The article presents information on the International Scientific Conference “Rumyantsev Readings”, held at the Russian State Library on 14-15 April, 2015. The conference theme of this year is «Book and Historical Memory. To the 70th Anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic war». The event was attended by about 300 experts from different regions of Russia and foreign countries. Within the frames of the conference there were held: Plenary Session, Five Workshops («Contribution of Library as Social and Cultural Institution in Preservation of the Historical Memory of the People. Academic and Historical Aspect», (Pre-sessional Meeting of the RLA Section № 31 on the Research Work), «Effective Management of Library: Problems and Solutions» (Pre-sessional Meeting of the RLA Section № 32 on Library Management and Marketing), «Manuscript Sources in Library Collections: to the Problem of Preservation and Research of Cultural and Historical Heritage», “Book Culture and Visual Arts”, “Collectors, Educators, Patrons”) and three Round Tables: “Book that Defeated the Enemy”, «The Russian Language in the CIS Space», «Problems of Terminology in the Contemporary Acquisitions». There was opened virtual and book-illustrative exhibition dedicated to the 70th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War.

“Rumyantsev Readings”, held at the Russian State Library (RSL) on 14—15 April, were devoted this year to the 70th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. Along with the Conference, in the RSL halls there was opened the book-illustrative exhibition “From Soldiers to Generals”, representing materials from the RSL collections, containing invaluable evidence of life during the war time: the memoirs of participants of the events, documents, monographs, published from 1941 through the present time.

The years of the Great Patriotic War demonstrated the most striking and rapid development of the domestic poster art. In that difficult time for the country the posters were created not only by the masters of graphics, but also by the masters of painting and sculptural art schools. In the severe conditions there were born masterpieces, without which it became impossible to imagine figuratively-historical outline of the war years. Along with the songs, front-line photographs and newsreels, the posters occupied its special place in the memory of participants of the tragic events and continue to excite the modern audiences, providing spiritual connection and affinity of generations.

Conservation of rare and valuable books in our country has a long tradition. Since 2001, work on identification and state recording of book monuments is one of the priority directions of State Cultural Policy of Russia. Functions of organizational and scientific-methodological center are being performed by the Russian State Library.By now there is created scientific-methodological and organizational basis of the system of state registration of book monuments. There are adopted legal rules governing the state registration of book monuments, however its implementation involves significant legal and organizational problems. For further development of system of state recording of book monuments and solution of the existing problems, at the Government support there is created the All-Russian Corpus of Book Monuments, there is continued scientific and applied research on its identification and description, implemented and improved the technology of automated record-keeping, there is executed training of personnel capable to implement system approach in work with book monuments.

There is characterized the identity of the contemporary Russian society. It is shown interrelation between the types of identity and types of libraries. There is made the conclusion on the necessity to study the problem of identity in the Russian Library and Information science.

The V All-Russian Research and Practical Conference «Library Stock in the Digital Age: Traditional and Electronic Resources, Acquisitions, Use» was held in St. Petersburg on 30 March - 4 April, 2015. Following the materials of Forum there was prepared an overview of the main trends of library acquisitions with electronic resources and providing services in the digital environment. There are discussed the most topical issues of the development of electronic libraries, development of e-library systems, trends of cooperation with the distributors of foreign information products.

The author presents the comparative analytical review of bibliometric studies of the domestic dissertations, defended in disciplines 05.25.03 - Library and Information science, Bibliography and Bibliology. There are revealed discrepancies in quantitative data and some contradictions in the findings of different authors on the periods of scientific activities. For the purpose of refining and updating information there was studied collection of dissertations on these disciplines for the period of 1986-2013, using such criteria of bibliometric analysis as a year of defending the thesis, academic degree for which dissertation was defended, content of dissertation (by the field of science specified in the passport of scientific discipline). There are determined periods of scientific activity in the formation of the collection of dissertations. On the basis of methods of mathematical statistics there is studied the uniformity of depositing thesis collection by annual flows.

The article substantiates the necessity of improving the technology of work with standards. There is analyzed the practice of implementation of standards in user service at the Russian State Library, there are identified common and specific factors influencing the service technology. Among the common factors there are highlighted, in particular, type of request, information carrier, degree of novelty of the document, type of collection organization. Specific factors are expressed by specific features of the standard. It is shown that the technology of service using standards is cause by presence of such specific features as uniform title and status. There is described the technology of implementation of a number of library services: provision of standard in a hard copy and in electronic form, as well as bibliographic, consulting and training, and exhibition services. There are proposed the ways to improve the technology customer service with implementation of standards towards further automation of operations.

The article is devoted to the publication of historical books in the Siberian region in 1941-1945. There is described the role of historical knowledge in the conditions of wartime. The author considers the basic directions of publication of the historical literature in Siberia during the Great Patriotic War. There is highlighted the demand for historical books among the Siberian readers.

There are considered the issues of necessity, possibility and intent to promote the reading, which is driven by the decrease of educational level of young people, by transition to a new model of learning and dissemination of screen reading. The practice of using screen reading, which became equal to “revolution” in the world of reading, is connected with two current theories of reading - factor and deictic.The new European project for additional training of subject teachers in the field of literacy strategies in reading the domain-specific texts is one of the ways of the improving the quality of reading and literacy of pupils of se-condary schools. The results of research performed by the members of the Reading Association of Russia, describe the modern readers of different ages with respect to their gender characteristics and readers’ preferences, including reading and screen reading, as well as present the visual metaphor «Readers’2013». The findings indicate the importance of using the screen reading to promote reading among youth, especially among students.

The study of reading preferences of Mikhail Sholokhov will allow to come closer to the understanding of personality of the writer. The theme of library, of literary interests of M. Sholokhov was not considered in the sufficient range by the researchers of his work. The article describes the library collected by M. Sholokhov; there are discussed a number of fragments from his letters and memoirs of contemporaries, indicating formation of the spiritual world of the writer, what place in his life was occupied by fiction, historical and philosophical books.Currently, the Museum-Reserve of M. Sholokhov is working on reconstruction of library of the writer, lost during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, which is going to become one of the most important exhibits of the Museum-Reserve.

N the basis of the archival materials and pre-revolutionary publications there is for the first time comprehensively studied the activities of the son of Emperor Paul I and Maria Feodorovna, Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich, being in the capacity of: General-Feldzeugmeister (1819-1849), Inspector General for Engineering (1825-1849), Director-General of Military Educational Institutions (1831-1849), where were laid the foundations of the centralized organization of the officer libraries in the Artillery, Corps of Engineers and in the Military Schools. Under Mikhail Pavlovich, as the Commander of the Guards Corps (1826-1849), the organized officer libraries in the Guards Corps have got its further development. There are presented and analyzed normative legal documents, having made the significant contribution to the history of military librarianship of the Russian Army. Some of them became the basis for the further development of “Statutes”, “Regulations” and “Instructions” of military libraries. There is given comparative characteristics and there are shown some organizational features of the artillery, engineers, combat engineer and regimental guard officer libraries, as well as book collections of the secondary military schools.

The article, devoted to the 70th anniversary of the Great Victory, includes description of some episodes from life and work activities of staff of the Lenin State Library of the USSR (hereinafter - GBL) during the period of the Great Patriotic War - in the years of severe trials. The activities of GBL during the wartime were diversified, and some of its trends are reflected in this publication, based on study of the archival documents.

The article provides information on the history and contemporary activities of the Department of Literature in Foreign Languages of the Book Palace - the Ulyanovsk Regional Scientific Library named after V. Lenin (DK - UONB). There is described the formation of stock collections, given the brief biographical information on several Heads of the Department, the staff and the readers. The is explained the necessity of creating the “Donator Index”. The is considered the composition of the Department Collection.

There are discussed the current issues of building the strategic priorities of Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries, in particular, Kazakhstan, interstate cooperation and cultural dialogue in the context of globalization.In the spotlight there is analysis of the presentations of experts and specialists at the open meeting of the International Round Table «Humanitarian and Socio-Economic Aspects of the Eurasian Cooperation», held on 1 April 2015 at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. Particular emphasis was made on the importance of considering the traditions in the development of new models of intercultural communication, in clarifying the priority trends of socio-economic integration, socio-cultural interaction and the development of educational systems of the CIS countries.

International Association of Bibliophiles (IAB), established in 1961 in Paris, brings together librarians, publishers, collectors of rare books, conservators, conservation specialists, bookbinders, businessmen, lawyers, and diplomats. The Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences (BAN) is the Member of the IAB since 1994. BAN became the organizer of the Colloquium in St. Petersburg. Meetings of bibliophiles are held annually in different countries. The article presents the activities of the Colloquium of bibliophiles in Cape town (South Africa) in 2002. There are described the exhibitions of books, manuscripts and documents from the collections of the Library of Center of Books in Cape town, the National Library of South Africa, Library of the University of Cape town, University of Stellenbosch, library of the English and South African Politician Cecil John Rhodes and private collections. Exhibition materials reflect the history of African book culture.

The article is devoted to the issues that are only beginning to be widely discussed among the professionals - what is the role of modern libraries in the urban development, whether the library can and should be the active element affecting the life of local communities, the development of the tourism industry, whether the investments are feasible in the development of the library system.Currently libraries start to be perceived everywhere not only as socially significant cultural and educational institution, but also as a significant agent of urban and regional development. In some cases, the appearance of the library, which is becoming «an icon of the city», is dramatically changing the way of life and the vector of economic development in the region. That’s why the attention of politicians and businessmen in the planning of large-scale urban facilities has increasingly switched to libraries. Numerous studies also confirm the growing popularity and interest to the library services and opportunities among various strata and social groups of population around the world. The libraries themselves and moreover the activities that occur around them, have a significant impact on the urban development - today it is the reality already proved by the analysis.

Review of the book «V. Odoevsky in the History of Book Culture in Russia». The author of the Monograph is E. Vishnevskaya, Deputy Head of the Department - Head of Sector of the Research Department of Manuscripts of the Russian State Library.

The article describes the events of the All-Russian Conference “Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The 175th Birth Anniversary”, conducted by the Department of Music Publications and Audio Records of the Russian State Library. There is presented the large-scale exhibition, combining unique materials on great Russian composer from different collections of the Russian State Library.