In the era when knowledge and information have become a strategic resource, theoretical and practical issues of building classification systems have seen an increased interest. The study of various library classifications, as well as their comparative analysis, allows us to identify local (and/or global) trends in the development of theory and practice of library and information activities. The multidimensional vision of heuristic potential as a complex of possibilities for finding effective new tools and techniques for solving complex problems has determined the scope and features of the research method. The purpose of the article is to determine the methodological mechanisms which can help expanding the capabilities of Library Bibliographical Classification (LBC) in solving cognitive, research and creative tasks. Realization of this goal was carried out on the basis of historical and methodological reconstruction method, rarely used at present. The object of historical and methodological reconstruction is the technology of knowledge organization. Subject scientific interest is focused on the study of a set of gnoseological tools and techniques that facilitate and simplify the solution of problems of library classification. Basing on the scientific publications of the staff of the Research Centre for the Development of LBC of the Russian State Library, as well as texts of Medium Schedules (2001—2019, issues 1—8), Abridged Schedules (2021) and Schedules for children’s and school libraries (2016), the authors present the original methodological base for updating the LBC of the Russian State Library. The paper reveals that the core of this methodological base is the method of scientific conjugation. The authors test the hypothesis of transformation of the LBC from the system of organizing the existing knowledge into a system of producing new knowledge with the expanded functionality. In addition to the traditional applied functions of the LBC — organizational, reference, information, methodological — classification also performs cognitive, enlightening, educational and research functions. The heuristic potential of the LBC is revealed through the knowledge and experience in different subject areas.

In 2022, the Publishing House “Pashkov Dom” of the Russian State Library released the bibliographic work “Journal ‘Bibliotekovedenie’: Index of Contents 1952—2021”. The publication was prepared by the Research Department of Bibliography of the Russian State Library for the 70th anniversary of the scientific and practical journal. The article briefly describes all the milestones of the leading professional publication: from the periodical scientific collection “Libraries of the USSR. Work experience” up to the contemporary journal “Bibliotekovedenie”. Materials of the periodical have significant scientific value. The compilers of the bibliographic index ordered and systematized publications, as well as characterized previous similar works — cumulative in-journal indexes of contents and the only index of 1984 until 2022 published by the V.I. Lenin State Library of the USSR. The author highlights the number of differences between the previous indexes dedicated to the journal and the 2022 edition, among them are the completeness of coverage of the material, the structure and methodology of systematization, the availability of reference apparatus, etc. The reference apparatus of the new edition consists of five auxiliary indexes (index of names, personalia, library and information organizations, peer-reviewed publications and library and information serials). The book includes four reference appendices (the list of editors-in-chief, members of the editorial board and the editorial council; bibliographic list of publications about the journal in the professional press; the list of acronyms of library and information organizations; the list of bibliographic sources). In the process of compiling the index, the compilers encountered difficulties at the stage of grouping the material. Over the entire period of the journal existence, publishing standards and drawing up of the publication have changed many times. The compilers executed the painstaking work to identify the authorship of individual publications, as well as the identity in the names of repeatedly renamed library and information organizations, and to reveal data on the personalia mentioned in the articles. The article gives the examples of drawing up of the index. The index of publications of the main professional periodical from 1952 to 2021 reflects the processes of development of science, evolution, transformation of scientific knowledge and makes the basis for the work of researchers at present, being the significant mechanism of scientific activity.

The article presents the review of the monograph “Transformation of library and information activities under the influence of the digital environment” (2021), prepared by the team of authors of the Kemerovo State Institute of Culture and the V.D. Fedorov State Scientific Library of Kuzbass. The review reveals the content of the monograph — the trends in the development of library and information activities in the context of digitalization; transformation of local history library services in the electronic environment; user service by means of multimedia; promotion of reading of young people in the conditions of digitalization; virtualization of methodological support in libraries. The chapters of the publication, based on the results of serious research by the authors, show the trends of transformation of library and information activities. The content of the monograph is based on the analysis of existing experience, the disclosure of the characteristic features of the problem, its solution and prospects. The book has an extensive reference apparatus. It is recommended to make the monograph more accessible to users in the digital environment.

Book bindings of the 18th century, like all bindings of the period of hand press, are unique objects of individual labour, they were made to order and could be done much later than the date of printing. Russian bindings of this time are overwhelmingly anonymous, do not have the stamp and signature of the bookbinder or any written evidence of the binding customer, which makes it difficult to attribute them.

The Department of Rare Books (Book Museum) of the Russian State Library (RSL) stores books by a major collector of the 18th century P.K. Khlebnikov, bound in the late 1750s — 1780s in one bookbinding workshop. The owner sought to record in super-exlibrises his career growth and changes in social status, and it helps to date the binding work within a frame of few years. The bindings were decorated with gold embossing using different stamps and roles. Over time, the bookbinderʼs tools were enriched, new stamps were used in embossing, and the old ones were put out of use. Linking the use of a particular stamp to a specific time helps to date other similar bindings made in the same workshop.

So, impressions of stamps that came into use no earlier than 1775 were identified on the bindings of books from the library of Prince I.A. Vyazemsky. Identical prints are also found on bindings from other collections. The article provides an example of Russian edition of the 1730s in a luxurious morocco binding with a similar embossing. Information about the stamps used in P.K. Khlebnikovʼs bindings assisted to significantly adjust the time of the masterʼs work and date the binding to the second half of the 1770s — 1780s.

Thus, it is obvious that the identification value of individual stamps of gold tooling when describing the bindings of the 18th century is high. The detailed description of decorative elements with photofixation of prints, the creation of a kind of stamp bank would make it possible to identify other arrays of bindings of close origin, and biographical knowledge about the owners would help both in the localization of hypothetically reconstructed bookbinding workshops and in more accurate dating of samples.

The paper considers contribution of Y.P. Melentyeva to the formation of the general theory of reading and determining the social purpose of library. The author analyses various approaches to the social functions of library, its responsibility to individual and society.

In developing the theory of reading, Y.P. Melentyeva proceeds from the understanding of reading as the essential foundation of civilization, and the library as an institution of socialization of individual. Presenting information on the study of reading in the early 20th century and in the second half of the 20th century, the author characterizes publications by Y.P. Melentyeva devoted to this problem. The book “General Theory of Reading” (2015) includes all the necessary elements of scientific theory and bases on the study of reading as a cultural phenomenon. Encyclopaedic dictionary “Reading” (2021) summarizes the results of the study of reading and outlines prospective problems for further analysis. In the publication, reading is considered as an interdisciplinary concept for philosophy, pedagogy, psychology, book studies, library science, philology, physiology and other sciences.

Y.P. Melentyeva connects the development of theory of reading with the study of problems of library ethics. Under her leadership, there was prepared and adopted in 1999 the first “Code of Professional Ethics of the Russian Librarian”; it was of great importance as a tool for consolidation of the library community in the dynamic controversial period of the domestic history.

Y.P. Melentyeva is the leading specialist in the field of library science; she has made the most significant contribution to the formation of the general theory of reading. Her works are important for the formation of the professional worldview of modern librarians.

The relevance of reading is determined by its great role in the life of individual and society, due to its multifunctionality and priority position among other means of education and upbringing. Therefore, its study, including in historical retrospective, is an important area of the modern scientific research. Due to the lack of comprehensive studies of library reading in pre-revolutionary Siberia, this article for the first time examines the fiction books lending in the Tomsk City Public Library in the late 19th — early 20th centuries. The purpose of the article is to analyse the demand for fiction by users of the Tomsk City Public Library during the specified period. The tasks are to determine the share of fiction in the total amount of book lending; to make ratings of the most popular domestic and foreign authors of fiction works.

The authors use methods of comparative analysis, statistical and source studies. Data were collected from ten reports of the Tomsk City Public Library, as well as from its catalogue, that allowed us to recognize the source base of the article as representative. For the first time, the relative and average number of fiction lending was calculated. The obtained results demonstrate that in the late 19th — early 20th centuries the fiction book lending compounds at least two-thirds of all books lending in the Tomsk City Public Library.

The number of fiction lending exceeded the number of lending from other departments by dozens of times. The authors compiled and presented joint and separate ratings of popularity of Russian and foreign authors among users of the library, among whom there were almost only prose writers. It is proven that the works of domestic writers were more in demand among library users, and the percentage of female authors in the top 10 and top 30 was minimal. This study expanded the idea of reading fiction in pre-revolutionary Tomsk, its place in the reading circle and popular authors.

The International Scientific and Practical Conference “Young Leaders in Library Science” was held for the first time by the Russian State Library (RSL) in September 2022 as part of celebration of the 160th anniversary of the Moscow Public Museum and Rumyantsev Museum with the participation of the National Library of Russia (NLR) and the Section 31 on scientific research work of the Russian Library Association (RLA). The idea of the conference — to identify the present and future leaders of scientific projects and research in the modern library and information sphere of the country — has no analogues.

The conference was attended by representatives of the Lomonosov Moscow State University, the National Research University — Higher School of Economics and the leading universities of Moscow that train staff for libraries — the Moscow State Linguistic University and the Moscow State Institute of Culture. For the first time, the results of the All-Russian monitoring of the staffing needs of libraries in 2022 in terms of the presence of young and qualified specialists in the sector were presented to the wide audience.

For two days, three sections worked at the conference site: “Scientific research: in libraries, about libraries, for libraries”, “Applied scientific research in the library field: modern approaches and results” and “Library personnel: higher and additional professional education”. The latter was timed to the 100th anniversary of organization of specialized professional training of librarians within the RSL (1922—2022).

511 participants from 9 neighbouring countries have previously registered to participate in the conference. 68 reports and papers of specialists from federal, regional, municipal, university libraries, universities, scientific organizations from 24 regions of Russia and three CIS countries were presented. The speakers were students and postgraduates, 8 doctors of sciences and 29 candidates of sciences, as well as managers and practitioners engaged in applied research as part of their direct work. Following the results of the conference, the collection of the best reports will be published in 2023.

243 full-time participants attended the conference; the broadcasts of the events were viewed 2,243 times only at the time of its closure.

The result of the conference was to identify the most relevant topics of scientific research in the area of library science, bibliography science and book studies, as well as specialists who will develop library science in the coming years and who will work in these scientific areas.

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