Russian State Library facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Quick facts for kids Russian State Library


Main building of the library. The façade still retains the Soviet-era name "Lenin State Library of the USSR"
Country	Russia
Type	National library
Established	1862 (163 years ago) (1862)
Location	Moscow
Branches	3
Collection
Items collected	Books, journals, newspapers, magazines, sound and music recordings, patents, databases, maps, stamps, prints, drawings and manuscripts
Size	47.7 million (2020)
Criteria for collection	All publications published in Russia, all Russian-language publications published abroad, all foreign-language publications about Russia and other materials
Legal deposit	Yes, since 1922
Access and use
Access requirements	Users must be at least 14 years old and present a valid passport or ID card.
Circulation	1.116 million (2019)
Members	387,000 (2019)
Other information
Budget	₽2.4 billion (2019)
Director	Vadim Duda [ru]
Staff	1,699 (2019)

The Russian State Library (Russian: Российская государственная библиотека, romanized: Rossiyskaya gosudarstvennaya biblioteka) is a huge library in Moscow, Russia. It is one of the biggest libraries in the world. It is also the largest library in Russia and Europe. In 2017, it had over 47 million items, like books, magazines, and maps.

This library is a federal library. This means the Ministry of Culture helps manage it. The library started in 1862 as the Moscow Public Museum and Rumyantsev Museum. It was later named after Lenin in 1924. People often called it the Lenin Library or Leninka. In 1992, it got its current name, the Russian State Library.

The library has many buildings with different looks. In 2012, its shelves stretched for over 275 kilometers! This included more than 17 million books and 13 million magazines. It also had 370,000 music scores and sound recordings, plus 150,000 maps. The library holds items in 247 languages. About 29 percent of its collection is in foreign languages. By 2017, it had items in over 360 languages.

History of the Library
Library Collections
Research and Publications
Images for kids
See also

History of the Library

The Rumyantsev Library

The Pashkov House, an old building of the Russian State Library. You can see newer buildings on the right.

The library first opened on July 1, 1862. It was Moscow's first free public library. It was part of the Moscow Public Museum and Rumyantsev Museum. People often called it the Rumyantsev library.

The Rumyantsev Museum held the amazing collection of Count Nikolay Rumyantsev. He gave his books and historical items to the Russian people. His collection moved from St. Petersburg to Moscow. It included many books, old writings, coins, and items from different cultures. There were also about 200 paintings and over 20,000 prints from the Hermitage Museum. These items were displayed in the Pashkov House. This beautiful palace was built between 1784 and 1787, close to the Kremlin.

To celebrate the museum's opening, Tsar Alexander II of Russia donated a famous painting. It was called The Appearance of Christ Before the People by A. A. Ivanov. The people of Moscow were very grateful for Count Rumyantsev's gift. They named the new museum after him. They even carved "from Count Rumyantsev for the good Enlightenment" above its entrance. Over the years, the museum grew with many more gifts of items and money. It soon had a large collection of European paintings, old artifacts, and icons. The collection grew so much that the Pashkov House became too small. A second building was built next to it in the early 1900s, especially for the paintings.

The Lenin Library

The main building of the library. In front is a statue of Dostoevsky.

After the October Revolution in Russia, the library's collection grew even more. Again, there wasn't enough space. There were also money problems. Most of the museum's funds went to the Pushkin Museum. So, in 1925, it was decided to close the Rumyantsev Museum. Its collections were sent to other museums and places. Some art and old items went to the Pushkin Museum. The Pashkov House was renamed the Old Building of the Russian State Library.

In 1925, the library was renamed the V. I. Lenin State Library of the USSR. People often called it "Leninka."

A 1939 postage stamp. It shows the first part of the new library building being finished.

In 1927, a competition was held to design new buildings for the Lenin Library. The design by Vladimir Shchuko and Vladimir Gelfreikh was chosen. Construction started in 1930. Famous sculptors like Matvey Manizer worked on the building. The first part was mostly finished by 1941. The building looked like the Palace of Soviets, which was also designed by Shchuko and Gelfreikh. The last part of the plan, a large reading hall, opened in 1945. More additions continued until 1960.

During this time, the library was seen as a "mass library." It was a main library, a national storage place, and a research center. It also helped create lists of books. The library's rules said it should "contribute to the development of communism in USSR." About 5,000 to 6,000 people visited it every day.

The Lenin Library received three copies of every printed item in the Soviet Union. It could use these copies for exchanging books with other libraries. Until 1955, it was one of only two places allowed to exchange books with libraries in other countries. It received over 40,000 international books, mostly about science. By the mid-1950s, it was exchanging books with 60 countries. The library also loaned and borrowed books from libraries both in Russia and abroad.

Reading room three, the largest. You can see a monument to Lenin at the far end.

One of the smaller reading rooms.

In 1961, the library had 22 reading rooms. By 1976, up to 8,000 people visited these rooms daily. A special department helped readers find books. The library also helped other libraries choose books. In 1961, the library had 1,750 librarians and 400 technical staff.

The library's collection was cleaned twice a year. Books with problems were sent to a special department for repair. This department worked on 380,000 pages each year. They also used microfilm to save old books.

By 1968, the main building was full. So, the library started building a new storage area in Khimki. This new building was for newspapers, scientific papers, and less-used books. The first part of the Khimki library was finished in 1975. From 1922 to 1991, at least one copy of every book published in the USSR was sent to the library. This practice continues today. The library is a "legal deposit" library, meaning it legally receives copies of new publications.

The Russian State Library Today

In 1992, President Boris Yeltsin renamed the library the Russian State Library. A law passed in 1994 made it an official national library. This means it stores government documents and foreign documents. It also serves the armed forces and connects other libraries. The Russian State Library works with the National Library of Russia to share tasks like storing new publications.

The reading rooms were organized by topic. Scholars and important people used them. Today, the Russian State Library helps other libraries across the country. It also works to find and record "trophy" items in its collection. The Pashkov House was renovated and finished in 2007. The Ivanovo Hall is now a main exhibition area. There is also a permanent book museum. The library hosts many events. For example, in 2019, a famous rap artist gave a talk in the largest reading room.

Library Collections

The library started with Count Nikolai Petrovich Rumyantsev's personal collection. When he died in 1826, it had about 28,000 to 29,000 books. By 1899, the library had grown to half a million books. In the next 20 years, it reached over 1 million books. The collection grew a lot through buying new items and taking over other collections. In 1951, the Lenin Library had the largest book collection in the world. It stayed the largest until at least 1973. By 1959, the Lenin Library's collections had over 20 million items. In 1961, it had 250,000 rare books. It also had 30,000 old writings from the 11th to 15th centuries. There were 600,000 historical artifacts. By 1994, the library held over 40 million items.

The 19-story storage building can be seen in the background, from Mokhovaya Street.

The storage building as seen from Starovagankovsky Lane.

In 2000, the library had 42 million items. These included books in both living and dead languages. That year, the library received over 357,000 new documents, including foreign ones. The collections include old writings from the sixth century. There are also family records, personal papers of famous people, and a collection of autographs.

Special items include a Gutenberg Bible. This is one of the first books ever printed using movable type. It also has Ivan Fedorov's "Apostles" from 1564. Plus, there are first editions of works by famous scientists like Nicolaus Copernicus, Charles Darwin, and Isaac Newton. The library also holds over 250,000 United Nations documents. Its collections include maps, military books, music, sound recordings, and newspapers. In 2017, it had over 47 million items in 360 languages.

The Electronic Library department started in the mid-1990s. Its first collection had 900,000 theses (long research papers) in Russian. The library also works with the United Nations' Memory of the World Programme. They have digitized old items like the Arkhangelsk Gospel (from 1092) and old Russian newspapers, maps, and posters. They also work with the Library of Congress in the United States and the European Union to digitize more items. For music, they digitize old printed music. This helps save it and makes it easier for people to find and use. The Digital Dissertation Library started in 2003. As it grew, more virtual reading rooms were added, even in other countries.

Research and Publications

The library is a place for research in library science and related fields. The Lenin Library published many things. These included collections, guides, catalogs, and lists of books. It also published works on social and political topics, technical guides, and art-related books. The journal Bibliotekovedenie (Russian Journal of Library Science) [ru] started in 1952. It got its current name in 1993. Another journal, Observatory of Culture [ru], began in 2004. The journal Vostochnaya Kollektsiya (Oriental Collection) was published from 1999 to 2015. It had 61 issues with over 1,200 articles. The library also has its own publishing house, Pashkov Dom Publishing, which started in 1998.