Russian scientific library. History: Russian State Library. Where is it and how to get there

“The dead live here and the dumb speak” - this is the expression that fits the Russian State Library (formerly named after Lenin) - the largest library in Russia. Created on the basis of the library of the former diplomat Rumyantsev, it has a unique collection of Russian and foreign priceless documents, books, manuscripts, maps in many languages ​​of the world.

Let's take a short excursion. In the first hall we can see filing cabinets, which are a kind of database for a collection of maps, notes and sound recordings of great composers and musicians (including the broadcast with Shestakovich's “Leningrad Symphony”, which was first performed in 1941 in besieged Leningrad) , rare handwritten books, as well as dissertations and newspapers.

Here, the courteous library staff will always be happy to help you find the document you need. With the help of a modern electronic database that is now beginning to "supplant" filing cabinets, this process takes less than a minute. So, we found out which hall we need to go to, and we follow on.

The next "stop" will be the Research Department of Rare Books, where there are archival cabinets in which the rarest handwritten books are presented, such as the Gospels of the times of Kievan Rus, in the department of rare books - the first editions of the works of N. Copernicus, archives of N. V. Gogol, A.S. Pushkin, A.P. Chekhov, A.A. Blok, L.N. Tolstoy (the one with whom he worked on "War and Peace") and others.

This department is regularly visited by future candidates and doctors of historical, psychological, humanitarian and other sciences when they are working on their dissertations.

In the collection of newspapers located nearby, we can see well-worn bookcases in which files of newspapers and magazines known in the past are kept: “Russkaya Pravda”, “Russian Invalid”, “Komsomolskaya Pravda”, etc. We especially took a closer look at the May 10, 1945 issue of the Pravda newspaper with portraits of Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill on the main page.

The main fund of the library, the so-called. "Main Reading Room", has more than 35 million books and magazines. It is the key repository of documentary funds. The fund was formed on the basis of the collection principle.

Private book collections of famous historical figures are of particular value. Among the most significant are the collections of Rumyantsev, Veltman, Sheremetyev, Chaadaev, Norov, Empresses Alexandra Feodorovna and Catherine II (complete works of Diderot and Voltaire, with whom the empress was personally familiar).

Employees of this department told us that in the dashing 90s they were repeatedly tried to buy for fabulous money, not only by ours, but also by foreign collectors. Unfortunately, some part of this fund was stolen after the collapse of the USSR and since then nothing is known about these lost books.

Over its almost 200-year history, the Russian State Library has been awarded the Order of Lenin, the highest award of the USSR, as well as the Symbol of Science medal.

The RSL also has an excellent dining room. Some come here just to drink tea in a warm, comfortable environment. Tea costs 13 rubles, but boiling water is free, some "readers" use it. By the way, the smell in the dining room does not allow you to stay there for too long.

Indicators of one day:



- receipt of new documents - 1.8 thousand copies.

Title = "(! LANG: Indicators of one day:
- registration of new users (including new users of the virtual reading rooms of the EDB) - 330 people.
- attendance of reading rooms - 4.2 thousand people.
- the number of visits to the websites of the RSL - 8.2 thousand,
- issuance of documents from the collections of the RSL - 35.3 thousand copies.
- receipt of new documents - 1.8 thousand copies.">!}

Hall of Rare Books - this is where you can touch the most ancient specimens from the collection of the RSL. "Only a reader of the RSL with good reason for this can study the materials of the fund (and the museum exhibits only a small part of it - 300 books), leafing through the pages of unique book monuments. The fund has collected over 100 publications - absolute rarities, about 30 books - the only ones in the world of copies. Here are some more examples of museum exhibits that you can work with in this reading room: "Don Quixote" by Cervantas (1616-1617), "Candide or Optimism" by Voltaire (1759), "Moabite Notebook" (1969), Tatar poet Musa Dzhalidya, written by him in the fascist prison Maobit, "The Arkhangelsk Gospel" (1092). There are the first copies of the works of Pushkin and Shakespeare, books by the publishers Gutenberg, Fedorov, Badoni, Maurice. From the point of view of the history of Russian books will be interesting - Novikov, Suvorin , Marks, Sytin. Cyrillic books are widely represented. "

The Lenin Russian Library is the national book depository of the Russian Federation. Among other things, it is the leading research institution, methodological and advisory center of the country. The Lenin Library is located in Moscow. What is the history of this institution? Who stood at its origins? How much is the Lenin Moscow Library? About this and much more later in the article.

National Book Depository from 1924 to the present day

The State Lenin Library (opening hours of which will be given below) was formed on the basis of the Rumyantsev Museum. Since 1932, the book depository has been included in the list of research centers of republican significance. In the early days of World War II, the most valuable funds were evacuated from the institution. About 700 thousand rare manuscripts were packed and taken out, which were kept by the Lenin Library. Nizhny Novgorod became a place for the evacuation of valuable collections. I must say that in Gorky there is also a fairly large book depository - the main thing in the region.

Chronology

In the period from July 1941 to March 1942, the Lenin Library sent to various, mainly more than 500 letters with exchange offers. Consent was obtained from a number of states. In 1942, the book depository established book exchange relations with 16 countries and with 189 organizations. Relations with the United States and England were of the greatest interest.

By May of the same year, the administration of the institution began "certification", which was completed even before the end of hostilities. As a result, filing cabinets and catalogs were taken into account and put into proper form. The first reading room of the book depository was opened in 1942, on May 24. In the next, 43rd year, the department of youth and children's literature was formed. By 1944, the Lenin Library returned the valuable funds evacuated at the beginning of the war. In the same year, the Board and the Book of Honor were created.

In February 1944, a restoration and hygiene department was established in the book depository. A research laboratory was formed under him. In the same year, the issues of transferring doctoral and master's theses to the book depository were resolved. The active formation of the fund was carried out mainly through the acquisition of antique world and domestic literature. In 1945, on May 29, the book depository was awarded for outstanding contributions to the storage and collection of publications and to serve a wide range of readers. Along with this, a large number of employees of the institution received medals and orders.

Development of the book depository in the post-war years

By 1946, the question arose about the formation of a consolidated catalog of Russian publications. On April 18 of the same year, the Lenin State Library became the venue for the reading conference. By the next year, 1947, a provision was approved that established the rules for compiling a consolidated catalog of Russian editions of the large book depositories of the Soviet Union.

To carry out this activity, a methodological council was created on the basis of the book depository. It included representatives of various public libraries (named after Saltykov-Shchedrin, the library of the Academy of Sciences, and others). As a result of all the activities, the preparation of the base for the catalog of Russian publications of the 19th century began. Also in 1947, an electric train was launched to deliver requests to the book storage from the reading rooms and a fifty-meter conveyor belt for transporting publications.

Structural transformation of the institution

At the end of 1952, the Charter of the book depository was approved. In April 1953, in connection with the disbandment of the Committee dealing with cultural and educational institutions, and the formation of the Ministry of Culture in the RSFSR, the Lenin Library was transferred to the newly formed department of state administration. By 1955, the cartography sector began to issue and distribute a printed card for incoming atlases and maps in legal copy. At the same time, the international subscription was renewed.

From 1957 to 1958, several reading rooms were opened. In accordance with the Order issued by the Ministry of Culture, an editorial board was established in 1959, the activities of which involved the publication of tables of library and bibliographic classification. Throughout 1959-60, the subsidiary funds belonging to the scientific halls were transferred to open access. Thus, by the mid-60s, more than 20 reading rooms with more than 2300 seats functioned in the book depository.

Achievements

In 1973, the Lenin Library received Bulgaria's highest award - the Order of Dmitrov. At the beginning of 1975, a celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the transformation of the Rumyantsev public book depository into a national one took place. At the beginning of 1992, the library received the status of the Russian one. In the next, 93rd, year, the department of publications was one of the founders of MABIS (Moscow Association of Art Book Depositories). In 1995, the State Library launched the Memory of Russia project. By the next year, a project to modernize the institution was approved. In 2001, the updated Charter of the book depository was approved. Along with this, the introduction of new information carriers took place, due to which the technological processes within the structure of the library changed significantly.

Book depository funds

The first collection of the library was the collection of Rumyantsev. It included more than 28 thousand publications, 1000 maps, 700 manuscripts. In one of the first Regulations governing the work of the book depository, it was indicated that the institution should receive all the literature that was and will be published in the Russian Empire. So, since 1862, a legal deposit began to arrive.

Subsequently, donations and donations became the most important source of funds replenishment. At the beginning of 1917, the library contained about 1 million 200 thousand publications. As of January 1, 2013, the volume of the fund is already 44 million 800 thousand copies. This includes serial and periodicals, books, manuscripts, newspaper archives, art publications (including reproductions), early printed samples, as well as documentation on non-traditional information media. The Lenin Russian Library has a collection of foreign and domestic documents in more than 360 languages ​​of the world, which is universal in terms of typological and specific content.

Research activities

The Lenin Library (photo of the book depository is presented in the article) is the leading center of the country in the field of book, library and bibliography. Scientists working at the institution are engaged in the design, implementation and development of various projects. Among them are the "National Fund of Official Documents", "Accounting, Revealing and Protection of Book Monuments of the Russian Federation", "Memory of Russia" and others.

In addition, the development of the theoretical, methodological foundations of librarianship, the preparation of methodological and regulatory documentation in the field of librarianship is constantly underway. The research department is engaged in the creation of databases, indexes, reviews of a professional-production, scientific-auxiliary, national, recommendatory nature. Questions on theory, technology, organization and methodology of bibliography are also being developed here. The library regularly conducts interdisciplinary research on the historical aspects of book culture.

Activities to expand the activities of the book depository

The tasks of the research department of reading and books include analytical support for the functioning of the library as an instrument of information policy of national importance. In addition, the department is engaged in the development of culturological methods and principles for identifying the most valuable copies of documents and books, the implementation of recommendations in the practice of the institution, the development of programs and projects for the disclosure of library funds. At the same time, work is being carried out on the research and practical introduction of methods for the restoration and conservation of library documentation, examination of fund depositories, methodological and consulting activities.

Lenin Contemporary Library

The official website of the institution contains information about the history of the origin, development of the book depository. Here you can also get acquainted with catalogs, services, events and projects. The institution works from Monday to Friday from 9 am to 8 pm, on Saturday - from 9 to 7 pm. The day off is Sunday.

The library today has a training center for additional and postgraduate professional education of specialists. The activity is carried out on the basis of the license of the FS for supervision in the field of science and education. On the basis of the center, there is a postgraduate course that trains personnel in the specialties of "bibliology", "bibliography" and "library science". The Dissertation Council operates in the same areas, whose competence includes the awarding of the academic degrees of Doctor and Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences. This department is allowed to accept for protection the work of specialization in educational and historical sciences.

Recording rules

Reading rooms (of which there are 36 today in the book depository) can be used by all citizens - both of the Russian Federation and foreign countries - upon reaching the age of eighteen. Recording is made in an automated mode, which provides for the issuance of a plastic ticket to readers, where there is a personal photo of the citizen. To obtain a library card, you must present a passport with a residence permit (or for students - a record book or student card, for graduates - a document on education.

Remote and online registration

The library operates a remote recording system. In this case, an electronic library ticket is created. For registration, foreign citizens will need a document proving their identity, translated into Russian. To register an electronic ticket, a person will have to send the entire package of necessary papers by mail. In addition, online booking is valid. It is available to readers registered on the site. Online registration is carried out from the Personal Account.

The Russian State Library is the largest public library in Russia and continental Europe. It existed as part of the Rumyantsev Museum since 1882. Since 1924 - the V.I.Ulyanov (Lenin) Russian Public Library. In 1925 it was transformed into State Library of the USSR named after V.I. Lenin (GBL), in 1992 - to the Russian State Library.

How to purchase a subscription and library card

They enroll in the Russian State Library of Russian and foreign citizens upon reaching the age of 14, in the main building (on Vozdvizhenka), in the branch in Khimki, the Jewish Museum and the Tolerance Center. Documents - passport, for foreigners - passport and visa, for citizens with an academic degree - passport and diploma. A plastic library card (free) with a photo is issued. If you lose your ticket, a duplicate costs 100 rubles.

A subscription is issued with a library card, in the information desk for the desired number of orders (10 orders - 100 rubles). This makes it possible to order books in advance by phone, informing the title, author, and imprint of the publication.

How to work with the "Leninka" funds

1. Use the electronic catalog (or paper in the library building), search for the necessary publications, print out or write down the code, title, author of the book.
2. Come to the library with a library card, fill out a questionnaire at the entrance. In demanding sheets of paper you enter the data of the editions with which you want to work. Give the demanding sheet to the library staff. After 2-3 hours (maximum waiting time), you will receive publications upon presentation of the questionnaire completed at the entrance and a library card. The waiting time depends on the number of orders for a certain storage tier; it is better to place an order in advance - by phone (if you have a subscription) or via the Internet. The publications that are in the reading room, and not in the repository, are available for work without ordering.
3. You work with books within the walls of the library without lending to your home. In case of dilapidation or the absence of paper versions of the publication, they issue microfilms.
4. When returning books, a corresponding mark is put on the questionnaire, which must be returned when leaving the library.

Foundations

Readers have access to the central main fund (a universal collection of continuing publications, books, magazines, documents for official use in Russian, foreign languages ​​other than eastern, languages ​​of the peoples of Russia), the central subsidiary fund (duplicate publications), collections of maps, sound recordings, rare books, manuscripts and other publications.

Services

• Copying (chargeable) from paper source and microfilm - scanning, transfer to paper, transfer to film.
• Free Wi-Fi for regular readers.
• Virtual reference service (free).
• Excursions to all buildings and foundations, visiting the Museum of the Book (paid).
• Individual user account (paid) - for personal and group work (up to 4 people). PC with Internet access, Skype, office and sound programs.
• Canteen.

Many people still associate the Russian State Library with the name "Leninka". But not everyone knows that this well-known name appeared more than 80 years ago: on February 6, 1925.

Today the Russian State Library (RSL), the largest in Europe and the second in the world after the US Library of Congress in terms of the size and importance of the collection of books, has more than 43 million collection of printed documents in 247 languages. The reading rooms of the library are visited on average by 5 thousand people every day, who order more than 35 thousand documents. And through the Internet, library resources in various forms are already used by several hundred clients a day.

On that day, February 6, 1925, the library of the State Rumyantsev Museum (RM) was officially transformed into the V.I.Lenin State Library of the USSR (GBL), and the public library popular among Muscovites (in everyday life - Rumyantsevka) soon became known as Leninka. This is an unofficial name that has long been assigned to one of the largest libraries in the world, the largest library in Europe, PR-technologists are named among the 5 most famous and "promoted" brands of Russian non-profit organizations, such as Moscow State University, Bolshoi Theater, Airborne Forces, the Hermitage and the Academy of Sciences.

The official history of one of the world's largest national libraries began 178 years ago and is associated with the name of Count Nikolai Petrovich Rumyantsev, the founder of a private museum he created in St. Petersburg.

For almost a century, the Library functioned as a part of the museum complex, which kept the name of the Rumyantsev Museum unchanged. The library unofficially bore the same name.

The move in 1918 of the government of revolutionary Russia to Moscow, which returned the status of the capital, radically changed the life of the city and its institutions. The library gained independence. From 1925 to 1992 it was called the V. I. Lenin State Library of the USSR. And now it is the Russian State Library (RSL).

Within the walls of the library there is a collection of domestic and foreign documents, unique in its completeness and universal in content. The collections of the RSL contain specialized collections of maps, sheet music, sound recordings, rare books, publications, dissertations, newspapers, etc. There is no field of science or practice that has not been reflected in the sources stored here.

The introduction of new technologies, as one of the priority areas of development, made it possible for the library to acquire and create new information products in electronic form, providing users with new types of services. The electronic catalogs of the RSL on display today amount to about 1,852,000 entries.

But with the introduction of information technologies for the disclosure of intellectual wealth, the RSL faced the threat of information theft. The adoption of additional measures to ensure information security was caused by the need to prevent unauthorized copying of materials provided to the library's readers for informational purposes.

Let's turn to history.

1827, November 3. Letter from SP Rumyantsev to Emperor Nicholas I: “Most Merciful Sovereign! My deceased brother, expressing his desire to me to compose the Museum ... "

1828, January 3. Letter from Emperor Nicholas I to S. P. Rumyantsev: “Count Sergei Petrovich! I learned with particular pleasure that, following the promptings of your zeal for the good of the common, we intend to transfer the Museum, which belongs to you, known for its precious collections, to the jurisdiction of the Government, in order to make it accessible to all and thus contribute to the success of public education. I express to you my good pleasure and gratitude for this gift brought to the sciences and the Fatherland by you and wishing to preserve the memory of the founders of this useful institution, I ordered to call this Museum Rumyantsev. "

1861, June 27. The commission consisting of: N. V. Isakov, A. V. Bychkov, V. F. Odoevsky - began to transfer the Rumyantsev Museum to the Ministry of Public Education and prepare for the transfer of the collection of N. P. Rumyantsev to Moscow.

1861, August 5. Dispatches from the Director of the Imperial Public Library M. A. Korf to the Minister of the Imperial Court V. F. Apleberg: “I have the honor to notify you, my dear Sire, that the delivery of houses and all property of the Rumyantsev Museum, together with the residual amounts of this institution, to the Ministry of Public Education has been completed 1 this August ... "

The transfer of the Rumyantsev Museum to Moscow was predetermined. In the 1850s and 1860s, a movement for the creation of public libraries, museums, and educational institutions expanded in Russia. The abolition of serfdom was approaching. In these years, new enterprises and banks appeared in Moscow, and railway construction expanded. Working people, young people of various ranks poured into the Mother See. The demand for a free book has grown exponentially. A public library could meet this need. Such a library was in St. Petersburg. In Moscow, there was a university founded in 1755 with a good library serving professors and students. There were rich bookstores, fine private collections. But this did not solve the problem, and many saw the need to solve it.

The Rumyantsev Museum, established in 1828 and founded in 1831 in St. Petersburg, has been part of the Imperial Public Library since 1845. The museum was poor. The curator of the Rumyantsev Museum V.F. Odoevsky, having lost hope of receiving funds to maintain the museum, offered to transport the Rumyantsev collections to Moscow, where they would be in demand and preserved. Odoevsky's note about the plight of the Rumyantsev Museum, addressed to the Minister of the State Court, was "accidentally" seen by the trustee of the Moscow educational district N.V. Isakov and gave it a go.

On May 23, 1861, the Committee of Ministers adopted a resolution on the transfer of the Rumyantsev Museum to Moscow and on the creation of the Moscow Public Museum. In 1861, the acquisition and organization of funds began. The movement of the Rumyantsev collections from St. Petersburg to Moscow began.

We must pay tribute to the Moscow authorities - Governor-General P. A. Guchkov and N. V. Isakov. With the support of the Minister of Public Education EP Kovalevsky, they invited all Muscovites to take part in the formation of the newly created, as they said at the time, "Museum of Sciences and Arts". They turned for help from Moscow societies - Noble, Merchant, Meshchansky, publishing houses, and individual citizens. And Muscovites hastened to help their long-awaited library, their museums. More than three hundred book and manuscript collections, individual priceless gifts have been added to the fund of the Moscow Public and Rumyantsev Museums.

On July 1, 1862, Emperor Alexander II approved (“authorized”) the “Regulations on the Moscow Public Museum and the Rumyantsev Museum”. The Statute was the first legal document that determined the management, structure, directions of activity, admission to the Library of Museums of a legal deposit, the staffing table of a publicly accessible Museum with a public library, which was part of this museum, which was being created for the first time in Moscow.

The Moscow public and Rumyantsev museums included, in addition to the library, departments of manuscripts, rare books, Christian and Russian antiquities, departments of fine arts, ethnographic, numismatic, archaeological, mineralogical.

The book collection of the Rumyantsev Museum became part of the book collection, and the manuscript one - part of the manuscript fund of the Moscow Public Museum and the Rumyantsev Museum, museums that preserved the memory of the State Chancellor in their name, celebrated the days of his birth and death, and most importantly - followed the behest of N.M. Rumyantsev - to serve the benefit of the Fatherland and good education.

From 1910 to 1921, the director of the Museums was Prince Vasily Dmitrievich Golitsyn. During a difficult turning point, Golitsyn skillfully managed museums. Golitsyn was the last director of the Moscow Public and Rumyantsev Museum, the only and last director of the Imperial Moscow and Rumyantsev Museum, and the first director of the post-revolutionary State Rumyantsev Museum. Under Golitsyn, the library of the Rumyantsev Museum since 1913 for the first time began to receive money for the acquisition of the fund; a new picture gallery with the Ivanovsky hall was built; the building of the new book depository; a reading room for 300 seats was built; after several years of forced stay in the Historical Museum, Leo Tolstoy's manuscripts returned to the Rumyantsev Museum; Tolstoy's Cabinet was built; on the initiative and with the active participation of Vasily Dmitrievich in 1913, the "Society of Friends of the Rumyantsev Museum" was created "with the aim of assisting the Rumyantsev Museum in the implementation of its cultural tasks." For the first four post-revolutionary years, Golitsyn continued to fulfill his duty as director of the Rumyantsev Museum: the Museum received an increasing flow of new, less educated readers, which created certain difficulties in service, sent emissaries around the country so as not to let the collections that had lost their owners disappear. In 1918, Golitsyn was invited to work in the Museum and Household Commission of the Moscow City Council, which was engaged in examining estates, personal collections, and the library, issuing certificates of protection to their owners. In 1918, in accordance with the new regulation of the Rumyantsev Museum, V.D. Golitsyn became the chairman of the Committee of employees. On March 10, 1921, on the basis of an order from the IBSC, Golitsyn was arrested and soon released without charge. From May 1921 until the last day of his life, V.D. Golitsyn was the head of the art department of the State Rumyantsev Museum, then the State Library of the USSR. V.I. Lenin.

By the early 1920s, the Library of the Moscow Public and Rumyantsev Museums. The Imperial Moscow and Rumyantsev Museums, since February 1917 - the State Rumyantsev Museum (RM) was already an established cultural and scientific center.

On May 5, 1925, the director of the State Russian Museum Library, which on February 6, 1925, was transformed into the V. I. Lenin State Library of the USSR, was appointed professor, party historian, statesman and party leader Vladimir Ivanovich Nevsky. After his arrest in 1935, Elena Fedorovna Rozmirovich, a participant in the revolutionary movement and state building, was appointed director for the first time in the history of the Library. In 1939, she was transferred to the post of director of the Literary Institute, and the state and party leader, candidate of historical sciences, former director of the State Public Historical Library Nikolai Nikiforovich Yakovlev became the director of the V.I.Lenin State Library of the USSR.

In 1921 the Library becomes a state book depository.

Special mention should be made of the systematic catalog. Until 1919, the Rumyantsev Museum Library fund was reflected in only one alphabetical catalog. By this time, the volume of the fund had already exceeded one million units. The need to create a systematic catalog was discussed earlier, but due to the lack of opportunities, the question was postponed. In 1919, by a resolution of the Council of People's Commissars, the State Rumyantsev Museum was allocated significant funds for its development, which made it possible to increase the staff, create scientific departments, attract leading scientists to work, start creating new Soviet tables of library and bibliographic classification, and building a systematic catalog on their basis. This is how a huge work began, which required more than one decade of labor not only of the staff of the Lenin Library and other libraries, but also of many scientific institutions, scientists in various fields of knowledge.

In the 1920s – 1930s, the V. I. Lenin State Library of the USSR was a leading scientific institution. First of all, it is the largest information base of science. There is no scientist in the country who would not turn to this source of wisdom.

The library stands at the head of one of the important branches of science - library science.

Director of the Library V. I. Nevsky begins construction of a new building of the Library, rebuilds the entire work of the Library, helps to publish the Trinity copy of Russkaya Pravda from the department of manuscripts, actively participates in the activities of the Academia publishing house (several volumes of the series “Russian Memoirs , diaries, letters and materials "on the history of literature, social thought are built on the materials of the Library's fund and are distinguished by a high scientific level, culture of publication). V. I. Nevsky and D. N. Egorov belonged to the "general idea and general management of the implementation" of the collection "Death of Tolstoy". Nevsky wrote an introductory article to this collection. D. N. Egorov was repressed, died in exile. V. I. Nevsky was repressed in 1935, shot in 1937. Repressed were the director of the State Rumyantsev Museum V. D. Golitsyn (1921), historians, staff members of the Library Yu. V. Gautier, S. V. Bakhrushin, D. N. Egorov, I. I. Ivanov-Polosin in 1929– In the 1930s they were arrested in connection with the Academic case. Dozens of Library employees were repressed in the 1920s – 1930s.

In the first two war years, 58% (1057 book titles) were acquired and over 20% of periodicals that were not received from the Book Chamber as a legal deposit. The library's management succeeded in getting newspapers, magazines, brochures, posters, leaflets, slogans and other publications published by the Military Publishing House, political departments of fronts and armies to be handed over to it.

In 1942 the library had book exchange relations with 16 countries, with 189 organizations. The exchange was most intensive with England and the United States. The second front will not open soon, in 1944, but here, during the incomplete first war year (July 1941 - March 1942), the Library sends 546 letters with an offer of exchange to various countries, primarily in English, and from a number of countries consent was obtained. During the war years, more precisely from 1944, the issue of transferring candidate and doctoral dissertations to the Library was resolved. The fund was actively recruited through the purchase of antique domestic and world literature.

The issue of preserving the fund acquired particular importance during the war years in the conditions of the approach of the Nazis to Moscow, the raids of enemy aircraft. On June 27, 1941, a resolution of the party and government "On the procedure for the export and deployment of human contingents and valuable property" was adopted. Immediately began preparations for the evacuation of its most valuable funds and our Library. The director of the library, N.N. Yakovlev, was appointed an authorized person of the People's Commissariat for the evacuation of library and museum valuables from Moscow. About 700 thousand units were evacuated from Leninka (rare and especially valuable publications, manuscripts). On the long journey - first to Nizhny Novgorod, then to Perm (then the city of Molotov), ​​selected, packed books and manuscripts were accompanied by a group of GBL employees. All valuables were preserved, in 1944 they were re-evacuated and placed on the shelves of the Library's repositories.

The builders also saved the fund, that by the beginning of the war they managed to build an 18-tier book depository made of iron and concrete for 20 million storage units, and, of course, the Library staff, who transferred the entire fund and all catalogs from the fire-hazardous Pashkov house to the new storehouse.

In the extreme conditions of wartime, the library performed all its functions. When the Nazis approached Moscow, when many residents of the city were leaving the capital, there were 12 readers in the reading room of the Library on October 17, 1941. They were served, books were picked up, and delivered from the new storage to the reading room in the Pashkov House. Incendiary bombs fell on the library building. Air raids during the raids forced everyone, both readers and employees, to move to the bomb shelter. And it was necessary to think about the safety of books in these conditions. Instructions on the conduct of readers and employees during an air raid alert are developed and strictly followed. There was a special instruction for the children's reading room ...

These are just some of the milestones in the history of the famous Leninka, which is rightfully considered a relic and treasure of Russia.

Only facts

The library contains over 43 million documents in 249 languages ​​of the world. About 2.5 thousand employees work.

A year - 1.5 million Russian and foreign users.

International book exchange - with 98 countries of the world.

The library registers 150-200 new readers every day.

An employee of the General Systematic Catalog travels a distance of 3 kilometers during a working day and carries 180 boxes with a total weight of 540 kg. But since 2001, an electronic general systematic catalog has been operating, so you can find the information you need without leaving your computer.