Each library, like a person, has its own history, its own purpose, its own appearance. Our regional central library also has its own history.

It arose in the village. Ermakovsky in 1901 on the initiative of 25 founders, most of whom were peasants - Roman Beydin, Savva Panin, Vladimir Viktorov, Appolinary Gorelov and others. There were also representatives of the intelligentsia in this group - doctor Semyon Arkanov, teacher Innokenty Alanov, magistrate Vladimir Karpovich, forester Nikolai Pedashenko. There were also officials - excise overseer Alexei Makarevsky, peasant chief Mikhail Shiryaev and other persons.

In March 1901, they petitioned for permission to open a free library. They had to support it themselves. Permission was obtained, and the library opened its doors to rural readers. Before finding a separate room, she lived in the house of the peasant Alexei Zimmerman. Its first stewards for four years were, in turn, the doctor Arkanov, the peasant chief Kokoulin, the teacher Borovykh, and the magistrate Kurkutov. The library had its own charter. In the archival file telling about the opening of this library, there is a small booklet of eight pages. This is the “Charter of the free library-reading room in the village of Ermakovsky, Minusinsk district of the Yenisei province,” printed in 1902 at the Yenisei provincial printing house. It is clear from the charter that the library was a completely amateur organization; all residents of the village could use books. However, the management of the affairs of the library-reading room belonged to the meeting of its members, and anyone who contributed 15 rubles at a time and pledged to contribute at least one ruble annually could be a member of the library. Alas, not everyone could become one!

When studying archival documents, many interesting facts related to the history of our library are revealed. At that time, it was the first and only library in the entire Ermakovsky volost. Many facts testify to the plight of librarianship, which was characteristic of all of Russia at that time. The library's funds were replenished through donations from citizens, charitable events, and lotteries. The book fund at that time numbered up to 400 books, there were 28 readers.

On August 16, 1920, the Ermakovsky Library received the status of a regional library. At the same time, a reading hut was opened in the village, the duties of the hut were performed by the head of the library. A little later, reading huts were opened in Shushenskoye, Subbotino, Kaptyrev, Grigorievka. And in 1927 - in Zheblakhty and N-Suetuk. In these same settlements, mobile libraries were organized from the regional library, they were collective subscriptions. This allowed the district library to use its entire book collection without violating its interests. This was prescribed in the “Basis for the establishment of district libraries”: “... district libraries serve each settlement of the county, the population of which assumes the obligation to comply with the terms of the agreement.” Books, usually 20-40 volumes, were returned to the library upon expiration of the contract. When setting the deadline for the return of books in the contract, the geographical location of the village, the lack of roads and the distance from the library were taken into account. Responsibility for the return of books rested with the village executive committees, since it was almost impossible to find a person in the village who could keep the books in order.

In the 20s, the head of the library was Konstantin Illarionovich Kiselev, a non-party poor man with a 2-year school education, who had worked as a clerk since 1912. Since June 1923, he was elected by the general meeting as chairman of the People's House in the village. Ermakovsky. (fond 120, inventory 2, file 78).

In 1922, the contents of the library were transferred to the local supply of the volost. The volost refused to maintain the library, and at the meeting it was decided to maintain the library on a voluntary basis. The head of the library worked without salary. The plight of the library is also indicated by the following fact found in archival documents: “Persons who do not return a book on time (and the deadline is 7 days from the date of receipt) pay a fine for each overdue day of one log of firewood or half a pound of wheat flour,” ( fund 120, inventory 1, file 97). Books were also issued on bail, and if the book was damaged or lost, the deposit remained as library income. The maintenance of the library on a voluntary basis and the work of the librarian without salary naturally affected the state of the library's work. In September 1925, a district political education was organized in the village of Ermakovsky, the first chairman of which was P. Seleznev. Representatives from all institutions and organizations were included in it: from the district committee of the RCP (b), from the RIC, from the district committee of the Komsomol, from cooperation, from teachers, from the labor union, from delegates, from the People's Court, the district library. From the information letter of the regional political education office: “The library has so far shown very little of itself, the work consists of issuing books and managing mobile libraries. This is explained by the fact that the librarian is not interested in the main work (emphasized by the author) and, moreover, is very weak in his work, he is not popular among the population ". And already in December 1925, at a meeting of the regional political education department, it was decided: “Immediately establish library business, for which purpose create inventory books for registering literature and accounting for subscribers and issuing literature to them. Draw the attention of the head of the library to cultural and educational work among the peasant masses.” By the end of the 20s, Kuzmina was appointed head of the library. Unfortunately, apart from her last name, there is no other information about her in archival documents. At this time, the library received up to 100 copies per year. new books and subscribed to newspapers and magazines. The library, and all cultural and educational work was then assigned to the department of public education.

Three clubs are starting to work in the library: agricultural, drama and rural culture. We began to pay attention to reference work, especially in the summer. Information work was carried out through the legal bureau and the information desk.

In 1926, the district political education office again noted shortcomings in the library's work: "... there is no catalog, and therefore there is no accounting. The head of the library does not know the population's requests for books." A point-by-point program was developed to improve the work of the library. She looked like this:

1 . In the near future we will compile a complete catalog of books.

2. Keep an urgent record of the demand for literature by the population.

3. Take care of supplying the library with new literature.

4. Consider subscribing to newspapers and magazines.

5. Take care of book binding.

6. Establish accounting for the work of traveling libraries.

7. Pay attention to the organization of a loud reading circle"

As we see from this document, the tasks and needs of the library were formulated quite clearly and competently. Reporting to the population was also established once every two months (fund 215, inventory 1, case 22).

By 1929, data appeared in archival documents about the appointment of a librarian’s salary. And at that time it was 23 rubles. 40 kopecks By the beginning of the 30s, library science, although progress had been achieved in its development compared to the pre-revolutionary period, was still a backward area. The accounting of books belonging to the library was not established, and, apparently, there was no proper accounting of the books issued to readers, this is evidenced by the entry from the report “... 0 books disappeared unknown where, the manager does not know, which means there is no accounting.” And only in 1932-1933 a catalog was compiled for the entire book collection of the library, and reader registration and book distribution were established. As an experiment, the library introduced open access to books. But the experiment did not justify itself and it was closed down. There was no children's library at that time; children were served by the district library, which also included books for children. During these years, the library took an active part in eliminating illiteracy. At enterprises, on collective farms, in the reading huts of the region, loud readings of the works of M. Gorky, M. Sholokhov, A. Chekhov, A. Fadeev were held.

During the war years, the library occupied a very small room. Books lay on tables and chairs because there was nowhere to put shelves. The room accommodated only 10 people (in the house on Lenin Street, No. 6 3). It was difficult to work with readers and hold mass events in such conditions. Therefore, librarians went to collective farm cultural centers, organized book exhibitions, reading conferences, and held conversations about the heroic exploits of Soviet people on the war fronts. From the report of the library's work for 1941, we see that the library had 568 readers, of which 339 were students, the rest were workers, employees, and collective farmers. The district library served 8 mobile books, stocking them with agricultural, defense, political and fiction literature. “To replenish the library’s book stock, 13 thousand rubles were allocated, 152 rubles worth of newspapers and magazines were subscribed. There is a radio, a gramophone, chess, checkers and dominoes.” And here for the first time there is a mention of “there is a children's library.” But there was no separate children's library at that time.

In those years, children's branches were opened at regional libraries. Apparently, E. Glukhovchenko writes about this in the newspaper “On the Lenin Path” for 1941. During these years, special importance was attached to working with newspapers. Showcases with central and local newspapers and billboards with newspaper clippings were installed, introducing the population to events in the country and abroad, with the content of the most important reports of the Communist Party and government. Clippings were widely used in the compilation of library posters, thematic collections and albums, which were in great demand among the population. Based on newspaper material, political formations, conversations and loud readings were held. Handwritten “combat leaflets” and homemade books, which were compiled from novels, plays, stories published in newspapers, as well as works on military-patriotic themes, became widespread.

After the war, a regional cultural center was built, and the library received spacious premises in it. The structure of the library changed: a subscription and a reading room were created. A children's library has been allocated separately. Additional librarians were added to the library staff.

In the 50s and 60s, the work of libraries became increasingly politicized. Libraries became one of the links in the ideological work of the Communist Party, and librarians became active agitators and propagandists of Marxism-Leninism. Particular attention was then paid to the composition of the book fund. The book collection was repeatedly reviewed and cleansed of “harmful” literature; 70% of the book collection consisted of political literature.

During these same years, the network of libraries in the area expanded. On the basis of reading huts, state mass rural libraries began to open in every settlement of the region. The district library began to serve as a methodological center for them, provided instructional and methodological assistance, and served collective farms, state farms, and MTS with transport vehicles. Librarians of the district library with methodological checks and to provide practical assistance, where on foot, where on horseback, they reached rural libraries. We walked to Osinovka and Razyezzhee. Such “business trips” could not be done in one day, but the work required it and the return was there. The head of the library at that time was Ekaterina Ivanovna Tropinina; N. Ya. Fitina, L. K. Kolupaeva, M. P. Suntsova worked in the library in those years. And since 1964, Margarita Petrovna Suntsova headed the library and was the permanent director until 1977. And in 1977, another event of enormous importance occurred: the centralization of the district's libraries took place. 18 rural branches were created and the district library received central status. The library staff increased, a service department, a methodological and bibliographic department, and a book storage department were organized. Readers were given the opportunity to use the unified collection of the district's libraries using an intra-library subscription. Valentina Vlasovna Orlova was appointed the first director of the Ermakovsky centralized library system. Under her leadership, experience in a centralized library system was gained.

Over the course of 100 years, the library has had many librarians. Among them were random people, such as, for example, Margarita Petrovna Suntsova, Valentina Ivanovna Dobrosotskaya, Galina Mikhailovna Konovalova, Tatyana Ilyinichna Sazonova and others who devoted their entire working lives to working with the book.

An anniversary, as a rule, is a kind of summing up. The main activity of the central library today is to satisfy the intellectual, educational and spiritual needs of the population. Today the central library is: a cultural and social center for the promotion of books; significant book depository (more than 55 thousand books); center for methodological, local history, information and bibliographic work; subscription department, reading room, more than 3,000 readers; The central library is: serving readers of all categories, library services for pensioners and the disabled at home; These are non-stationary forms of work, paid services, the ability to order literature from the IB A, pre-order literature by phone. The Central Library hosts reading conferences, debates, literary and thematic evenings, presentations and premieres of books, information days, interest clubs, literary and musical shows, competitions and quizzes, cycles and decades of book exhibitions, thematic exhibitions and viewings. Today the central library is the only free center for supporting education and culture in the village.

Recently, due to the high cost of books and periodicals, people have been frequenting the library. There are days when up to 100 readers a day come to us. People are drawn not only to the book, but also to each other. For several years, the “Over a Cup of Tea” club has been operating at the central library; the topics of its meetings are very different: music, painting, literature, history.

Of course, today the library is not going through its best days. The material and technical base is very weak, but the issue of acquiring new literature is especially acute. And yet, we not only try to survive and prove that the library is necessary for society, but we also set ourselves tasks, the solution of which will allow us to build the work of the library so that it meets modern requirements. Among the immediate tasks is the computerization of the central library. We have developed and submitted applications for participation in the regional programs “Informatization of the cultural sector”, “Security of museum and library collections”, etc. Our applications have been accepted. So, in the near future we will begin computerizing the district's libraries, creating a local network, creating electronic catalogs with subsequent access to the Internet. A new chapter will begin in the history of the district central library.

The book is an amazing creation of people, and libraries are an integral part of the culture of every country. Sergeevich once correctly said that if book depositories are properly organized, then culture can really be revived, even if educational institutions disappear. But not all people understand what libraries are for.

The need for libraries

In ancient times, libraries were repositories of manuscripts, and after ancient times they were transformed into public centers that were supposed to popularize knowledge. Russia saw them for the first time somewhere in the 11th-12th centuries.

Nowadays, in this place you can find completely different books from the desired area for work, study and just pleasure. So why do we need libraries?

The main purpose of book depositories is to organize the collection, preservation, and social use of books and other printed publications. Initially, libraries were needed for self-study and knowledge acquisition. Absolutely everyone needs them: preschoolers, schoolchildren, students, pensioners and scientists.

Scientists have proven that the human brain can contain more information than in America. However, humanity has not yet learned to use all the capabilities of the brain, and therefore book depositories will not disappear and will be needed. Now everyone knows what libraries are for.

First libraries

Even in ancient times, so-called libraries were formed in Asia. A unique accumulation of clay tablets (2500 BC), which is called a primitive book depository, was found in Nippur. A little later, papyri were found in the pharaoh's pyramid.

In the fourth century BC. The first so-called open library of Greece was opened in Heracles. In the third century BC. founded Alexandria, which is deservedly considered a colossal center of ancient books. The library included astroobservatories, gardens of botany and zoology, rooms for living and reading books. And a little later it was turned into a museum, which was filled with stuffed animals, statues, supplies for medicine, and astronomy. It should be noted that such institutions were erected at sanctuaries. Are libraries necessary? In those days such a question was not asked. People skillfully recorded their knowledge in order to pass it on to future generations.

Valuable manuscripts

In the Middle Ages, workshops for copying manuscripts functioned in Russian monastic libraries. Church publications were often copied. The production of manuscripts was a very difficult and time-consuming process, and therefore the books were of the highest value. That is why they were chained in special vaults.

When publishing houses appeared, the life of libraries changed dramatically, because they ceased to act as archives. Book depositories began to grow very quickly. They became most relevant when the period of mass acquisition of literacy began. Whether we need libraries in the 21st century is difficult to answer. Many people prefer digital media, but without real books they wouldn't exist either.

Types of libraries

Libraries can be:

• national;
• regional;
• public;
• special;
• for the blind;
• university;
• school;
• family.

It is worth taking a closer look at why each type of library is needed.

National reading rooms are designed to preserve and guarantee unhindered access to printed publications published by the state. To replenish resources, some countries adhere to mandatory rules.

The regional library is a division of the above-mentioned institutions, which is needed for residents living far from cities. It is worth noting that such book depositories also have every right to receive a mandatory sample.

In public libraries, users have the right to familiarize themselves with the most current and popular literature. Are libraries necessary in the digital age? This question has been asked several times. But only thanks to libraries can the scientific and literary heritage of the whole world be preserved.

Special book depositories

Special libraries store publications for special purposes, such as patents, state standards or music editions. Often such reading rooms are created due to the need to preserve books in certain conditions.

The Library for the Blind allows blind and visually impaired readers to access information. Such establishments store audiobooks and books that are written in a special font. The State Library for the Blind is considered the largest in Russia, because in addition to books, it contains three-dimensional models, thanks to which the blind can familiarize themselves with the appearance of various objects.

Books are knowledge!

School and university libraries provide literature to schoolchildren and students. Their peculiarity is that they serve a narrow circle of users. However, you can find university reading rooms with free access. Do libraries have a future? This question was asked to modern students. The majority answered no - they prefer digital textbooks and audiobooks.

Not so long ago, a new revolution appeared in librarianship - a virtual library. Any user with access to the Internet has the opportunity to download any book from specialized sites. The younger generation leaves reviews in favor of electronic book depositories. But older people prefer “live” books.

Structuring of libraries

In book depositories, users have the opportunity to be served in two forms. In the first case, the reader purchases a subscription. Thanks to this pass, you can obtain the use of any publication for a specified period. Another form of service is the reading room: here the user can read the desired publications exclusively in the library.

An important characteristic of the reading room is the structure of the collection. Some of the publications that are the most relevant among readers are often freely available, where the visitor has the opportunity to immediately familiarize themselves with them. All other publications are stored in the repository, and the reader can obtain them by selecting from the catalogue.

Dilapidated rare editions, as well as those books that may contain important items, are issued exclusively with special permission.

You can also find mobile library units that facilitate access for people from remote areas to books, as well as the Internet. This form of service is used by people with disabilities, as well as residents of nursing homes.

Today, libraries have been modernized, and their collections include not only printed books, but also microfilms, transparencies, and documents on electronic media. No library can do without a computer anymore, and therefore it will be in demand not only by the older generation, but also by modern schoolchildren and students.

Now you know what libraries are for and that you cannot do without them.

Not many people know when the first library was opened.

It turns out that this happened a long time ago, back in the 25th century BC, and it was located in a Babylonian temple.

There may have been older storage facilities, but archaeologists have not yet found them.

The library of that time was a repository of clay tablets.

Where were the first libraries created?

There is a lot of evidence that people have always sought to preserve their experience and pass it on to future generations.

Depending on the era, humanity collected information on clay tablets, papyrus, and paper. It is believed that the first public library appeared in the 6th century BC in Ancient Greece.

In ancient times, it was customary to create libraries at churches, and in the Middle Ages - at monasteries. Then all the texts were written by hand, many of them were decorated with illustrations.

In libraries, to prevent theft, expensive copies were chained to shelves. At that time, libraries were also archives.

There were few literate people in those days, but the situation began to change with the advent of printing. Then libraries appeared in which collected works of both writing and printing were stored.

Libraries in Russia

The very first Russian library appeared thanks to Yaroslav the Wise in 1037. Then it was founded in Kyiv at the St. Sophia Cathedral.

Later, after the 16th century, libraries began to be created under departments. At the beginning of the 18th century, the first state scientific library was opened in Russia. After some time, it was transferred to the department of the Academy of Sciences.

Today, more than 50 thousand libraries are open in the Russian Federation. This list includes municipal, federal, and regional libraries. In addition, the country has more than 60 thousand libraries located in schools.

Libraries are also open on the territory of many factories, hospitals, museums, etc. No one knows exactly how many libraries exist and how many publications are stored in them.

Every library has people who help visitors quickly find the book they need. The work of librarians is not as simple as it might seem at first glance.

This profession can be called universal and multifaceted. Workers of “book houses” celebrate their professional holiday every year - All-Russian Library Day on May 27.

A book is an object that has accompanied humanity since ancient times. Therefore, it is no coincidence that people came up with storage for books. Our distant ancestors sought to preserve the wisdom accumulated over centuries and pass it on to us, our descendants. Modern man continues this tradition. Today we will talk about what a library is. What functions is it intended to perform? What's her story?

The word and its meaning

The very concept of “library” is a compound noun, and it is formed from two Greek words - “biblio”, which means “book”, and “theka”, that is, “storage”. Accordingly, the literal translation of the word “library” from the Hellenic language is “book depository”.

Indeed, today even a child will not have difficulty determining the meaning of the word “library”. What is a library and what is it for? This is an institution that houses printed and written collections of works intended for public use. There are similar book depositories in every city. They can be universal or include works of a specific focus. The classification of such institutions is presented below.

Libraries carry out work of a reference and bibliographic nature, namely: counting available book items, systematizing publications, helping the population in choosing the right materials, advising readers. Such organizations are an integral element of a developed state. After all, they reflect the people’s need for preservation and enhancement, accumulation of knowledge, intellectual and cultural development. This primarily concerns national literature, because it is predominantly represented in the libraries of each specific country.

The emergence of the very first libraries

Who and when came up with the idea of ​​creating such a treasury of human knowledge? Research by scientists indicates that this first happened in the Ancient East. Today the world knows who owned the most famous and extensive library - its creator was Ashurbanipal from Nineveh. It houses a collection of cuneiform tablets from the palace of the last king of Assyria.

The most famous library of the Antiquity period is the Alexandria library. It was founded at the beginning of the 3rd century. BC, and in the Hellenic world it was the center of culture, science and education. The holdings of the Alexandria Book Depository totaled about 750,000 scrolls!

Unfortunately, more than 1500 years ago it was destroyed. According to one version, this happened during the capture of Alexandria by the Ottoman Turks. At the beginning of the 21st century it was restored. Today, the Library of Alexandria is one of the key institutions of this kind in Egypt, located on the shores of the Mediterranean, all in the same Alexandria.

Medieval library

What is a library is clear. The answer to the question about its creator is also presented above. But it is necessary to say a few words about the Middle Ages. At this time, establishments that operated scriptoria or workshops where manuscripts were copied began to become popular. In this way, the number of copies of books was increased. After Johann Gutenberg created the technology of printing books in the 15th century, the need for scriptoria disappeared, and the number of libraries began to increase rapidly. New times brought another round in the history of the development of libraries: the widespread spread of literacy led to an increase in book lovers.

Types of libraries

So, if everything is clear about the questions of what a library is, what a book depository is, then the topic concerning the types of institutions of this kind remains unsolved. Currently, they are presented in a great variety: there are regional, national, special, public and educational (at schools, institutes and universities). Of course, in each of them the set of materials will be different.

Libraries for children

The children's library, which began to take shape in Russia since the 19th century, thanks to the work of bibliologist A.D. Toropov, who opened the first Moscow public institution with a collection of works for children at the end of the nineteenth century, currently includes three main components. Namely:

1. Adapted editions.
2. Works specially created for young readers.
3. Books that were originally intended for adults, but over time have firmly established themselves in the list of children's literature.

In the 20th century, children's libraries were separated from public ones, which was associated with increased attention to the need to study the child's soul, thoughts, feelings and emotions. The productive work of psychologists, writers and teachers of that period generated a large number of articles, notes, essays and various publications on the topic of child development and, as a result, led to an awareness of the need for library services for the younger generation. At the same time, children's book depositories were a qualitatively new phenomenon. By the early twenties, there was a school library in almost every educational institution.

Today, children's libraries have managed to get rid of such elements as the predominance of ideology over free choice, authoritarianism, manifested in the imposition of certain lists of literature on the population by employees. And yet new problems have arisen in place of old ones. Since 72% of families have income below the subsistence level, and 40% of families spend money only on food and household needs. In such a situation, the children have no opportunity for minimal cultural development. They can only dream of a family library (books passed down from generation to generation cannot be seen in every home today) and a collection of new, just purchased publications.

Today, children's libraries are trying to fight illiteracy and “restlessness,” providing a compensatory function and simultaneously playing the role of children’s clubs, interest clubs, and cinemas. However, it becomes more and more difficult for such institutions to act in the face of regular reductions in funding every year.

Electronic library: what is it?

A relatively new phenomenon for the book world is the concept of an electronic (or digital) library. This term does not have a universal, generally accepted scientific interpretation, but can be defined as a set of ordered collections of electronic heterogeneous documents, which, for user convenience, are equipped with search and navigation aids.

The advantage of using such libraries is that to use the materials stored in them, you do not need to leave the walls of your home: the required file can be downloaded to a computer or any other electronic medium, opened and read. Currently, electronic libraries are divided into 2 groups:

1. Free. For example, “Maxim Moshkov Library”, “Military Literature”, ImWerden and many others.
2. Commercial full-text databases. Namely: “Scientific Electronic Library”, “Integrum-Techno”, “Public Library” and so on.

The largest electronic scientific library

This honorary title belongs to the World Digital Library, the grand opening of which took place in April 2009. The founder of this project of truly global scale is the US Library of Congress. The project includes numerous treasures of culture, science and education from different countries of the world, including Russia. It contains archives and materials in seven languages. Today millions of people from all over the planet have access to this library.

The largest library in Russia

The Russian State Library, which in the past bore the name of Lenin, is not only the largest book depository in the country, but also the second largest in the world after the aforementioned Library of Congress. Created on the basis of the Rumyantsev Museum, the Russian State Library is located in Moscow, has 42 million items in its collections, and the total length of its bookshelves is 275 kilometers.

Institutions such as libraries appeared in antiquity. The first library found was the library at the temple in Nippur; it existed around 2500. It contained a huge collection of clay tablets.

The first libraries existed directly as repositories of books, but also as community centers whose main purpose was education. During the early Middle Ages, libraries were often founded at cathedrals and monasteries. In the XIII - XIV centuries. University culture is actively being formed, which subsequently had a significant impact on books and libraries in general. The monastic book was perceived as a treasury of spirituality and intellectuality; it became an instrument of knowledge.

The oldest library is known, which existed in the 18th - 17th centuries. BC. - This is a box of papyri. The oldest library is the library that existed in the palace of the king of Assyria around the 7th century. BC e. It contained a rich collection of tablets with cuneiform writing. These were mainly signs with legal information.

The Library of Alexandria, which had the status of a center of ancient literature and education, was created by Ptolemy, who founded it in the 3rd century. BC e. The Alexandria Book Depository was part of the museum complex. In addition to the library, it also included dining rooms, living rooms, zoological and botany gardens, rooms for reading books, and an observatory. Later, objects of medicine, astronomy, stuffed animals, as well as statues and busts used for teaching were added to the premises of the complex. The Temple had approximately 200,000 papyri, and the School had about 700 thousand documents. Alexandria book depositories in 270 AD. e. ceased to exist - they were destroyed.

At the monastery of St. Florian had approximately 30,000 editions of books. During the Middle Ages, such libraries at monasteries were centers of book learning. The works of the Church Fathers, sacred scriptures, and works of antiquity were copied here.

During the Age of Enlightenment, many libraries appeared at universities in cities such as Paris, Bologna, Padua, and Oxford. They contain a huge amount of literature on history, natural science, and art. In the 18th century, books became accessible and open to society.

During the Renaissance, many figures searched for Latin and Greek texts preserved in monasteries. The manuscripts were worth a lot of money, and in order to protect them, these books were tied to the shelves with chains.

The advent of printing had a significant impact on libraries. Library collections have expanded significantly.

In the 20th century, the public library became the most accessible and popular type of library. In the USSR, the priority task of the library was the promotion of books, regulation and formation of the interests of readers. For the people, the library has become an important cultural component of life, along with theaters and museums.

Currently, library collections number 130 million book titles.