The outstanding scientist-naturalist, philosopher, public figure and organizer of science V.I. Vernadsky (1863—1945) dealt with the issues of setting up librarianship in Russia. He was one of the founders of the circle on the reform of people’s libraries (1884), which included undergraduates and graduates of the Imperial St. Petersburg University, most of whom later became prominent scientific and public figures of the country. The participants of the circle considered it necessary to reform the people's libraries. V.I. Vernadsky was one of the compilers of Moscow home reading programs with bibliographic lists of recommended literature for self-educational study. He selected natural science literature for them. The lists were designed for people with secondary education who want to broaden their horizons to the level of university education. V.I. Vernadsky left his name in the history of the creation of the National Library of Ukraine: in 1918, he was chairman of the commission on its establishment; since 1988, this library deservedly bears his name. In the university course of lectures on the world history of science, V.I. Vernadsky devoted a significant place to the history of the origin of printing, the invention of geographical maps, atlases, compass, sextant, bussoli and other devices, which in terms of documentology are sources of information, i.e. documents. As a biographer and bibliographer, V.I. Vernadsky took part in the compilation of a unique 25-volume Russian biographical dictionary, the last volume of which was published in 1917. In the year of the 160th anniversary of the birth of Academician V.I. Vernadsky, these facts from his biography deserve the attention of the library and bibliographic community.