The article reveals the scientific aspects and development practice of the common library space of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS CLS), which over 30 years has formed a system of its organization and mechanisms of functioning. There is reflected the role of libraries in solving the humanitarian problems of the Commonwealth. The article considers the CIS CLS as the main part of the Eurasian library space, and studies it as an independent system. There are highlighted the most important principles of building the CIS CLS. The article shows that during the period under study, the path of formation has been passed, and the circle of common interests and relevant areas of activity has been identified. There is formulated the regulatory and legal framework for the development of librarianship in the CIS countries, the model laws designed to harmonize the national legal documents. The formed organizational system of the CLS functioning includes the interrelated links — national libraries of the CIS, the Library Assembly of Eurasia, the Russian State Library as the basic organization for cooperation in the field of librarianship of the CIS member states, the scientific and practical journal “Herald of the Library Assembly of Eurasia”. The article identifies the priority areas of cooperation: building and preserving national library collections, ensuring open and equal access for users to local and world resources through the use of information technologies, promoting the best examples of national culture and literature, cultural and educational events and ethno-cultural library interaction. The author provides examples of the cooperation programs implementation.

The article determines that for the sustainable development and stability of the CLS as a system of library interaction, it is necessary to constantly overcome the contradictions accumulated in it, make adjustments to the definition of common interests and organizational structure. The author concludes that the integration activities of CIS libraries to strengthen the CLS, with the unifying role of the Russian language, serves as the basis for the consolidated inclusion of libraries in the common humanitarian and cultural space of the CIS and in the world information space.

The article considers the contradiction in concepts connected with key content of the library activity. Some fundamental documents use the term “library service”, others use “information and library service”, “library and information service” terms. The different content is also given to these concepts. The inconsistency is increased by the fact that since Soviet times the library services have often been understood as library activity in general. There is given the brief review of primarily positions on the conceptual framework of library service: library activity, work with readers, guidance of reading, library service, library and information service, information and library service. In violation of the Federal Law № 78-FZ “On Librarianship”, the term “library and information service” is enshrined in the names of textbooks, GOST R 7.0.103—2018 “Library and information service. Terms and definitions” and GOST R 7.0.104—2019 “Library and information services of scientific library. Types, forms and modes of delivery”. While library science is striving hard to integrate itself into information science, information science itself is far from recognising library and bibliographic science as an integral part of it. “Library service” is considered both as specific and general library science concept. The definition of “work” in relation to library science is given: it is the function of library staff to create values, provide benefits or meet the informational, cultural, educational needs of readers. The author proposes to intensify the concept of “library readers study”, to develop thoroughly its theory and methodology. The paper provides additional arguments in favour of the concept of “library readers study” in addition to the well-known ones. It is argued that in addition to revealing the links between the readers’ contingent and the library staff, it is necessary to reveal the links of the “readers’ contingent” subsystem with other subsystems of the first and second circuits of the library as a system.

The Library Bibliographic Classification (LBC) is the national classification sistem of the Russian Federation. Its support is one of the priority areas of activity of the Russian State Library. The LBC is used in most libraries of the country, fully covering the most numerous groups — public and school libraries, all central libraries of the entities of the Russian Federation, libraries for children and youth, special libraries for the blind and visually impaired persons, libraries of higher educational institutions, libraries of the armed forces of the Russian Federation as well as part of the libraries of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), other systems and authorities.

The work with the LBC involves its development as a system of versions and publications (maintaining the standard of the LBC schedules in machine-readable form; timely updating the content and structure of the LBC; preparation, publishing, and distribution of the Abridged, Medium and Complete LBC schedules in printed and machine-readable forms, immediate changes and corrections to the schedules). There is a need for methods to systematise documents on the basis of the LBC, provision of consulting work to the library network of the country (conducting training seminars, publishing recommendations and practical guide-books, conducting operational consulting, using available communication channels); maintaining the system of training and professional development of personnel, etc.

Since the 2000s, all areas of scientific and practical activity on the management of the LBC have focused on the task of modernising the national classification system. The paper analyses the system of versions of the LBC which was implemented in the form of various versions of the classification schedules. The identifying features are the title and the year of publication. The main schedules are Complete, Medium, and Abridged schedules which are supplemented with Special ones. The article presents the historical evolution of the system of BC versions depending on the conditions of its functioning. The theoretical justification is given and the problems of practical implementation of the modernisation of the schedules are considered.

The paper is devoted to the development of a university library strategy in the period of digitalization of all spheres of social activity. There are analyzed theoretical approaches and practical methods for developing strategic planning in library activities. The paper defines the need for strategic management as a factor in the effectiveness of a university library. There are considered the directions of the library strategic development, which depend on the vector of development of the university, its educational and research activities.

The strategic planning is presented as a process of modeling the future activities of the library. It includes the library’s mission formulation, its objectives, tasks and events to achieve the goals, as well as its key performance indicators. The article sees the development strategy as an element of the management process aimed at creating and maintaining a strategic balance between the goals of the library and the university, its potential and likely development prospects.

The article shows the advantages of SWOT analysis as a unique tool for designing a library development strategy. There are presented five stages of developing the Strategy for the Scientific Library of the Siberian Federal University. The authors note that the library has a good potential to develop the digitalization process: there is a digitization center, good technical equipment, its own software products, an extensive repertoire of world resources, a wide range of online services, etc. However, there are also weak points that hinder the library development: the obsolescence of the computer equipment, the lack of modern ergonomic space for individual and group work of students, the irregular acquisition of printed publications, the instability of funding, etc. All this can complicate the library development in the context of the digital economy development and lead to a decline in the prestige of the library. The library’s development strategy is aimed at eliminating these problems. It presents the goals, objectives, efficiency criteria for each area of activity of the modern library of the university. The article reveals the main strategic directions of the library’s development. The proposed strategy can become a real tool for optimizing the activities of all libraries in the transition period of the digital society development.

It is known that the history of book collections of past centuries’ libraries, including military ones, is tragic: for many reasons, they are often either scattered or preserved in small fragments. Today, when libraries intensively work to digitize their holdings and search out historical book collections, it is very important to identify and attribute books from foreign, as well as from Russian military libraries.

For the first time, the article describes the work carried out to identify publications of foreign (and partly Russian) military libraries from the rare books collection of the Library for Natural Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The article considers the publications as a source of information about scientific knowledge (military libraries were aimed to acquaint their readers with the basics of military art and the latest achievements in military science). There is shown that the content of such libraries’ collections did not exclude thematic diversity, targeted to comprehensively form the officer’s personality: professional, moral and cultural. The article examines the books of the 18th—19th centuries from military libraries of Europe, currently stored in the Library for Natural Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the book marks in them proving the publications’ belonging to specific military libraries. There is highlighted the importance of book marks for the attribution of collections (and libraries) that existed in the past, but turned out to be scattered. The results obtained show that the publications and book marks of military book collections are a strong and reliable source in studying the history of military affairs, military science, and the history of military libraries, and confirm the need for further serious work with the library’s rare book collection.

This is a review of the bibliographic index “Bibliographic Activity of the Russian State Library” released by the publishing house “Pashkov Dom” in 2021. The new index has been drawn up by the experts from the Research Department of Bibliography of the Russian State Library (RSL). This unique book serves as a social memory of one of the largest libraries both in this country and worldwide. We might regard this information resource as a kind of chronicle of the RSL Reference and Bibliographic Service, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2018. The structural and substantive analyse of the methodological features of the index as well as the criteria for the selection of material have been carried out. The publication consists of two parts (“Literature on the bibliographic activity of the library” and “Publications of the library on bibliographic theory and practice”) and includes 1709 bibliographic records.

The book can be used as an example for creating similar works, and it is a comprehensive toolkit for scientometric analysis of the library’s bibliographic activity.

The article describes contribution to the library science and scientific activity of the Russian State Library (RSL) of the famous librarian Maria Ivanovna Akilina (April 13, 1953 — June 04, 2021).

Since 1989, first as senior research scientist in the departments of the Russian State Library, and then in the scientific research department of library science, she worked her way up from leading researcher to the head of the department. Together with her colleagues — library scientists, she made the great contribution to the development of problems of the general theory of library science, the organization of practical activities of libraries, scientific and methodological assistance to libraries of the country.

In the scientific research department of library science, there was created the all-Russian system for monitoring library collections; there were studied the issues of standardization of library science; and the work was carried out to create the Electronic Library of the RSL. The department developed and implemented the methodology for preparing the first fundamental unique reference publication on library science in our country — the “Library Encyclopaedia”, which was published in 2007 by the “Pashkov Dom” publisher. M.I. Akilina was a member of the editorial board of this publication; she also made a great contribution to the work as an editor and author of the articles. Together with the staff of the department from 2002 through 2013, she actively participated in the publication of the scientific-practical collection “Librarianship — the 21st Century” — the supplement to the journal “Bibliotekovedenie” [Russian Journal of Library Science], and also became one of the compilers of the collection “Library Research in the System of Postnonclassical Science”.

M.I. Akilina managed to create an atmosphere of creativity and scientific research in the department, which became a significant factor in the development of interdisciplinary approaches to the study of librarianship, its various aspects and research practices. Since 2015, M.I. Akilina worked as a leading research scientist in the Centre for the study of problems of library development in the information society. She is the author of more than 100 scientific papers, major part of which is devoted to the scientific and methodological activities of libraries and general theoretical problems of library science; these are the publications about national, central, mass rural and other libraries. When communicating with colleagues, she always took into account not only their achievements, but also the ability to be honest both in scientific work and in human relations. Her contribution to the library scientific research will undoubtedly become part of the research heritage of library science.

On April 21—23, 2021, the Russian State Library (RSL) hosted the International scientific and practical conference “Rumyantsev Readings”, which is one of the largest annual library events. The conference traditionally raises issues of preserving and studying the world cultural heritage, promotes intercultural interaction. In 2021, it covered a wide range of issues of theory and practice of library science, bibliography science, and bibliology. The participants are specialists of libraries of all levels, from federal to municipal, and various departmental subordination, museums, archives, higher educational institutions and research institutes from 19 regions of Russia, as well as from the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Lithuania and the Republic of Uzbekistan. Broadcasting of the meetings, as well as holding a number of sections and round tables both in face-to-face and zoom-conference format, significantly increased the audience coverage. The Rumyantsev Readings attracted the highest number of remote participants (2,427 connections), that determined the relevance of the conference in modern conditions. Three hundred and one participants attended the conference personally.

The rich program included a plenary session, 13 round tables, seminars, and sections. The following sections were organised at the Rumyantsev Readings: “Library in the modern world: accessibility in the period of restrictions”; “Information and bibliographic activity: theory and practice”; “Collectors, researchers, curators. Libraries and museums in the context of history”; “Art Publications in the collections of libraries. Creation, existence, study”; “Specialized collections (printed music and maps) in the library holdings”; “Manuscript sources in the collections of libraries”; “Rare books and book monuments”; “Theory and practice of library science”; “Library classification systems”. As part of the pre-session meeting of the 32nd Section on Library Management and Marketing of the Russian Library Association, there was a round table “Social networking activity of libraries: how to record and report (methodological approaches and solutions)”. There were also the following events: a round table a “The Register of book monuments: government database of recording and registration and scientific research resource”, an expert session “Actual problems of formation of digital competencies of learners in the library and information sphere” and a scientific and practical seminar “Actual heritage” devoted to the 150th birth anniversary of L.B. Khavkina.
The publishing house of the Russian State Library “Pashkov Dom” has released the conference proceedings.

The historical experience of library services for the population, accumulated in the areas of new economic development of the late Soviet era, needs to be generalized. At the same time, the processes of formation and development of libraries in sparsely populated territories of Siberia and the Far East have not received sufficient coverage in the special literature. This paper examines the features of the libraries organization in the construction areas of the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM) in the period of the 1970s — 1980s. The research materials include archival documents, most of which are introduced into research discourse for the first time, as well as oral stories of participants in the all-Union construction project, collected by the author in the BAM regions. The libraries formation in the mainline construction zone was carried out at an accelerated pace within the framework of the state network of the Ministry of Culture of the RSFSR and the trade union system of transport builders. As a result, the provision of library services to builders was higher than in neighboring regions. However, the accessibility of libraries remained low, because the construction areas were characterized by a low population density, poor development of transport and infrastructure facilities, personnel shortage, and insufficient material and technical support. At first, the book collections were acquired spontaneously from the number of the publications donated or collected from the local population. As soon as the library systems stabilized, the central organizations “Soyuzkniga” and “Roskniga” became the main sources of book supplies, but they could not meet the reader’s demand of the mainline builders. The BAM had formed a special readership, which was distinguished by a high educational level, cultural and linguistic diversity, and the shaped reader’s interests and needs. This was due to the careful selection of those arriving at the construction site as part of Komsomol detachments. Along with their main functions, the libraries were a place for communication and leisure for workers, which compensated for the lack of other social and cultural institutions. Due to the weakness of the Party and state control, they had greater independence in cultural and mass work, which was reflected in the widespread distribution of different associations and library clubs, the acquaintance of readers with the works of authors banned by the Soviet censorship, and the development of amateur literary creativity.

On 16—20 May 2021, the All-Russian Library Congress: XXV Anniversary Annual Conference of the Russian Library Association (RLA) was held in the Library Capital of Russia for 2020/2021, Petrozavodsk (Republic of Karelia), with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of Karelia. The theme of the Congress was “Library 2030: Building the Future Today”. For the first time, this forum was held in a hybrid format, i.e., both offline and online, while all the events were streamed online, which made it possible to expand the audience reach. The strategic goals of the Congress were to identify the main trends in the development of librarianship and to form the image of the library of the future. Consequently, many speakers focused on the pivotal document for the library field “The strategy for the development of librarianship in the Russian Federation until 2030”, approved in 2021. In addition, the participants deliberated the draft of the new professional standard “Specialist in library and information activities”. The plenary and sectional sessions involved the discussions on the development of libraries of various types, the library profession in the modern world, etc. The Congress was accompanied by the XXI Exhibition of publishing products, new information technologies, goods and services, which was also organised in a hybrid format. At the final plenary meeting, the results of the elections of the President of the RLA and the members of the RLA Board for 2021—2024 were announced. M.D. Afanasyev was elected President of the RLA for a second term. One of the important outcomes of the Congress was the adoption at the final plenary session of the RLA normative and advisory act “Methodological recommendations for the formation of basic standards for the provision of public libraries services in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation”. Nizhny Novgorod received the status of the Library Capital of Russia for 2022, and it is going to host the XXVI All-Russian Library Congress next year.

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