Libraries of Russia: Samara Regional Universal Scientific library celebrates its 150th anniversary

In commemoration of its 150^th anniversary the Samara Regional Universal Scientific library is going to hold a number of exhibitions and implement some innovations. A unique exposition of library’s books “We preserve and create” will open today. Therefore each department has chosen first library’s editions, first reference editions and dictionaries, unique books of XIX c. in different languages, and rare periodicals.

Some of these books are represented in the library in a single copy. The rare book collections department will prepare a collection “The first books of the Samara Public Library”. Although the first catalogue came out in 1864 already the first issue of “Samara guberniya vedomosti” from 1860, and precisely an article which is dedicated to the public library opening provides information on donations to the library fund. Books were donated by townspeople, organizations and other libraries.

Electronic information sector in its turn will open a “window into the world of knowledge” to its readers. This department’s exposition will display educational and scientific resources on CDs, information about electronic resources off-line.

The periodicals sector together with the principal book repository department will provide the readers a unique opportunity to familiarize themselves with the exhibition “The Samara Regional Scientific Universal Library: history continues… Magazines’ survey: from rarity to multimedia”. Among the exposition’s rarities are such editions as “Pre-school education” (1911), “Planned economy” (1924), “Money and credit” (1938) etc. Magazines’ pages will tell the story of the magazines in XX c. and also urgent issues of current publications. They will also focus on the change of the world, the country, and science in course of the last century.

Among special gifts, prepared by the foreign literature department to the library’s guests are unique publications of XIX – beginning of XX c. These are “The Jewish grammar by Gesenius”, which was published by the Imperial Academy of Sciences in 1874, an album with paintings and sketches by Raphael with commentaries in German, “Lingvo Internacia” – the book, published in 1909 in Esperanto, which is dedicated to the prominent artists, prose writers and poets. Books in French of the late XIX c. attract a keen interest. They cover the stories, read by young pupils of those times during Christmas holidays and recited in the New-Year Eve. The “Complete French-Russian dictionary” compiled by Nicholas Makarov in 1915 will help to read them.

The legal and patent-technical information department will hold the exhibition “Intellectual capital of the legal and patent-technical information department fund: traditions and prospects”. It will focus the visitors on inventions, which obtained copyrights certificates and patents. By the way, the Regional Scientific Library houses the only one complete set of inventions’ description of Russia in the hard-copy form in Samara region. It will also represent books related to the issues of intellectual property, inventory, scientific work and industrial catalogues of different years. Exhibition’s guests will also have a chance to see the oldest book of the department – “Privileges on inventions. Trademarks”, published already in 1914. The pearl of this exhibition is the only one in Volga region database “World inventions”.

These are all up-coming events and today at 4 p.m. the Regional Scientific Library will hold a presentation of the “Samara bibliophiles-3” collected articles. The collection, prepared by the leading Samara local history specialists, historians, bibliophiles, library’s fellows and readers, - is the research work on the history of book collections and certain copies of rare and valuable books.