The article reflects the main results of comparative bibliometric analysis of the scientific-practical Russian Journal of Library Science “Bibliotekovedenie” and foreign journals in the library sphere. The purpose of the study is to determine the growth points and development directions of the Russian Journal of Library Science for the formation of international scientific communication practices and professional discourse.

The object of the research was metadata array of fourteen foreign English-language library journals included in the international scientometric databases Scopus and Web of Science, and the journal “Bibliotekovedenie” for 2015—2019. The authors used content analysis method, the method of comparison and correlation, as well as criterion method based on determination of relevant indicators and development of criteria for evaluating journals to identify parameters of similarity and difference, followed by the use of method of data interpretation based on modern cultural-philosophical and cultural-theoretical principles and concepts.

As a result, the study identified the typical topics for the most frequently cited articles in the foreign journals. The authors show that the journal “Bibliotekovedenie” publishes the articles that can be attributed to most of the presented topics. However, most often they are characterized by another emphasis, presentation style and structure of the text, as well as approaches to conducting research. Trends in the citation of articles in Russian publications indicate the difference in a set of priority topics.

The authors conclude that these differences depend not only and not so much on the “collision” of traditional and modern vision of the situation from the point of view of scientific research, but rather on deeper reasons based on cultural differences. These reasons are driven by the postmodern increase of the impact of culture on the development of science, reflecting these differences in the languages of cultures and in the translations, as well as by other, sometimes opposite, trends in the development of socio-cultural situation in different countries, related to the understanding of place and role of libraries, books and information in modern society.

Based on the obtained results, there was adjusted the development plan of scientific-practical journal “Bibliotekovedenie”, as well as its name in English, starting 2019 (no. 6) — Russian Journal of Library Science.

In recent decades, the scope of library activities has changed. In addition to providing traditional resources and services, today libraries themselves are becoming developers of digital content and providers of access to electronic content. The user base of libraries is also undergoing significant changes: there are changing the user generations, employment trends, areas of interest and habits. Realizing that marketing activities can increase user loyalty, form public opinion about both — a particular institution and libraries in general, increase the visibility of library resources and enlarge market share, the most active specialists are adapting marketing to the conditions of libraries operation. In 2019, there was organized the study on the websites of libraries in Russia, Australia, the United States and Canada, Western and Eastern Europe, Latin America, as well as in a number of countries in South and South-East Asia in order to identify the main trends in the organization of library promotion in the Internet environment. There were considered the websites of public, national, University and academic libraries. Library websites were analysed for the use of 10 most common tools in Internet marketing, such as: the transition to a modern web site design, effective linking with social networks, marketing in social networks (Social Media Marketing, SMM), the use of banner advertising, the availability of subscription to e-mailing, the publication of press and post releases, the presence of a blog in the library domain, the availability of content evaluation and sharing tools in social networks. The study conclusion was the identification of trends in the development of library sites over a large area and the compilation of heat maps, which clearly demonstrate such trends, where the libraries of the countries of North America, Australia and Northern Europe showed greater consistency with the parameters selected for the study; Central and Southern Europe, Russia and part of the countries of Latin America are in the transition zone, and the least compliance are found in the countries of South Asia. The most common means of promotion is the publication of press and post releases. Among the least used marketing technologies are blogs in the library domain, embedded video and Internet broadcasts, as well as work on optimizing sites for an audience from social networks.

The article presents an overview of the history of study of reading and information needs in Russia based on the analysis of publications in the professional press. The author highlights the main stages of development in this research area and notes the achievements of librarians who have made the greatest scientific contribution to the development of theory of information needs. The author shows that even before the emergence of the term (in the mid-twentieth century), the phenomenon of information needs was studied indirectly — through the analysis of reader’s interests and preferences. The article focuses on the formation and development of the methodology of studying information needs, considers the practice of using various research methods, including special ones: quantitative, qualitative, complex and computer. The author notes the role of the founder of bibliopsychology Nikolai A. Rubakin, who for the first time compared the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of reading with the social status of reader, and the significant contribution to the development of theory of information needs made by S.D. Kogotkov, who described the mechanisms and stages of their formation based on the activity approach. The article highlights the large-scale projects for studying reading of various social groups, implemented in the 1960s and 1980s. At the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, the interest to the problem of information needs and its various aspects raised again. Research issues expanded mainly due to the increase in the number of works on the transformation of information needs in the electronic environment, professional reading, including specialists in the library sphere. The article shows the process of identifying the problems of information needs in the independent scientific direction of library science. It is concluded that despite the intensive research in recent decades, the scientific potential of the problem of information needs is far from exhausted, due to the complexity of the phenomenon being studied. The author believes that the priority task of library science in the near future should be research aimed at studying the peculiarities of the formation of professional information needs of specialists with the emphasis on the subjective component and involvement of modern methodological tools.

The article discusses peculiarities of perception of library and librarian in France during the age of Enlightenment using the example of Encyclopedia of D. Diderot and J. d’Alembert. The author notes that this article considers the period of the 18th century before the French revolution and only on the territory of France. The author notes that the idea of continuity in obtaining and possessing the knowledge was built by enlighteners using the examples of public libraries in ancient times. The article focuses attention on the difference between the concepts of librairie/ bibliothèque and their transformation during the early Modern period. The author analyzes the main features and peculiarities of the librarian profession that were highlighted by French enlighteners, and their difference from the modern concept. The article emphasizes the question of the prestige of this profession in the 18th century. The author concludes that the understanding of the profession of librarian in the age of Enlightenment differs from the modern one. The study of the role of librarian in the 18th century allows to explore the features of the library in the Enlightenment, whose tasks included collection and transfer of knowledge.

The article is devoted to the memory of Lyudmila Mikhailovna Koval (October 17, 1933 – February 15, 2020), historian, Head of the History sector of the Russian State Library (RSL) and the Museum of Library history. The author presents brief biographical information about L.M. Koval, the author of more than 350 scientific and popular scientific works in Russian and in 9 foreign languages. She published 29 books in Publishing houses “Nauka”, “Kniga”, “Letniy Sad”, ”Pashkov Dom”, most of the works are dedicated to the Library. Special place in the work of L.M. Koval is given to the Great Patriotic War theme. The article considers the works devoted to the activities of Library staff during the War period. L.M. Koval paid much attention to the study of activities of the Library’s Directors. She prepared books and articles about the Directors of the Moscow Public and Rumyantsev Museums and Library from the end of the 19th century and almost to the end of the 20th century: N.V. Isakov, D.S. Levshin, V.A. Dashkov, M.A. Venevitinov, I.V. Tsvetaev, V.D. Golitsyn, A.K. Vinogradov, V.I. Nevsky, N.M. Sikorsky. The author notes contribution of L.M. Koval to the study of the Library’s history. Specialists in the history of librarianship widely use bibliography of L.M. Koval in their research. The list of sources contains the main works of L.M. Koval, and the Appendix includes reviews of publications by L.M. Koval and the works about her.

On the eve of anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, the authors turned to the previously unexplored subject, namely, the work of bibliographers of the USSR Academy of Sciences for the defence of the country. Before, the professional work of bibliographers during the War was not studied in this aspect that determines the relevance and scientific novelty of the topic under consideration. The purpose of the article is to show that during the War bibliography turned from ideological tool of the Party to form a new type of person into the only reliable information tool for solving the most important warfare and national economic problems in the wartime conditions.

The article describes the work of the Commission for compilation of bibliography by countries, which was formed under the Section of the special libraries network of the USSR Academy of Sciences in May 1942. Based on the unique archival documents, the authors show for the first time how bibliographers of the libraries of the USSR Academy of Sciences in cooperation with colleagues from the V.I. Lenin State Library of the USSR, the Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov, the Central Polytechnic library and other major libraries of the country managed to provide the military leadership, scientists and specialists of the national economy with reliable timely information on problems that arose in wartime, up to making strategic decisions in the field of planning defence, offensives and radical reorganization of industry and agriculture. The authors conclude that the decent work of bibliographers in the war years, providing information for any level of decision-making, played its role in approaching the Victory. This is the basis for understanding the current role of library specialists, their professionalism and responsibility in the information support for the development of Russia.

The article, based mainly on archival documents, considers the process of organizing the work of libraries in districts of the Orel province in the 1920s. Everywhere in towns and villages of the province, there were opened mass public peoples libraries, were created cultural and educational centres, village libraries and reading rooms, clubs, people’s houses and other cultural and educational institutions of new type. The author notes that during that period a lot of work was done in Oryol province to unite libraries into a single network. The article shows that the main “cell” of library network in the village becomes the volost library. Village libraries and reading rooms created in each locality were “the primary focus of cultural and educational work”.

Special attention is paid to the study of forms and methods of library services to the population in the volost libraries and village libraries and reading rooms in the 1920s. The political and educational activities of the volost libraries and village libraries and reading rooms were very diverse in the studied period. Taking into account the high level of illiteracy of the population of Oryol villages, libraries preferred active forms of “living word and work with a book”: loud reading, conversation, agitation staging, drama club, illustrative evening, etc. The author notes that special attention was paid to the organization of work with children in the volost library. It is important to understand that along with the common cultural development of the rural population, active propaganda work was carried out in order to solve the current political problems.

The 1920s is a separate period of library history, which is interesting for understanding by the modern Russian library science. The author concludes that this material expands and complements the existing understanding in regional library science of the librarianship of the Oryol province of the post-revolutionary decade, proves its stabilizing nature, which laid the basis for mass library construction in the following decades.

In the context of the decreasing intensity of the armed conflict, but still ongoing crisis in the Syrian Arab Republic (Syria), preservation of the historical and cultural monuments, including manuscript ones, is important for the country and its future. Al-Assad National Library of Syria has a leading role in the preservation of the documentary heritage of the country. The history of the emergence and development of the National Library of Syria has a number of political, cultural and social features. At present, Russian universities are updating the Arabic country studies. The author notes that the number of publications on the history and development of librarianship in Syria in the Russian professional press is insufficient, thus confirming the relevance of the present study. The fact that the National Library has survived despite the war is of great value to the Syrian people, the Arab world and the UNESCO World Heritage. The article considers the emergence, formation and development of the Al-Assad National Library of Syria. The author shows the revival of the first National library in the territory of Syria (Az-Zahiriya Library) during the Ottoman occupation and describes the historical and political situation that accompanied its appearance. The article highlights the main sources of the formation of Az-Zahiriya Library collections in the late nineteenth century. The author provides analytical information on the growth dynamics of its collections and considers the significant role of Az-Zahiriya National Library during the French mandate in Syria and after gaining independence. In the 1970s, strengthening processes of progressive socio-economic and cultural transformations led to the emergence of Al-Assad National Library, which became the new National library of Syria. The article analyses the main stages of creation of Al-Assad National Library and presents its main characteristics and challenges at present.

The article considers the results of study of current trends in the innovative activities of 15 national libraries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). In research, the author applied the methods of polling, comparative analysis, expert review, analysis of websites and printed sources in order to detect the promising areas for international library cooperation and partnership in the CIS. The author underlines the relevance of this research connected with the need to analyse the strategies of the CIS national libraries developed up to date. The article presents information on technology innovation, changing processes and reconfiguring products and services, as well as on organizational and management advanced innovation. The core programs of all national libraries of the CIS countries are focusing on e-library development, including coordination activities on the creation of national electronic libraries in the countries, full-text databases, as well as projects promoting international academic movement Open Access. The article presents the studies on scientific description and creation of soft copies of the unique national documentary monuments, as well as development of information portals and websites. Organizational and management innovation of national libraries of the CIS countries focuses on structural changes. These transformations promote creation of virtual reading rooms, electronic resource rooms, book and book-printing museums, as well as educational projects — training centres, including distance learning centres, and schools for conservation and restoration of manuscripts. Based on the analysis of empirical data, the author concludes that the priority innovative projects of national libraries cooperation are focused on provision of remote access to the most complete volume of document collections available in the CIS countries; these projects increase satisfaction of the needs of users of national libraries and the whole population in the relevant information.

In 2005, the State Public Scientific Technological Library of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences established the “Bibliosphere” Journal, well known in our sector multidisciplinary periodical on library science, bibliography, computer science, book studies and related cultural issues. It formed the synthetic heading covering issues common to the entire bibliosphere, and the word “Bibliosphere” has become a professional term with its own definition. The Journal constantly maintains the columns on library science, bibliology, bibliography science and others.

The article presents the review of the publications of synthetic nature that have methodological and general theoretical significance for the complex of the related disciplines that form bibliosphere: library science, bibliography science, bibliology, book culture and computer science. Maintaining the column “Methodology of Scientific Research Works” is specific particular to “Bibliosphere” Journal and refers to its undoubted success. From the very first issues, the Journal crossed the planned regional scale and declared itself as a serious periodical of theoretical and methodological level.

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