Social partnership is recognized as one of the strategic directions of the library activities. The article analyses the experience of professional cooperation of the Branch of the State public scientific-technological library of the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SPSTL SB RAS) with the organizations of different levels. The conducted research allowed to identify the main aspects of joint activities of the academic library with various institutions for the solution of practical problems. Classification of types of social partnership is proposed. It includes the following direcions: technology, content, organizational-methodological and socio-cultural. Technological aspect of partnership includes cooperation in the development and implementation of new software and hardware, tools and services, and technological processes in the library activities. Implementation of the content-type of cooperation is realized by combining the efforts of several organizations in the formation of information resources, websites and portals. The activities of the academic library for conducting information and training events for a particular audience can be attributed to organizational-methodological interaction. Social and cultural partnership includes the development of memorial libraries, thematic clubs and organization and conducting excursions. Each area of library interaction with individual organizations and institutions is supported by specific examples. The experience of the Branch of SPSTL SB RAS shows that by combining various types of social partnership the library achieves high results in its work.

There is presented interpretation of the concept of “New” in relation to library and information activities. “New” is considered in correlation with similar concepts: “Innovation”, “Novation” and “Novelty”. It is shown that the emergence of New is caused by changes that occur under the influence of affecting the library and its activities (as system and subsystem) factors of the external environment and logic of the internal development of these socio-cultural objects. There are specified the types of changes. There are given the examples of different variants of New in the main types of library and information activities: formation of library-information collection, reference system, analytical-synthetic processing of information, library and information services and management. New is significant for the included in these types of activities objects, processes and results, as well as for the organization of structure of library and library-information environment. New is manifested in the library and information activities as emergent; potentially inherent; coincidence of the result with the hidden pattern; regeneration of old meanings, return to the lost, forgotten; already been in other forms. There are considered contradiction and interrelation between the concepts of “New” and “Tradition”. Through the idea of the present and the future there is shown the relationship of the concepts of “New” and “Time”. Selection of characteristics of “New” in the library and information activities allows to draw attention to the necessity of a deeper study within the framework of library and information science and practice.

The article is devoted to the experience of using the scientometric system of the Russian Science Citation Index (RSCI) for recording and evaluating scientific publication activities of the National libraries of the Russian Federation whose statutes provide for the conduct of research work. The author examines many years’ experience of the foreign countries and Russia in the application of different systems of science citation indexes for the assessment of performance of the research activities of scientists and organizations. The features and capabilities of the most authoritative scientometric systems (Web of Science, Scopus, RSCI) are described. In this regard, there is raised the problem of the use of scientometric systems in Russia and bringing their data at the government level to monitor the activities of scientific institutions. The article provides the list of basic normative legal acts on the assessment and monitoring of the performance of research organizations, developed by the government authorities (including the Ministry of culture of the Russian Federation), in which the scientometric systems indicators are included as criteria for assessing the scientific potential of the institutions. There are analysed the advantages of RSCI as a system of scientometric recording of publications of Russian scientists (only 10% of them are covered by the foreign systems of Science Citation Indexes), as well as its capabilities for objective evaluation of the performance of organizations and determination of the dynamics of their scientific activities in comparison with all scientific and research-educational institutions of the Russian Federation and organizations in their reference groups. There are described the features of interaction of the National Library of Russia with RSCI, presented the main results of this cooperation and projected the future directions of its development.

Research and publishing activity is an essential part of functioning of the Russian State Library (RSL). Scientific activity of the Library includes three components: scientific-research, scientific-methodical and scientific-information activities, each of them results in the documents of certain types. Personnel scientific potential of the RSL is compound by the staff of four scientific departments, scientific workers from some other departments, as well as Doctors and Candidates of Sciences — professionals holding other positions. They publish books, articles in journals, as well as reports and papers in conference proceedings. RSL is one of the leading publishing centers in the field of librarianship. Currently there are published five periodicals; the publishing house “Pashkov Dom” publishes monographs, collected scientific papers and conference proceedings.

Creation of RSL bibliographic Indexes since the mid-2000s is one of the main activities of the Department of bibliography. The most complete is the updated electronic Index “Russian state library. Publications and electronic resources. Publications of employees”. Another specific form of bibliographing of the RSL publications and its employees is their reflection in the Russian Science Citation Index (RSCI) on the portal eLIBRARY.RU. RSCI is both a scientometric tool and bibliographic resource. RSL provides to RSCI the bibliographic descriptions of all materials published in the journals “Bibliotekovedenie” (Library and Information Science) and “Observatory of Culture”, and selectively adds and corrects the descriptions of the RSL publications and publications of its employees. 

Escalating competition in the information services market, the emergence of the effect of a shortage of users and simultaneous increase of their expectations put the libraries in front of the need to search for innovative approaches to servicing, which is manifested, in particular, in conducting structural and functional transformation of library services. The author considers the model of reference and bibliographic services using the example of work of the Reading Hall of Bibliographic Services of the Russian State Library. Its main characteristics are: complex servicing of readers with reference and bibliographic resources; expanding range of information services, the use of methods of personalization in service (customer-oriented). For many years, the reference and bibliographic service in the form of oral inquiries in the Russian State Library was developed on the basis of service differentiation — sector-specific and functional. The new model is based on a complementary and mutually enriching mixture of functional and sectoral areas of this type of activity. Important conditions for enhancing the effectiveness of reference and bibliographic services are the spatiotemporal concentration of services and combination of the resource elements. Universalization and personalization of services, creative approach of staff of the Reading Hall of Bibliographic Services to their work, sincere desire to help readers in their search for information yield positive results.

Books reflect the era events sometimes much deeper, than the periodical press, become the document of the era and gain value, regardless of the political preferences of the author. The article presents the review of the social and political books and brochures published by the printing enterprises in Saratov after the February events of 1917. Characteristic features of the genres of book editions published by the new authorities, parties and movements of the Saratov province are described. The book repertoire of the publishing houses of Saratov in the revolutionary 1917 considerably reflects the fierce fighting for minds that started in the society between the main political forces after abdication of the Tzar. For adherents of social democracy, it was important as soon as possible to mobilize “heavy artillery”, i. e. to print topical, “iconic” works of the authoritative leaders of Russian and European scale, whose proclivities were on the side of left-wing parties. The printing house “Svetlyi Put’ ” (The Light Way) publishes the brochure by the famous Russian writer V.G. Korolenko “Falling of the Imperial power: the speech to ordinary people about the events in Russia”. The Saratov branch of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) in the provincial lithographic printing orders the release of the article by F. Engels “From Utopia to Scientific Theory” in support of the socialist doctrine, and reissue of the famous work of G.V. Plekhanov “Annual World Holiday of the Workers” about the history and value of the May Day. There is given enumeration and characteristics of the other publications.

There are analysed the specific features of graphic design of the books by the famous writersatirist M. Zoshchenko, released in the 1920-ies; that period was especially fruitful in the works of the Master, and in the publishing fate of his works. There are considered in detail the original ways of graphic interpretation of the writer works, outlined in those years, but not received the further development. For example, depicting on the book cover not the characters themselves, but their habitats or the attributes of philistine life, styling the book design under pre-revolutionary cheap popular crude coloured woodcuts edition. On the example of the works of N.E. Radlov, B.I. Antonovsky, K.P. Rotov, A.A. Uspensky, K.S. Eliseev there are identified the advantages and disadvantages of a purely comical interpretation of the images by the satirists. The undoubted merit of the graphic artists is bright grotesque, convincing social character types drawn in the stories. However, almost none of the book designers and illustrators were able to convey plastically the stylistic originality of the works of M.M. Zoshchenko.

The article is devoted to the 75th birth anniversary of Valery Pavlovich Leonov, Scientific Supervisor of the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of pedagogical Sciences, Professor, and Honoured Worker of Culture of the Russian Federation. There are considered the main stages of his scientific biography, the main achievements in the field of library bibliography science and bibliology, as well as in administrative activities and educational work. V.P. Leonov was elected five times as the Director of the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences (in 1989, 1995, 2001, 2006 and 2011). Since 2016, he is Scientific Supervisor of the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences. V.P. Leonov is the author of over 550 scientific publications and leader of various international projects and programs.

21st October 2017 marks the 125th birth anniversary of Y.K. Terapiano (1892—1980) — Russian poet, novelist, literary critic and a spiritual seeker of the first wave of emigration, organizer and participant of a number of the Paris literary associations. On the basis of the analysis of materials of the electronic database “Books in Russian, published abroad, 1927—1991”, maintained by the Scientific Research Department of Bibliography of the Russian State Library, there is outlined the range of foreign Russian-language editions of the works of Terapiano. The article covers his works published in different countries as separate editions, in collections, anthologies, and miscellanies. It is important to collect and characterize foreign publications of the author, remaining the only source necessary for the study of his legacy, because the creative works of Terapiano still have not found the full understanding in the homeland: the collected works still do not exist, and the number of republications is extremely small.

The legacy of the artist A.A. Ivanov, especially his famous painting “Apparition of Christ to the people”, was one of the most valuable components of the Art gallery, which was part of the Rumyantsev Museum, and had held an important place in the exposition throughout the entire period of existence of the Museum. The collection of Russian and Western European paintings of the Rumyantsev Museum, same as the other departments, was formed mainly through donations and gifts that allowed the Museum to become one of the largest multidisciplinary cultural institutions in the country. The collection of paintings was originally placed in the Pashkov House; Ivanovsky Hall was firstly allocated in there in 1900. With the growth of the collections of the Museum, there arose the question on the necessity of construction of new premises to house the collections. In 1915, there was opened the building of the Art gallery of the Moscow Public and Rumyantsev Museum, designed by N.L. Shevyakov, and was the second one in Moscow after the State Tretyakov gallery, built especially for exhibiting paintings and art objects. This building was constructed as temporary location for the art gallery; and in future, after construction of the other buildings and transfer to them the departments of the Museum, it was planned to be used for exhibitions. Ivanovsky Hall did never occupied a separate building, but herewith it was playing a key role in the expanded exhibition, consisting of several hundred paintings. With the liquidation of the Moscow Public and Rumyantsev Museum in 1924, the building of the Art gallery was handed over to the exposition of the Museum of Book. However, the painting of A. Ivanov remained within its premises until 1932. Subsequently, because of the construction of new building for the V.I. Lenin State Library of the USSR, the Art gallery was demolished. In 2016 in a former building of the Art gallery there was opened the new Exhibition complex of the Russian State Library — the Ivanovsky Hall.

The article presents the brief history of creation of the Officer Shooting School as the most important shooting and methodical center of the Russian army, and normative and legal basis for it and its libraries. There are analyzed the provisions “About the Officer Shooting School”, regulating operations of the military school and its library, as well as the printed “Catalogue of the Library Books of the Officer Shooting School” of 1901, composed by Captain N.L. Yunakov, the Head of the Teaching Department. There are described the special features of the use of books and periodicals from the library and the reading room by the permanent staff and non-permanent personnel. There is characterized the department of books bequeathed in 1889 to the School by its former first Chief in 1881—1889 His Majesty Retinue Major-General V.A. Villamov. There are identified the works prepared by the teaching staff of the school and published in there.

In the last decade in society, the topic of new image of the “digital” generation is being actively discussed. In the USA there is widespread the Strauss—Howe generational theory, describing the images and the main factors that influence the formation of the values of generations. It is highlighted the importance of the children’s age, when values are formed under the influence of external events occurring in society, as well as the culture and traditions of upbringing in family. There are presented the results of sociological studies of the two recent “digital generations” of children and young people of the late twentieth — early twenty first century, conducted by the research centres in the United States on the basis of this theory.

In the work of the American librarian L. Farmer there are provided data on the information and educational technologies that the U.S. generations used in the last century. The researcher analysed how the changes in the educational and information technologies have influenced the work, mission and objectives of the American libraries. Today, special importance for the work of librarians and teachers has the understanding of specific features of the new generations — children, teenagers and young adults. 

The article is devoted to the Project Gutenberg (PG), the world’s oldest full-text digital library containing literature from the public domain. There are presented the main development stages, as well as ideological and organizational principles of the project, created by M. Hart in 1971. Special attention is paid to the specific features of this e-library, which is the oldest crowdfunding project based on cooperation with the international network of the “Distributed Proofreaders” and the creative potential of the Web 2.0 society. There is examined the cluster of PG affiliated projects in individual countries, developed with the participation of the volunteer community: PG Australia, PG Canada, PG Europa, PG Luxemburg, PG Russia (Rutenberg), etc. There are analysed the new models of social communication, on which is based the volunteer project for dissemination of free electronic copies of publicly available literature, and its place in the formation of the institutional infrastructure of the information society.

The main objective of the publication is to show the approach to addressing the issue of increasing the professional level of librarians in the context of implementation of new information and communication technologies (ICT) and development of the market of electronic products and services. It is noted that basic education does not fully meet the challenges of the emerging electronic library-information environment. Therefore, libraries are looking for their own approaches to improving professional level of employees and service environment. There is considered the experience of the Library for Natural Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences (LNS RAS), concentrated on seminars/workshops and practical training classes. The main attention is paid to the following areas: mastering of rules and development of skills in the work with bibliometric and specialized databases, work with the resources of Open Access, condition of the market of electronic products and services, and the terms of access to them. It is shown that this approach is topical not only to library professionals, but also to the scientists of research institutes who are interested in the development of information literacy. There are presented the topics of particular trainings.

The article considers the work of the 30-th Moscow International Book Fair (MIBF): innovations, events, programs, etc. There are described the results of the competitions “Book of the Year” and “Best Professional Book of the Year”. Special attention is given to the coverage of major events and professional events, primarily relevant to the library community and reflected in the speeches at the conferences, seminars and round tables. There are summarized the major ideas and discussion opinions of specialists in the book publishing industry and library sector about the trends and development problems. The attention is focused on several issues related to the legislation: the development, analysis, reviewing, and the practice of implementation of laws and regulations. Separate paragraph deseribes the role of the Russian State Library in the events of the 30th MIBF.