Vladimir Regional Scientific Library - pride of the region

The Vladimir Regional Scientific Library stores treasures in book collections with information on the history of the city and the country. It was created by many generations of citizens. The first attempts to establish a public, public library in Vladimir belong to the beginning of the 19th century.

The first library

The first public library in Vladimir lasted five years and was located in the building of the Noble Assembly. The basis of the book fund was the private library of M. S. Benediktov. It consisted of 965 volumes and was bought for donations from individuals. During the five-year existence of the collection of books and periodicals constantly replenished, newspapers, magazines, books were written out. Users of the library were officials, students, seminarians. AI Herzen, who lived in Vladimir from 1838 to 1840, was also an active reader and, in order to draw the attention of the general public to the needs of the library, wrote an article in the provincial news. But the first library ceased to exist in 1855, all of its heritage was transferred to the gymnasium.

Overall success

The next attempt to revive the library life, however, already in the rank of a private collection of books with wide public access, was undertaken in 1859 on the initiative of N. P. Zlatovratsky. A private library with four thousand volumes is also located in the building of the Noble Assembly. In 1861, due to lack of funds, she was moved from the Noble Assembly to the house of Zlatovratsky, and in 1863 was also closed. The surviving books again moved to the Vladimir Gymnasium.

Several attempts to create a library have been made several times, but the initiative of the Vladimir intelligentsia in 1897 was a success. A board of trustees was created, which included prominent people of the city, and with their help a new library was created. It is located only in two rooms above the trading bazaar rows. The use of books was charged, and voluntary donations were made to the library. By 1902 the collection of books was seven thousand volumes.

Active work

Vladimir Regional Scientific Library is one of the cultural and educational centers of the city. The rise of scientific life within the walls of the organization began in 1918, when the book funds received significant replenishment and an association with the provincial pedagogical library occurred. Changed and the approach to the work of employees. Since 1922, librarians have been engaged in educational activities: they go to industrial enterprises, where they give lectures, talk about new books, fight illiteracy.

The regional library becomes the place of gathering of townspeople, the beginning of many initiatives and numerous circles. Vladimir as one of the major Russian cities educates a new generation of citizens, focusing on education and literacy. In 1930, the library was named after Maxim Gorky. By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, in 1941, the book fund is about forty thousand volumes. In the war years the library did not stop its activity, but the difficult situation affected the collection of books and periodicals, much was lost. In 1945, the library was used by two and a half thousand readers. The library periodically moved in search of a better place to stay, but it was found only in 1964 in a new building on the street. Dzerzhinsky. The Vladimir Regional Scientific Library is now located in the same place.

Achievements

The scientific life in the library is not interrupted, it is constantly replenished with literature and today has outstanding local lore literary monuments. The Vladimir Regional Universal Scientific Library hosts meetings with outstanding writers, musicians, and local lore specialists. There are created and conduct scientific research of 15 departments dealing with preservation and study of literary and scientific heritage, a large storage facility with more than two million items of information storage. During the year, about 27,000 readers use the library's services. Every day more than 300 people visit it, for which not only the fund for issuing books, but also the possibility of using rare specimens. You can get acquainted with them within the library, whose reading rooms are designed for 320 seats. During the year, employees issue more than 810,000 books of different focus.

The Vladimir Regional Scientific Library offers users and readers numerous courses, educational programs, circles, lectures and meetings with the scientific and literary elite of the city.