Kursk Regional Scientific Library named after N. N. Aseev

The Kursk Regional Library opened on May 16, 1935. The foundation of the fund was the books transferred from the libraries of the region and the city, including the Semenovsk Public Library - a total of about 200 thousand copies. Currently, the book fund of the Kursk Regional Library is 2,522,061 copies. Continuing the traditions of the Central Provincial Semenov Library, our library has successfully organized services for the population, provided methodological assistance to the libraries of the city and region, and joined numerous political campaigns. In 1937, the work of the libraries of the region was checked by the commission of narcompros. As a result of the inspection, the order of the Deputy People’s Commissar N. K. Krupskaya of May 16, 1937 No. 1208 “On blunting class vigilance and glazing in the work of the Kursk Oblono on libraries” appeared, which noted the poor staffing of libraries with Marxist-Leninist literature, Stalin’s works, the absence of methodological instructions for working with the Stalinist constitution, anti-religious and defense literature. The order, which coincided with the second anniversary of the library, had serious consequences for the young library. It spoke of wrecking, expressed in the clogging of funds by counter-revolutionary literature, that the catalogs of the library distracted the reader from the Marxist-Leninist book, focused on reading class-unacceptable literature, including religious. As a result, three of the library employees were subjected to repression, including two directors - Alexandrov and Tokmakov, both died in Stalinist camps, and are now rehabilitated. During the Great Patriotic War, the library staff came to its defense, saving book valuables and the building from incendiary bombs and destruction. This difficult period left in the history of the library the names of loyal, courageous and honest people, whom today we remember with gratitude. These are A.A. Averkin and V.V. Belkin, who, experiencing cold, hunger and other hardships that befell them in Sarapul of the Udmurt ASSR, did everything in order to preserve the evacuated fund and its most valuable books for Kursk and its native library. This is V.A. Yakimova, appointed acting director in September 1941. Remaining in the occupied Kursk, she managed to protect the library from the arbitrariness of the occupiers, organized work in the library of the remaining colleagues who managed to protect the book valuables from export to Germany. After the liberation of Kursk, the regional library organized services for military units wounded in hospitals. During this period, funds are put in order, the IBA is revived, seminars are held, and professional development courses are in place. In 1944-1945, most of the library workers of the region passed short-term training at the courses. The task of restoring the pre-war level of the region and further development of library business was solved by 1950. In the 50s, the construction of a new library building began, the grand opening of which took place in July 1965. And in March of the same year, by the resolution of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR, the Kursk Regional Library was named after the famous poet, Kuryan Nikolai Nikolaevich Aseev. In the library, specialized departments are being created - servicing agricultural workers, a patent and technical department. The period of the 1970s was the time of the most intensive development of library business in the region. In 1971, under the leadership of the regional library, the centralization of the library business of the region, completed in 1979, began, which contributed to the improvement of the quality of library services for the population and the unification of workers of previously separated libraries into production teams of the CBS. In the central district libraries, information and methodological services were headed by qualified specialists. During this period, an attempt is made to create a single consolidated catalog of libraries of the region, which failed due to the lack of personnel and material support. From 1974 to 1993, on the basis of the Department of Patent and Technical Literature, the Public Institute of Patent Science functioned, after which the qualification - patent expert VOIR was awarded. In the 1980s, the library organized its work in the light of the "Regulations on Library Affairs in the USSR" (1984), which fixed the duties of libraries in the communist education of the population, but at the same time noted not only the ideological, but also the scientific and information functions of libraries. The Globus Country Club was established in 1981 at the Department of Literature in Foreign Languages and now has 150 permanent members who are united by a love of books, a desire to get information about different countries and peoples of the world, an interest in learning foreign languages and the opportunity to communicate with foreign friends. During these years, the partnership of the regional library with the libraries of Germany (Witten), Hungary (Vesprem), Poland (Skernewitz) developed. The introduction of BBK required serious efforts, first of all, from the literature processing departments of the regional and central district libraries, but the transfer of funds and catalogs of mass libraries to a new classification system was completed by the Kursk region. New libraries were opened in Kursk and other cities of the region, in two working-class settlements. An important event that caused certain difficulties for libraries, accustomed to work under ideological pressure, was the deideologization of library business with its pluralism of ideas, the rehabilitation of previously banned books, the opening of a special store in the regional scientific library, the release of copies of communist literature from excessive in library funds. In the 90s, computerization began in major scientific libraries of the country. Kursk ONB named after N.N. Aseev in accordance with the federal program of informatization of libraries receives new equipment. However, the introduction of new technologies is complicated by the difficult economic situation of the region. Kursk ONB named after N. N. Aseev is a participant in a number of library studies: "Book and reading in the life of a modern village" (1969-1970), "Dynamics of reading in mass libraries" (1979-1980), "Features of reading socio-political literature in mass libraries" (1974-1986). Since 1957, the library has been independently conducting research on the topic "History of library business in the Kursk region". The library produces up to 24 titles per year of information and bibliographic and methodical publications, among which the central place is occupied by local history bibliographic indexes "Kursk region", "Invented in the Kursk region", "Folklore of the Kursk region", etc. Today Kursk Regional Scientific Library named after N. N. Aseev is a cultural and scientific-informational, methodical and educational center, the largest book depository of the Kursk region. The library consists of 16 departments and 11 sectors serving different categories of users. Annually, the library fund is used by more than 37 thousand people, and daily it is visited by more than 700 people. Special attention in the work of the library is paid to the development of social partnership with authorities, interaction with public organizations and institutions, joint programs are being implemented to introduce different segments of the population to culture, books and reading. The Kursk Regional Scientific Library named after N.N. Aseev plays a leading role in the formation of the library policy of the region, is the initiator and developer of the Law of the Kursk Region “On Library Affairs of the Kursk Region”, adopted by the Kursk Regional Duma in February 2004. The history of the Kursk Regional Scientific Library named after N.N. Aseev is a part of the history of Russia and the Kursk Territory, a reflection of their cultural and political life. 70 years is an honorable date for the library. It contains the history of the origin of culture in the Kursk Territory, the spiritual connection of times and generations and the hope for its further development and prosperity.