The Decree “On Centralizing Library Work in RSFSR” approved

In pre-revolutionary Russia there was no special legislation in the field of librarianship. There only existed particular acts which regulated the activities of particular libraries. The October revolution and reforms of the first years of the Soviet rule radically changed the state of these institutions and their role in the country’s life.

Since the libraries were now obliged to propagate the social ideas to the mass, the state began to focus special attention to their performance. The head of the Council of the Peoples’ Commissars, V.I. Lenin, had also repeatedly addressed the library subject area. We know many of his speeches, articles on the issues of the librarianship, decrees “On the Librarianship Establishment” (1918), “On Protection of Libraries and Book Repositories of the RSFSR” (1918) and other.

On November 3, 1910 the Council of the Peoples’ Commissars approved the decree “On Centralization of the Librarianship in RSFSR” that had been repeatedly changed. Under this decree all the libraries in the country regardless of the department they were subordinate to, were declared public libraries, were united into a single library network and were now under the supervision of the Peoples’ Commissariat of Education. It stipulated that all the libraries (except for special ones) should be provided with the books free of charge by the centralized distribution via the system of the distributing centers for libraries that received the editions from the Central distributive committee under the State publishing house.

Not only did the centralization of the librarianship concern the issues of book acquisition. It affected the entire system of the library activities and was targeted to reorganize radically the library as a social institution. In particular, in ’20s-’40s a significant role was attributed to the “purges” of bookshelves from “outdated” and “ideologically pernicious” literature.

In spite of the fact that in 1921, the state aspiring to develop market relations, the book acquisition for libraries became on a fee basis and the decree was not implemented completely, it had contributed to the increase in number of libraries, foundation of the library system and development of library legislation in Russia.

Lit.:  Арканников А. Н. Декрет «О централизации библиотечного дела», как первая попытка создания в России закона о библиотеках // Библиотечное дело на пороге XXI века. Ч. 1. М., 1998; Добренко Е. Искусство принадлежать народу // Новый мир. 1994. № 12; То же [Электронный ресурс]. URL: http://magazines.russ.ru/novyi_mi/1994/12/dobren.html; История библиотечного дела в СССР: Документы и материалы, ноябрь 1920-1929. М., 1979; Клепиков Н. Н. Чистки библиотечных фондов на Европейском Севере РСФСР/СССР в 1920-1930-е гг.// Региональный вестник молодых учёных. История. 2004. № 3; О централизации библиотечного дела в РСФСР: Декрет СНК. 3 ноября 1920 г. // Декреты Советской власти. Т. 11. М., 1983; То же [Электронный ресурс]. URL: http://www.opentextnn.ru/censorship/russia/sov/law/snk/1917/?id=2836.