The author presents the problems of general library science that need profound development. First, it is necessary to determine the relationship between the concepts of “library science” and “general library science”, as well as the content of the concepts of “partial library science”, “special library science”, “electronic library science”, etc. The author emphasizes to bring the Standard GOST 7.0—99 “Information and library activities, bibliography. Terms and definitions or coming to replace it the State Standart GOST “Library and information activities, bibliography. Terms and defenitions” into compliance with the Federal Law No. 78-FZ of 29.12.1994 “On Librarianship”, primarily in terms of the relationship between the concepts of “information and library” and “library and information”. Both of these terms are incorrect. Then, it is necessary to give the scientific definition of the concept of “library”, which differs from its normative-legal definition, as well as to abandon the terms and concepts artificially introduced into the library science thesaurus. It is required to separate the concepts of “librarianship” and “library activity”, to abandon the idea of library as a social institution for the provision of services. The existing approach leads to the steady displacement of cultural activities from the sphere of government responsibility into purely market relations, forms a false understanding of the phenomenon of cultural values, from which the spiritual component is derived. In the field of services, being a type of marketing, albeit non-commercial, as it is in librarianship, the preservation, production, transmission and dissemination of spiritual values cannot be carried out. The author proposes in place of the concept of “service” as the ultimate goal of librarianship to put the concept of “goodness” and to understand the library as a social institution providing socially significant goodness. The system approach requires the development of each of the library components as a four-element system. The author declares the need to correct almost the entire conceptual apparatus of library stock studies and catalogue science, littered with the introduction of the term “information resource” instead of the concept of “document”, which, in turn, needs considerable clarification. The author makes proposal for the implementation of the current actual tasks of general library science.

In the context of technological and socio-cultural transformations, libraries are in search for landmarks and new formats of activity. The vector of transformation of library functions is from the preservation and transmission of information to agentive: structuring communities, managing information, communicative functions. Libraries are becoming conductors of social innovation. The article considers organizational culture as a catalyst for the development of libraries in the future. The authors pose the problem of inconsistency of organizational culture with new demands and needs, as well as justify the need for the formation of an innovative type of culture. The paper presents the results of quantitative and qualitative research in the Municipal Information Library System (MILS) of Tomsk in 2021. Questionnaires and interviews were conducted with employees of three libraries of Tomsk MILS, one of which took part in the Federal project “Cultural Environment” of the National project “Culture” on the creation of model municipal libraries. The authors study organizational culture at the formal and informal levels. The analysis showed that each of the libraries demonstrated insufficient level of compliance with the context of social transformations. Barriers of organizational culture in public libraries are conservative mission, management attitudes to support performing competencies, features of clan culture (orientation to isolation, lack of openness for cooperation on the part of staff both within the library network and with external communities, underestimation of the role of partnership), technological focus of activities, etc. Reserves for the development of organizational culture are the willingness of staff to take initiatives, focus on support and building positive relationships in the team. As an opportunity to manage organizational culture, the authors note that transformations should begin with a change of emphasis in the libraryʼs mission based on a new spatial approach.

On 19—21 April 2022, the Russian State Library (RSL) hosted the annual International Research and Practical Conference “Rumyantsev Readings”. It was attended by the experts from the Russian Federation, as well as the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Moldova, and the Republic of Uzbekistan.

The subject matter of the conference covers a wide range of issues on the theory and practice of library science, bibliography, and book science. Among this year’s main trends were the history of librarianship, the discovery of universal and specialised collections, and the multi-dimensional activities of modern libraries.

In 2022, the RSL celebrates a memorable date: the 160th anniversary of the establishment of the Moscow Public Museum and the Rumyantsev Museum. This major event was highlighted in both greeting addresses and scientific reports presented at the conference.

The agenda of the Readings included 15 round tables and sections. A number of meetings were broadcast on the RSL YouTube channel; some of them could be attended remotely using video conferencing tools.

The RSL publishing house “Pashkov Dom” published a two-part collection of conference proceedings, which included 163 articles by 177 authors.

Since its establishment in 1981, the Conference have been a key event for the professional community, annually drawing a large number of participants. It also contributes to the introduction of new sources into scientific circulation, the development of scientific research, the expansion of cooperation between various institutions, and intercultural communication.

The article shows the significance of retrospective indexes in the system of Siberian bibliography in the historical context. The authors highlight the history of formation and development of retrospective bibliography in the State Public Scientific Technological Library of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, starting from the 1960s. The article places the main emphasis on the implementation of major bibliographic projects of the State Public Scientific Technological Library of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences: creation of a set of retrospective indexes and databases on bibliography of bibliographies, the history of book, librarianship and bibliography; preparation of the Union catalogue of Siberian and Far Eastern books as part of the national retrospective bibliography of Russia; creation of biobibliographic databases. The authors draw conclusions about the importance of various types of bibliographic products (electronic and printed) and outline the tasks on bibliographic activity of the State Scientific Technological Library of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the field of retrospective bibliography.

On the basis of archival materials introduced into scientific circulation for the first time, the author considers the activity of the scientist-encyclopedist Timofey Ivanovich Rainov (1890, Kalchevo village, Akkerman district, Bessarabian province of the Russian Empire — 1958, Moscow), worked as visiting specialist-bibliographer of highest qualification in the V.I. Lenin State Library of the USSR in 1938—1941 and in 1948—1950. The paper shows that before Rainov was invited to the V.I. Lenin State Library, he passed a long way, gaining skills and competencies in the field of library science and bibliography. Unable to work freely in Soviet Russia as a philosopher and specialist in the psychology of creativity, T.I. Rainov, like other Russian intellectuals, was seeking ways to realize his research potential. In 1923, the scientist moved to Moscow, where the Library of the Socialist (Communist) Academy (later the Fundamental Library of Social Sciences of the USSR Academy of Sciences, FBON) became his main place of work. Possessing encyclopedic knowledge and immense erudition, he took the place of leading bibliographer. T.I. Rainov changed several professions, but, remaining invariably a researcher of scientific ideas, he repeatedly returned to the field of book studies and bibliography and completed his service in this field at the FBON. The article examines the main life circumstances that led him to the V.I. Lenin State Library, and it was found that when concluding an employment contract with him, T.I. Rainov was obliged to provide consultations “on all branches of knowledge” to both employees and readers of the V.I. Lenin State Library of the USSR.

The appendix presents the experience of compiling an article about the scientific bibliographer T.I. Rainov for the forthcoming reference book “Employees of the Russian State Library: Eminent Scientists and Workers in Culture”.

The article reveals previously unknown facts about the sinologist Sergei Alexandrovich Polevoy (1886—1971), who became famous due to his scientific, pedagogical and social activities in China. Being a native of dynasty that gave the world talented literary critics, writers and journalists, Polevoy from his youth was passionate about literature and collecting books alongside learning about China. His first academic work, prepared as a graduation paper at the Oriental Institute (Vladivostok), was devoted to periodicals in China; and his unique library composed of literature in many languages originated from the books on Oriental studies and linguistics. Living in China since 1917, Polevoy was a professor at Nankai University in Tianjin (since 1918) and then Peking University (since 1921), where he taught Chinese students the Russian language and literature. Using the introduction to Russian culture and literature as a new method of teaching, he brought up some famous Chinese writers and translators. His bookstore, opened in Beijing and having contacts with the International Book Company in Moscow, became a cultural bridge between Russia and China. Using the bookstore, Polevoy supplied Chinese students with textbooks and Russian classical literature, replenished the department of Slavic literature at the Beijing National Library, distributed Marxist literature and helped Chinese communist leaders establish contacts with the USSR. The authors also report the facts on the biography of Polevoyʼs son, Leonid, thanks to whom the Oriental Institute of the Far Eastern Federal University (Vladivostok) received the manuscript of S. Polevoy’s English-Chinese dictionary and his other materials on oriental studies. Leonid also presented his father’s book collection to Irkutsk, and these books served as the basis of the Humanitarian Centre — Library named after the Polevoys’ family. The article is based on materials from the Polevoys’ family archives and other private collections abroad.

During the military conflict on going on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic (Syria), there was destroyed not only the economic, but also the educational and cultural infrastructure of the country. Thousands of libraries located in northern Syria have completely lost their collections. The number of Arab cultural centres (public libraries) decreased by 60% from 2011 to 2018. They were located in the conflict zones and were destroyed during military operations. Huge damage was caused to the market of publishing industry and the book culture of Syria as a whole.

During the tough movement process from war to peace, the preservation of monuments, including writing, remains an important issue for the country and its future. The leading library in Syria is the Al-Assad National Library (NL), which receives legal deposit copy of domestic publications; it is engaged in international book exchange; makes procurements; receives books and manuscripts as donation. Preserving the documentary cultural heritage of the country, the library performs the memorial function, which is much more complicated in the conditions of military conflict and economic crisis.

The purpose of the research is to study the impact of the war in Syria on the activities of the Al-Assad National Library, the dynamics of the development of its collections, as well as the formation of strategy for the reconstruction of the countryʼs library system. The author used the methods of comparative analysis in the work and conducted the review of the literature on this topic.

In 1988, the Al-Assad National Library’s collections contained 131,931 items. In the 2000s, there was an increase in the number of publications received by the library via legal deposit copy system. Since 2011, the beginning of the terrorist war, which was accompanied by the economic blockade by Western countries, the replenishment of the stock has significantly decreased. From 2012 to 2015, the International Book Fair in Damascus was suspended. At the end of 2020, the total stock of the library amounted to 567,117 information resources in Arabic and foreign languages.

Russiaʼs support in restoring peaceful life in Syria is highly appreciated by the Syrian people. The relevance of the study is related to the lack of information in Russian about the development of the national library collections during the war in Syria. Russian universities train Syrian specialists in both library and other branches of science. The Russian language has been introduced into educational programs in Syria, which will further lead to its adoption as a foreign language to replace English language in the Republic.

At present, it is necessary to restore all areas of life in Syria, including cultural. The Al-Assad National Library plays a key role in the reform of the library system in the country, the formation of cultural policy through the creation of a stable system of book communication and the embedding of national book culture in the world information space. The Syrian society is forced to take into account political, economic, socio-cultural challenges. It is necessary to expand international cooperation, especially with countries that have maintained friendly relations with Syria.

In contemporary information space, repository formation is one of the urgent tasks of libraries of scientific and educational institutions. Institutional repositories (IRs) provide unhindered access to scholarly works posted by scientists and specialists for general user, increasing the demand for the library's information resources.

The article represents the review of foreign and domestic publications on the formation and development of institutional repositories. The authors consider the advantages of forming Open Access (OA) Repositories both among prospective authors and potential users: archiving and keeping materials in the IR up-to-date, ensuring visibility and possibility of using scientific research through global access, rapid dissemination of research results, increasing the citation of submitted materials, growth of prestige of the organization, the development of scientific communication, etc. The authors found out that placing publications in international archives (arXiv, BioXiv, etc.) or corporate projects (BASE, HathiTrust) has a greater impact on the visibility and potential citation of publications.

The article identifies the problems of formation and use of repositories: labour intensity of content placement process, the complexity of data exchange, copyright management, the lack of incentives in providing information about their scientific work, the need for additional time and labour resources when maintaining the IR, the financial costs of maintaining the repository, and the difficulties of search in the IR. The authors note that the IR functionality depends on the software capabilities. The paper gives the examples of new generation repositories and presents their features: self-filling, automatic classification based on text mining and machine learning, data management processes between different systems, easy-to-use interfaces.

Since 2017, the Russian State Library (RSL) has held annually scientific and practical seminars of the cycle “The Role of science in the development of libraries: theoretical and practical aspects”, addressed to library specialists and scientists in the field of library science, bibliography science and book studies. The main targets of the events of the cycle are to activate research work in the field of library science, bibliography science and book studies; to discuss current problems of scientific activity of federal and regional library centres; to acquaint library specialists with the results of scientific research. One of the thematic blocks of the cycle consists of seminars devoted to the problems of digitalisation of librarianship. The latest scientific and practical seminar of this block devoted to the topic “Digital transformation of libraries as a subject of scientific research” was held on February 10, 2022. The speakers of the seminar were the leading scientists of the Centre for Study of Library Development Problems in the Information Society of the RSL. The seminar program included two questions. M.Y. Neshcheret presented the results of studying the remote reference and bibliographic services offered on the websites of national libraries around the world. Y.N. Stolyarov analysed the content of publications on the study of digitalisation problems in Russian professional journals. The seminar noted the significant role of practical librarians in the implementation of digital technologies in the work of libraries, as well as demonstrated achievements, proving the need for social library institute. The speakers called on contemporary researchers to intensify scientific research aimed at theoretical understanding of the ongoing processes of digitalisation. The seminar aroused considerable interest of library specialists.

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