Anniversary of foundation of the A. M. Gorky Public Library of Primorsky Krai

15 (27) April 1887, in Vladivostok by the decision of City Council opened a "free room for reading." This date is the day of foundation of the A. M. Gorky Public Library of Primorsky Krai - one of the oldest and largest libraries in the Primorye Territory.

From 1887 to December 1913 the library was housed by the City Government on Svetlanskaya str., 55. The first librarian and the head was Aleksandr G. Evseev

Name of the library repeatedly changed depending on the status and the requirements of the time: "The free room for reading" (1887-1901), "The Vladivostok City Public Library n. a. N. V. Gogol "(1902-1925), "The Vladivostok Central District Library n. a. N. V. Gogol "(1925-1929), "The Vladivostok Central City Library n. a. N. V. Gogol "(1930-1935), "The Vladivostok Central City Library n. a. A. M. Gorky" (1935-1944); "The Primorsky Krai Library n. a. A. M. Gorky "(1944-1982)", “The Primorsky Krai Scientific Library n. a. A. M. Gorky "(1983-1990)", "The Primorsky Krai State Public Library n. a. A. M. Gorky" (1991), "The Primorsky Krai Public Library n. a. A. M. Gorky "(from 2011).

At the end of the nineteenth century the library was considered "a quite useful institution that promotes education of the poor, helps to impart culture to the lower classes: sailors, soldiers, clerks, students of educational institutions and to avert them from bad habits."

The library was administered by the Vladivostok City Duma. For its maintenance was allocated a modest allowance from the city treasury. At the head of the library was the Library Committee. The head of the library was appointed by the Duma and approved by the Governor. Term of office of the head and members of the committee coincided with the period of elections to the Duma. The members of the Library Committee, who worked on the voluntary basis, were in charge of the acquisition of books, periodicals, organized services for reader, controlled the budget, participated in the preparation and implementation of various events.

The first decades of the twentieth century had a positive impact on the development of the library, and first of all on the acquisition. In order to expand library services, familiarizing people from the outskirts of Vladivostok to books, the members of the Library Committee efficiently solved the problems of the opening of the library’s branches in the Worker and Sailor suburbs, the Cooper Deep, at the First Fiver.

After the October Revolution of 1917, the Vladivostok City Public Library n. a. N. V. Gogol, being in difficulty, began actively eliminate illiteracy and semi-literacy among the population, was a reference point for the conduct of party, cultural and educational work. Under the leadership of Gubpolitprosveta, libraries and village reading rooms were supplied with books, posters. The library trained workers for village reading rooms of the region, organized their participation in "library campaigns".

In the 1930-s, in accordance with the Resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) of 25 May 1931 "On the establishment of science and technology promotion in the country", the library began an active work to promote the invention, the Stakhanovite movement, the movement of "khetagurovs", the achievements of Soviet pilots.

During the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, in accordance with the Circular of the People's Commissariat of Education (of December 1941), the library’s personnel organized circles to study the tractor and the automobile industry; the exhibitions of military-patriotic and defense literature; presented the people with the messages of the Soviet Information Bureau.

In 1944, the library acquired the status of the regional methodological center. In order to help the city and district libraries in the promotion of advanced production experience, its staff began to publish a series of methodical and bibliographic materials: "The noble people of Primorye", "Libraries - conductors of technical progress," recommendations for holding of reading conferences on literary works, revealing the production problems, and so on.

In the 1960-s the Primorye Regional Library n. a. A. M. Gorky became a center of information services of various specialists. New forms of information services were introduced: information day, specialist day, fairs of scientific and technical ideas, decades of economic literature, publications on construction.

In the 1970-80-s the library took an active part in social and political life of the area: readers' conferences, meetings with interesting people, artists, writers – all that became a feature of the library.

In 1984 the library moved to 59 Nekrasov str., and December 1, opened its doors for the first readers. In 1991, the first charter of the library was approved. Being run by the Department of Culture of Primorsky Krai, the library received the status of an independent legal entity.

In 1992, the employees of the department of acquisition, processing of literature and catalogs, information & bibliographic department of local history bibliography started to create an electronic catalog of books and articles from periodicals. The activities of the library in the area of local history expanded.

Today the A. M. Gorky Public Library of Primorsky Krai is one of the largest regional libraries in Russia. Users can access more than 850, 000 items of universal content, including books, periodicals, electronic, audio and video publications in Russian and foreign languages. Collection of rare editions (over 4, 000 copies) is represented by the Civil print editions of the eighteenth century, lifetime editions of writers of the nineteenth century. Local history editions include over 22, 000 units. Every year the library provides services to over 20, 000 readers, 120, 000 visitors, who loan more than 500, 000 copies of books and other publications. On the web site of the library readers can access electronic catalogs.

The A. M. Gorky Public Library of Primorsky Krai: web site. 2011-2014. URL: http://www.pgpb.ru/.

The material has been provided by the A. M. Gorky Public Library of Primorsky Krai