Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky as a Librarian, Bibliographer and Document Historian

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.

1. Vernadsky V.I. Trudy po vseobshchei istorii nauki. 2-e izd [Works on World History of Science. The 2nd Edition]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1988, 334 p.

2. Likhtenshtein E.S. Unpublished Lectures by V.I. Vernadsky on Book Printing, Kniga. Issledovaniya i materialy [The Book. Researches and Materials]. Moscow, Kniga Publ., 1979, vol. 39, pp. 87—100 (in Russ.).

3. Glukhov A.G. A Book in the Life of V.I. Vernadsky, Sovetskoe Bibliotekovedenie [Soviet Journal of Library Science], 1988, no. 6, pp. 69—75 (in Russ.).

4. Vasiliev V.I., Ermolaeva M.A., Bakun D.N. Academician V.I. Vernadsky and Members of the Academy of Sciences in the System of Book Culture, Kniga. Issledovaniya i materialy [The Book. Researches and Materials]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 2013, vol. 99, pp. 142—147 (in Russ.).

5. Vasiliev V.I. Academician V.I. Vernadsky, a Celebrity of the Native Book Culture, Izvestiya vysshikh uchebnykh zavedenii. Problemy poligrafii i izdatel’skogo dela [News of Higher Educational Institutions. Problems of Printing and Publishing], 2013, no. 5, pp. 71—74 (in Russ.).

6. Zdobnov N.V. Istoriya russkoi bibliografii do nachala XX veka. 3-e izd. [History of Russian Bibliography to the Early 20th Century. The 3rd Edition]. Moscow, Gosudarstvennoe Izdatel’stvo Kul’turno-Prosvetitel’skoi Literatury, 1955, 607 p.

7. Aizenberg A.Ya. Publishing Activity of the Russian Progressive Intelligentsia in the Second Half of the 19th Century to Contribute Knowledge and Self-Education, Bibliotekovedenie: issledovaniya, istoriya i sovremennost’: sbornik nauchnykh trudov [Library Science: Research, History and Modernity: collected works]. Moscow, 1995, pp. 27—48 (in Russ.).

8. Lelikova N.K. Stanovlenie i razvitie knigovedcheskoi i bibliograficheskoi nauk v Rossii v XIX — pervoi treti XX veka [Formation and Development of Book and Bibliographic Science in Russia in the 19th — First Third of the 20th Century]. St. Petersburg, 2004, 415 p.

9. Mikheeva G.V. Istoriya russkoi bibliografii (fevral’ 1917—1921 gg.) [History of the Russian Bibliography (February 1917—1921)]. St. Petersburg, 2006, part 1, 559 p.

10. Spirova V.I. Spiritual World of V.I. Vernadsky: the Scientist and the Books (to the 150th Anniversary of Birth), Bibliotekovedenie [Russian Journal of Library Science], 2013, no. 6, pp. 68—75. DOI: 10.25281/0869-608X-2013-0-6-68-75 (in Russ.).

11. Sytnik K.M., Stoiko S.M., Apanovich E.M. V.I. Vernadskii: zhizn’ i deyatel’nost’ na Ukraine [V.I. Vernadsky: Life and Work in Ukraine]. Kiev, 1984, 235 p.

12. Lapo A.V., Yanshin A.N. (eds.) V.I. Vernadskii: pro et contra: antologiya literatury o V.I. Vernadskom za 100 let (1898—1998) [V.I. Vernadsky: Pro et Contra: Anthology of Literature about V.I. Vernadsky for 100 years (1898—1998)]. St. Petersburg, Izdatel’stvo Russkogo Khristianskogo Gumanitarnogo Instituta, 2000, 871 p.

13. Vernadsky V.I. Stranitsy avtobiografii V.I. Vernadskogo [Pages of V.I. Vernadsky’s Autobiography]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1981, 349 p.

14. Aksenov G.P. Vernadsky. Moscow, Soratnik Publ., 1994, 543 p. (in Russ.).

15. From the V.I Vernadsky’s Diaries, Priroda [Nature] 1967, no. 10, pp. 97—105 (in Russ.).

16. Galimzyanova E. What Ideas Occupied Vernadsky and His Friends in the Youth, Rodina [Homeland], 2016, no. 8 (816), pp. 104—107 (in Russ.).

17. Pankrushina A.M., Verkashinskaya V.S. V.I. Vernadsky’s Educational and Pedagogical Activity, Pedagogika [Pedagogy], 2001, no. 9, pp. 57—62 (in Russ.).

18. Vernadsky V.I. Pis’ma N.E. Vernadskoi, 1886—1889 [Letters of N.E. Vernadsky, 1886—1889]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1988, 303 p.

19. Bank B.V. Izuchenie chitatelei v Rossii (XIX v.) [The Study of Readers in Russia (The 19th Century)]. Moscow, Kniga Publ., 1969, 261 p.

20. Rubakin N.A. Book Impoverishment, Russkoe bogatstvo [Russian Wealth]. 1893, no. 11, pp. 132 (in Russ.).

21. Rubakin N.A. What Is a Good Book, Izbrannoe: v 2 t. [Selected Works: in 2 volumes]. Moscow, Kniga Publ., 1975, vol. 2, pp. 66—74 (in Russ.).

22. Rubakin N.A. What Is a Suitable Book? Izbrannoe: v 2 t. [Selected Works: in 2 volumes]. Moscow, Kniga Publ., 1975, vol. 2, pp. 74—93 (in Russ.).

23. Stolyarov Yu.N. Vernadsky and Rubakin: Identity of Bibliocultural Interests and Mentality, Nauchnye i tekhnicheskie biblioteki [Scientific and Technical Libraries], 2023, no. 3, pp. 136—165. DOI: 10.33186/1027-3689-2023-3-136-165 (in Russ.).

24. Stolyarov Yu.N. Strategic Calculation or Strategic Miscount? (V.I. Lenin about Libraries as Support Bases of Political and Cultural Education), Bibliotekovedenie [Russian Journal of Library Science], 2017, vol. 66, no. 2, pp. 127—133. DOI: 10.25281/0869-608X-2017-66-2-127-133 (in Russ.).

25. Yanzhul I.I. (ed.) Kniga o knigakh: tolkovyi ukazatel’ dlya vybora knig po vazhneishim otraslyam znanii [Book about Books: an Explanatory Index for Choosing Books on the Most Important Branches of Knowledge]. Moscow, 1892, part 1, 23 p., part 2, 23 p.

26. Programmy domashnego chteniya na 1894—95 god [Home Reading Programs for 1894—95]. Moscow, Tipografiya I.D. Sytina, 1894, 122 p.

27. Dikson K., Ketrits B. Sankt-Peterburgskii komitet gramotnosti (1861—1911): istoricheskii ocherk i vospominaniya [St. Petersburg Literacy Committee (1861—1911): Historical Essay and Memoirs]. St. Petersburg, 1911, 57 p.

28. Morachevskii A.G., Firsova E.G. Academician Vladimir Vernadsky: The Years of Hardship (February 1917 — February 1921), Nauchno-tekhnicheskie vedomosti SPBGU. Estestvennye i inzhenernye nauki [St. Petersburg State Polytechnical University Journal. Engineering Science and Technology], 2017, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 158—164. DOI: 10.18721/JEST.230316 (in Russ.).

29. Vernadsky V.I. About the Need to Create a Commission on the History of Science, Philosophy and Technology, Trudy po vseobshchei istorii nauki. 2-e izd. [Works on World History of Science. The 2nd Edition]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1988, pp. 266—268 (in Russ.).

30. Vernadsky V.I. Considerations on the Organization of Work on the History of Technology and Natural Science in the System of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Trudy po vseobshchei istorii nauki. 2-e izd. [Works on World History of Science. The 2nd Edition]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1988, pp. 272—273 (in Russ.).