The Journal “Librarian” as a Source on the History of Librarianship in Siberia and the Far East of the Pre-Revolutionary Period

The study of the history of librarianship is an urgent task of modern historical and library research. Its solution is possible if a large number of historical sources are identified and analysed. One of them is the pre-revolutionary journal “Librarian”, which differs from other periodicals of that time by its high informative content on the topic. Due to the lack of comprehensive studies of the “Librarian” journal as a historical source, this article for the first time considers this pre-revolutionary professional periodical as a source for studying the history of librarianship in Siberia and the Far East of the pre-revolutionary period. The purpose of this study is to identify and analyse the informative potential of the “Librarian” journal, which is useful for the reconstruction of the history of librarianship in Siberia and the Far East.

The methodological basis of the research is based on the principles of historicism, objectivity and consistency. The article uses the methods of source studies, comparative and content analysis.

The obtained results show that the journal “Librarian” is an important source for studying the history of librarianship in the Siberian-Far Eastern region. It contains numerous interesting facts about the libraries of the region, their structure and functioning, allows us to identify the sources of their financing and quantitative indicators of work, trace their dynamics, replenish the regional bibliography of special literature and restore the names of benefactors, Siberians and Far Easterners — members of the Society of Library Science.

This study fully reveals the informative potential of this periodical, expands the idea of periodicals as important historical sources for the study of the history of librarianship of the country as a whole and its various regions. It can be useful in conducting specific historical studies of librarianship of the country of the pre-revolutionary period.

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