Today is the anniversary of an active highly qualified specialist marked, whose professional experience deserves special attention and respect. Irina Alexandrovna Prilishch is one of the galaxy of librarians, who, without exaggeration, can be called the creators of librarianship, who carried the passion for their favourite profession and gave it all their strength over the years and hardships.
She was born in the city of Balashov, Saratov region, in the family of a teacher. In 1939, the girl and her parents moved to the North Caucasus, to the village of Sentsovskaya in the Sunzhensky district of the Grozny region (now the Republic of Ingushetia), where she went to the first grade.
Since 1948, the permanent residence of the family has been Belarus, the village of Timkovichi, Kopylsky district, Minsk region, where Irina continued her schooling.
After graduating from Timkovichi Secondary School named after K. Chorny in 1956 with a silver medal, the girl first got acquainted with library work "from the inside": for several months she worked in the library of the Blevchitsky seven-year school.
Having decided to link her life with librarianship, Irina entered the library faculty of the Minsk State Pedagogical Institute named after A.M. Gorky (now the Belarusian State Pedagogical University named after M. Tank) in the same year. In 1960, she received a diploma of librarian and bibliographer of the highest qualification and was sent to the library inspectorate of the Department of Cultural and Educational Institutions of the Ministry of Culture of the BSSR as a senior inspector.
A year later, Irina Alexandrovna was voluntarily transferred to the State Library of the BSSR named after V.I. Lenin (now the National Library of Belarus), where she worked for more than ten years as a senior bibliographer, senior editor and chief librarian in the department of processing and catalogues.
From the materials of the personal file: "Comrade. Prilishch I. A. heads the most responsible part of the work on the creation of two new catalogs, she has achieved significant over-fulfillment of planned tasks by her subordinates by increasing labor productivity, introducing new, more effective methods of work."
Irina Alexandrovna's brilliant professional knowledge, full dedication and high efficiency were noticed by the library management and in May 1975 she was transferred to the position of the head of art department.
"The library has raised me as a person and a specialist. With the help of senior colleagues, I gained experience and skill [ ... ] in whatever area I worked, I was always interested, the work fascinated me, and therefore I consider myself a happy person. It was interesting to me because I wanted to look for something to change and improve," she writes years later.
In July 1980, I.A. Prilishch moved to the position of director of the Republican Scientific and Pedagogical Library.
"At the invitation of the Ministry of Education of the BSSR, I took the position of director of this [approx. out. - Republican Scientific and Pedagogical] library. It was interesting to work, but I suffered from nostalgia for my Leninka, where I had already worked for 20 years at that time, and therefore after 6 years I still returned back," she recalls this period of her life.
Irina Alexandrovna returned to the State Library of the BSSR named after V.I. Lenin to an important and responsible position – Deputy Director for scientific work. It is difficult to overestimate her contribution to the development of the country's main library and the library industry as a whole. Possessing excellent analytical abilities, a high level of responsibility and endless dedication to her beloved work, I.A. Prilishch faultlessly coped with the tasks that professional life set before her and the entire library community.
Irina Alexandrovna is on the right in the foreground
In her memoirs, she lists "even my own previous experience did not eliminate the need to strain all my strength and knowledge to solve specific problems. Of these, the most significant ones are remembered: the defense of the methodological function of the National Library in the Ministry of Culture, changes in the structure of the library of departments subordinate to the Deputy director for Scientific Work; optimization of the structure in the library system of the republic; the search for optimal methods of interaction with regional libraries; work on the creation and participation in the activities of the Belarusian Library Association".
Thanks to Irina Alexandrovna's personal efforts, regional libraries have strengthened their status as scientific and methodological centers of the regions, with her participation the library network of the country was formed, the process of automation of library and bibliographic processes took place. In the early 1990s, on the initiative of I.A. Prilishch, the program "Heritage" ("Spadchyna") was developed, aimed at increasing the role of libraries in the revival of national culture.
Irina Alexandrovna paid a lot of attention and time to the development of regulatory and regulatory documents on librarianship, including the Law on Librarianship in the Republic of Belarus (1995), the Concept of the Development of the country's Librarianship, etc.
At a meeting of the Council of Veterans, 2007. Irina Alexandrovna is in the centre
Irina Alexandrovna – the editor and compiler of a number of publications: "Working with visual materials in a mass library: instructional and methodological writing" (1977), "Working with notes in a centralized library system: instructional and methodological recommendations" (1980), "Maintaining documents on the accounting of library collections in school libraries: methodological recommendations", "Theatre of the book: (methodological recommendations to libraries)" (1988), "Organization of library services for residents of sparsely populated areas: (methodological advice)" (1992), "Local history activity of libraries: (methodological recommendations)" (1994), "Collection of regulatory documents on librarianship in the Republic of Belarus" (1996), "Library management: theoretical aspects and methodological recommendations" (1998), etc.
She easily managed to combine her diverse professional activities with participation in the public life of the library: she was repeatedly elected a member of the Komsomol bureau, was a member of the editorial board of the Komsomol Searchlight, was chairman of the trade union committee and the people's control group, deputy secretary of the party organization for ideology.
I.A. Prilishch's long-term fruitful work was awarded with awards of various levels: the Certificate of Honor of the Ministry of Culture of the BSSR and the BRK of the Trade Union of Cultural Workers (1968), the jubilee medal "For Valiant Labor. In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin" (1970), the badge "For excellent Work" of the Ministry of Culture of the USSR (1972), the Diploma of the Ministry of Education of the BSSR (1985), the medal "Veteran of Labor" (1986). In 1991, Irina Alexandrovna was awarded the Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya Medal for her active cultural and educational activities.
In 1997, she went on a well-deserved rest, but even today she is keenly interested in the life of her beloved library, gladly accepts invitations to meetings of veterans.
At the celebration of the 95th anniversary of the NBB, 2017. Irina Alexandrovna is the last on the right
"Looking back at my life (especially life), lived within the walls of the NBB, I would like to emphasize the extremely warm atmosphere that has always surrounded me, starting from the processing department and ending with the directorate. Calm, even, friendly relations created conditions so that all forces could be directed to the performance of their official duties," Irina Alexandrovna recalls with nostalgia.
With great respect and joy, the staff of the National Library congratulates Irina Alexandrovna on the anniversary date. We wish you the strongest health and well-being, kindness and female happiness, the brightest sunny colours in life! Let what is most precious in the world be strong – health and family! Let there always be a holiday in your soul, life pleases with warm meetings, joyful events, smiles and kind words of people close to your heart.
The material was prepared by the Research Department of Library Science.
Read about veterans and employees of the National Library of Belarus in the section "Portraits: the history of the library in faces".
