publishing house - an electronic library of foreign scientific and business journals, the EAST-VIEW database. The subject of the search is publications on public and humanities. There is also access to electronic library RSL and archive of dissertations.

53. Reading room Internet and electronic documents. Here for 32 rubles per hour you can surf the Internet. There was also some kind of disgusting photo exhibition here. Incomprehensible photographs were hung from the ceiling so that they could not be seen from the covered with plastic sheets.

54. Hall of official documents, here you can read old newspaper files, codes of laws and all kinds of codes. Young people are interested in an extensive collection of UN documents (since 1946) and collections of acts, decisions, decisions of the International Court of Human Rights. GOSTs for "any occasion" are also presented here - there is even one for an "axe-cleaver". Free legal consultations are organized for anyone in the reading room of the OFN.

55.

57.

58. An old sports magazine, a lot of illustrations were cut out. If we take, for example, the Ogonyok magazine for 1958, we will see Beria's face painted over with ink. This is the work of the censors of the 1st department.

But in addition to the political there was also "popular censorship" - readers observed morality. And the RSL is one of the few libraries of the times " iron curtain where all issues of foreign magazines were received. There, of course, there was nothing of the kind, but diligent citizens lengthened their skirts and even glued the pages together so that no one would see examples of bourgeois life. More distinguishing feature readers of those years - they cut out advertisements from magazines.

59. Hall of rare books - this is where you can touch the most ancient copies from the RSL fund. "Study the materials of the fund (and only a small part of it is exhibited in the museum - 300 books), turn the pages of unique book monuments, maybe only a reader of the RSL, who has good reason for this. The fund contains over 100 publications - absolute rarities, about 30 books - the only copies in the world. Here are a few more examples of museum exhibits that you can work with in this reading room: "Don Quixote" by Cervantas (1616-1617), "Candide or Optimism" by Voltaire (1759), "Moabite Notebook" (1969), by the Tatar poet Musa Jalid, written by him in the fascist Maobit prison, "Arkhangelsk Gospel" (1092). Here are the first copies of the works of Pushkin and Shakespeare, books by the publishers Gutenberg, Fedorov, Badoni, Maurice. From the point of view of the history of Russian books will be interesting - Novikov, Suvorin, Marx, Sytin. Cyrillic books are widely represented."

60. Some of the books have been microfilmed. And, if the presence of the original source is not of paramount importance for the work (paper, ink, etc. are not important, but the content is valuable), it is the microfilm that will be issued in the reading room. The original is out of the question.

62. As it turned out, many book readers steal, and quite often. Particularly inventive cut out a valuable book from the cover, and insert another, close in volume, into it. Often pages are simply torn out or illustrations cut out. And although it is easy to identify a thief or a vandal, it is almost impossible to bring him to justice, for this you need at least 2 witnesses who saw how the book was spoiled.

64. Sometimes cards and documents are forgotten in books. Once in the 80s, a forgotten gold piece was found.

65. Pink Corridor" - one of the exhibition sites of the RSL.

66. Remains of old telephone boxes.

67. Meeting room of the RSL - here the fate of the library is decided - the directorate passes weekly, the course of development is determined, decisions are made.

68. The RSL is the fourth library in the world in terms of collections, the British Library is in first place - 150 million items against our 42.

69. From the windows of some reading rooms there are stunning views of the Kremlin.

70.

71.

72. From the upper floors of the book depository, good views also open up, unfortunately, while I was walking there, the weather turned bad.


Click on the photo to view in large size.

73. Families work in libraries, for example Serezina Olga Viktorovna, she has been working for 41 years, her mother has worked here for 40 years.

74. On the left, Natalya, her daughter, has been working here for 7 years)

75. And this is a policeman, he was extremely indignant that I photographed him, threatened to tear his head off. He urgently needs to be given a referral to the hall of official and regulatory documents so that he can read the laws. Otherwise, he spends all his free time talking on the phone with his wife.

76. Soon there will be a separate story about how books are scanned, restored and repaired.

77.

The library has two main websites - www.rsl.ru - where you can read about all the services and news - who came where, what exhibitions are held. And www.leninka.ru - the history of the RSL from the moment of its establishment is posted here

All photographs in this report belong tophoto agency "28-300" , for questions about the use of images, as well as photo shoots, write to e-mail [email protected]

Location Moscow Founded on July 1, 1828 Collection Items of the collection books, periodicals, sheet music, sound recordings, art publications, cartographic publications, electronic publications, scientific papers, documents, etc ... Wikipedia

- (RSL) in Moscow, National Library Russian Federation, the largest in the country. Founded in 1862 as part of the Rumyantsev Museum, since 1925 the State Library of the USSR. V. I. Lenin, since 1992 the modern name. In funds (1998) c. 39 million ... ... Russian history

- (RSL) in Moscow, the national library of the Russian Federation, the largest in the country. Founded in 1862 as part of the Rumyantsev Museum, since 1925 the State Library of the USSR named after V. I. Lenin, since 1992 the modern name. In funds (1998) about 39 million ... encyclopedic Dictionary

RSL (Vozdvizhenka street, 3), national library, research and scientific information centre Russian Federation in the field of library science, bibliography and book science. Founded in 1862 as part of the Rumyantsev Museum, in 1919 ... ... Moscow (encyclopedia)

Founded in 1862 as the first publ. b ka Moscow. Initial name Moscow Public Museum and Rumyantsev Museum. Located in the so-called. Pashkov house commemorated. architecture con. 18th century, built according to the project of V.I. Bazhenov. The basis of the book. fund and... Russian humanitarian encyclopedic dictionary

1. ABC of Psychology, London, 1981, (Code: ID K5 33/210). 2. Ackerknecht E. Kurze Geschichte der Psychiatrie, Stuttgart, 1985, (Code: 5:86 16/195 X). 3. Alexander F... Psychological Dictionary

Russian State Library- Russian State Library (RSL) ... Russian spelling dictionary

Russian State Library- (RGB) ... Spelling Dictionary of the Russian Language

Russian State Library (RSL)- The Moscow Public Library (now the Russian State Library, or RSL) was founded on July 1 (June 19, old style), 1862. The fund of the Russian State Library originates from the collection of Count Nikolai Rumyantsev ... ... Encyclopedia of newsmakers

Location ... Wikipedia

Books

• Russian National Library, . Imperial Library (1795-1810), Imperial Public library(1810-1917), State Public Library (1917-1925), State Public Library. M.E.…
• Russia and Russian emigration in memoirs and diaries. Annotated index of books, magazine and newspaper publications published abroad in 1917-1991. In 4 volumes. Volume 4. Part 1,. This index takes into account and describes those published abroad in Russian in 1917-1991. memoirs and diaries of three generations of Russian emigration, as well as memoirs…
• Russia and Russian emigration in memoirs and diaries. Annotated index of books, magazine and newspaper publications published abroad in 1917-1991. In 4 volumes. Volume 3, . This index takes into account those published abroad in Russian in 1917-1991. memoirs and diaries of three generations of Russian emigration, as well as memoirs of Soviet ...

The RSL also has an excellent canteen. Some come here just to drink tea in a warm comfortable environment. Tea costs 13 rubles, but boiling water is free, some "readers" use this. By the way, the smell in the dining room does not allow you to stay there for too long.

One day highlights:



- receipt of new documents - 1.8 thousand copies.

Title="(!LANG:Indicators of one day:
- registration of new users (including new users of EDL virtual reading rooms) - 330 people.
- attendance of reading rooms - 4.2 thousand people.
- number of hits to the websites of the RSL - 8.2 thousand,
- issuance of documents from the funds of the RSL - 35.3 thousand copies.
- receipt of new documents - 1.8 thousand copies.">!}

The hall of rare books - this is where you can touch the most ancient copies from the RSL fund. "To study the materials of the fund (and only a small part of it - 300 books is exhibited in the museum), to flip through the pages of unique book monuments, can only be read by the reader of the RSL, who has good reasons for this. The fund contains over 100 publications - absolute rarities, about 30 books - the only in the world of copies.Here are a few more examples of museum exhibits that you can work with in this reading room: "Don Quixote" by Cervantas (1616-1617), "Candide or Optimism" by Voltaire (1759), "Moabite Notebook" (1969), Tatar poet Musa Dzhalid, written by him in the fascist prison Maobit, "The Archangel Gospel" (1092). Here are the first copies of the works of Pushkin and Shakespeare, books by the publishers Gutenberg, Fedorov, Badoni, Maurice. From the point of view of the history of Russian books will be interesting - Novikov, Suvorin , Marx, Sytin. Cyrillic books are widely represented."

“The dead live here and the dumb speak” - this is the expression that is suitable for the Russian State Library ( ex name Lenin) - the largest library in Russia. Created on the basis of the library of the famous diplomat Rumyantsev in the past, it has a unique collection of domestic and foreign priceless documents, books, manuscripts, maps in many languages ​​of the world.

Let's take a short tour. In the first hall we can see filing cabinets, which are a kind of database for a collection of maps, notes and sound recordings of great composers and musicians (including broadcast with “ Leningrad Symphony” Shestakovich, first heard in 1941 in besieged Leningrad), rare handwritten books, as well as dissertations and newspapers.

Here, the polite library staff will always be happy to help you find the document you need. With the help of a modern electronic database, which is now beginning to “crowd out” filing cabinets, this process takes less than a minute. So, we found out which hall we need to go to, and we follow on.

The next “stop” will be the Rare Books Research Department, where there are archival cabinets that display the rarest handwritten books such as the Gospels of the times Kievan Rus, in the department of rare books - the first editions of the works of N. Copernicus, the archives of N.V. Gogol, A.S. Pushkin, A.P. Chekhov, A.A. Blok, L.N. Tolstoy (the one with whom he worked on War and Peace), etc.

This department is regularly visited by future candidates and doctors of historical, psychological, humanitarian and other sciences when they are working on dissertations.

In the fund of newspapers, located nearby, we can see battered accounting cabinets, in which files of newspapers and magazines known in the past are stored: “Russkaya Pravda”, “Russian Disabled”, “ TVNZ" etc. We particularly took a closer look at the May 10, 1945 issue of Pravda with portraits of Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill on the main page.

The main fund of the library, the so-called. “main reading room”, has more than 35 million books and magazines. It is a key repository of documentary funds. The fund is formed on the basis of the collection principle.

Of particular value are private book collections of famous historical characters. Among the most significant are the collections of Rumyantsev, Veltman, Sheremetyev, Chaadaev, Norov, empresses Alexandra Feodorovna and Catherine II (the complete works of Diderot and Voltaire, with whom the empress was personally acquainted).

Employees of this department told us that in the dashing 90s, not only ours, but also foreign collectors repeatedly tried to buy them for fabulous money. Unfortunately, some part of this fund was stolen after the collapse of the USSR and since then nothing is known about these lost books.

For almost 200 years of history, the Russian State Library has been awarded the Order of Lenin - the highest award of the USSR, as well as the medal "Symbol of Science"