The article is devoted to the main themes and presentations of the participants of the All-Russian Scientific Practical Conference “Libraries and Reading”, which became the key event of the 5th All-Russian Forum of the Public Libraries (15-17 December, 2015, St. Petersburg). The Forum discussed projects of the “Year of Culture” and the “Year of Literature” developed in the public libraries of Russia, problems of “optimization” of library networks, trends of the modern stage of development of municipal libraries. There is published the final document (appeal) to the government authorities and to the library community of Russia.

The article is devoted to the results of the 3rd All-Russian Competition “Librarian of the Year - 2015”, held in the Year of Literature by the Russian Library Association and the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. In Competition there participated 184 employees of the municipal public libraries from 52 regions of Russia. The Co-chairs of the judging panel - Vladimir Firsov, President of the Russian Library Association, and E.N. Guseva, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Science - Head of Department of Libraries and Archives of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, - have summarized the results of the Competition and announced the Winner in December, 2015 at the official ceremony in the framework of the 5th All-Russian Forum of Public Libraries in St. Petersburg.

The article describes the Central City Business Library (CCBL) of Moscow, which seeks to form its specific holdings, initiating and picking up the latest trends in the library environment, using ICT. The library obtains support from the management of Moscow, initiates and participates in city competitions, encouraging readers-winners. The Library has gained credibility and trust of Moscovites.

The article analyses the evolution of library collections concept in the last twenty years. It is demonstrated that the electronic environment allowed libraries to provide users with many documents, both electronic and print, which don’t belong to libraries. They may be licensed from commercial providers, accessed on the Internet public domain and stored in other libraries. This situation forces libraries to rethink the concept of library collections step by step and introduces the new types of library collections, such as licensed collections and shared collections. New concepts and corresponding new terms are being included into the national and international library standards.

This article presents the main changes taken place, to the authors’ opinion, in the perception and practice of libraries'work on information support to specialists in the sphere of culture and art, such as: forms of participation, individual and group information sharing, creation of the resource base, mass work. In particular, the article notes increasing credibility of libraries as organizations, able to monitor the state of regional library sphere. Publishing has become an important integral part of libraries activity. Much more events of complex nature requiring high analytical skills are being held. One can highlight the main consumer groups of information and analytical products of libraries. They are: executive authority and research staff of cultural institutions and high schools. The article is based on the results of written and oral surveys of about 40 central libraries of the subjects of the Russian Federation, on the analysis of publications and libraries’ reports from the website “Central Libraries of the RF Subjects: Corporate Full-Text Database for Professionals” and from other Internet resources.

The article considers such notions as “Quality of Reading”, “Criterion”, “Sector-Based Literature”, “Motivation”, and “Efficiency”. There is described the system of criteria of reading of sector-based literature in accordance with the cluster principle, as well as their integration into the library and information services. The criteria of quality of reading are proved as ties of social and personal socialization of readers. There is outlined the possibility of transition of reading skills “from information to knowledge and to the methodology of acquisition of knowledge” in the context of reader’s socialization as strategy of life and education.

The article considers the activities of one of the largest and most prolific private publishers of children’s literature in the 1920s. Trying to revise a biased evaluation, rooted in bibliology of the Soviet period, the author analyzes the composition of writers and illustrators, collaborated with the publishing company of G.F. Mirimanov, the thematic diversity of published books, peculiarities of their art design and printing realization.

The review considers two new editions, connected by the theme of autographs, - “The Bibliophile Garland to Anna Akhmatova. To the 125th Birth Anniversary: the Autographs in the Collection of M. Seslavinsky” and “The Art of Autograph. Inscriptions of Writers and Artists in the Private Collections of Russian Bibliophiles”, published in 2014-2015. Description and identification of the autograph, its introduction into scientific use, as well as its study are relevant problems of today, as the accumulated handwritten material of this kind requires samples of cataloguing. The Russian collectors propose to comprehend such material accumulated in private collections, publish previously unknown autographs, manuscripts, epistolary heritage of Russian poets, writers and artists. Peer-reviewed publications are required in the work of experts - literary critics, art historians, book historians, culturologists, students of specialized educational institutions, and all the interested in the history of the Russian culture.

P.I. Jurgenson was the only publisher of spiritual music by P.I. Tchaikovsky. Generally, those works were published immediately after creation (except for the spiritual hymn “The Angel Cried”, released in 1906, when neither the composer nor the founder of the publishing company were no longer alive). The thorough study of the available copies of the spiritual music by Tchaikovsky in the collections of the Library of the Moscow Conservatory allowed to presume that Jurgenson (and after 1903 his heirs) regularly republished those works, because the demand was apparently incredibly high. The presence of different kinds of printing details and identification of individual visual differences in those publications have led to certain adjustments in attribution of separate musical editions, appeared during the period of almost 40 years (from 1880 up to 1917). The developed method of more accurate dating, tested on the materials of spiritual music by Tchaikovsky, is applicable to any other work by this author and, more broadly, by any other composer, who printed his opuses at Jurgenson.

The paper summarizes the results of the first phase of study of the possessory unique collection of books and printed music “Collection from the Library of the Irkutsk Musicologist Vladimir Fedorovich Sukhinenko”, stored in the holdings of the Sector of rare books and manuscripts of the Library of the Pedagogical Institute of Irkutsk State University. For the first time there is revealed the structure and content of the library of musicologist, and there is given the general description of its value. Special attention is paid to the lifetime editions of the printed music by P.I. Tchaikovsky in possessory binding. On the basis of bibliological analysis there was determined that the unique copy belonged to the representative of Irkutsk eminent dynasty, hereditary hono-rary citizen of Irkutsk the musician Ivan Apollonovich Belogolovyi.

The article presents the history of origin of bibliographic culture in Yakutia. There are considered origin, generation of bibliography as cultural phenomenon, factors contributing to the appearance of the first bibliographic indexes in the region. Special attention is paid to the variety of index subjects, cultural priorities and the most developed research trends.

The article covers the history of foundation of the Krasnoyarsk Regional Library - nowadays the State Universal Scientific Library of Krasnoyarsk Region, and its predecessor, the Yenisei Central Book Repository. There is provided information related to the construction of the library building, as well as presented brief biographies of the first Directors of the library. There are considered the main types of library activities of the institution in the pre-war years and during the Great Patriotic War.

Libraries throughout the world have a strong history of responding to natural disasters and humanitarian crises providing a welcoming environment, a place of refuge for body and soul, and a source of information. Members of IFLA’s Public Libraries Standing Committee and their colleagues have joined together to collect some examples and stories of the role public libraries are playing in the refugee crisis, particularly in Europe. The resulting document is not meant to be exhaustive but is more of a starting point for shared experience and inspiration and demonstrates the power of libraries to make a difference in people’s lives. Original text see at: Responding! Public Libraries and Refugees (http://www.ifla.org/files/assets/public-libraries/publications/library_service_to_refugees.pdf).

The article studied definitions and criteria of the formation of e-libraries as contemporary information resources. There is considered correlation of “е-library” and “electronic collection” concepts. There are analyzed websites of regional universal scientific libraries of Ukraine to identify and provide characteristics of the existing e-libraries and electronic collections of documents.

There was conducted sociological research and analysis of social and professional values of library professionals of Russia and Belarus. The role of special libraries in preservation and development of traditional national values and culture of Russia is described through the use of the “Code of Ethics of Russian Librarian”, interaction with the organizations of social welfare, social institutions and the opening of offices of multifunctional government services. There are highlighted the most topical groups of problems where special libraries can participate as effective partners, as well as prove the high public importance of librarian profession.

The review presents the assessment of the textbook “General Library Science” [1] from the standpoint of scientific character and didactics requirements: ensuring a high scientific level; meeting the conceptual unity; the validity of the selection of theoretical and factual material; intelligibility of presentation of materials for students; the level of visualization.

The work on identification and state registration of the book monuments is one of priority directions of the state cultural policy of Russia. Every year beginning with 2010 in the Russian state library there is held the All-Russian meeting on work with book monuments to discuss topical issues of revealing, recording and preserving the most valuable part of the national library holdings of the country. The meeting was attended by the heads and experts of the government authorities, federal and regional libraries and museums. The central theme of the meeting in 2015 was presentation of book monuments in the electronic environment as a way of organizing their accessibility to today’s readers and ensuring their preservation for future generations. A separate group of presentations was devoted to the development of the all-Russian Corpus of Book Monuments. Via video link the meeting was attended by the representatives of the National library of Belarus. The Republic of Belarus, next to Russia, proceeds to identification and state registration of book monuments.

“The Publishing Club” of the State Public Historical Library of Russia (SPHL of Russia) continues its work in the “A.F. Losev House” Library. At the meeting of January, 2016 there was discussed the theme “Archival Document as a Source of Information”, as well as the projects associated with the publication of archival documents and being of interest to readers. There is presented the project of the author and publisher T.A. Lobashkova “Papers of Konstantinovichs of the Romanov Dynasty”, which includes a series of 11 publications since 2013. The new books in the genre of family chronicle were issued by the publishing house “Gelios-ARV” (“Egorievsk Olden Time” by S.T. Slovutinskyi, “The Memoirs of I.S. Turgenev Fa-mily” by V.N. Zhitova) and by SPHL of Russia (Slovutinsky S.T., “General Izmailov and his Servants”). The publishing house “Minuvshee” prepared a valuable reference edition of the book by Tula researcher M.Y. Klepov “Officers - Knights of St. George of the First World War. Martyrology”, published in the “Russian Necropoleis” series.