May 15 marks the 95th birth anniversary of Ms Valentina Bakhankova, a highly qualified librarian and a veteran of the National Library of Belarus.
Ms Bakhankova was born in the village of Studenets of the Kostyukovichi district of the Mogilev region in a farmer's family. The Great Patriotic War changed the plans of a sixteen-year-old girl. From 1941, after finishing her ninth year at school, she was forced to stop her studies and work on the farm in her native village during wartime, contributing to the victory.
Immediately after the war, Valentina graduated from school and entered the Faculty of Geography at the Mogilev State Pedagogical Institute. After graduating in 1949, she began teaching Geography, Natural Sciences and Chemistry. She taught at the eight-year school of the Gomel village of the Polotsk district in the Vitebsk region for thirteen years.
In 1962, Ms Bakhankova moved to Minsk together with her husband and three children. Here fate brought her to the library: she was accepted as a Librarian in the Department of the Belarusian Literature and Bibliography of the BSSR State Library named after V.I. Lenin in February 1965.
Five years later, Ms Bakhankova became Senior Bibliographer, a year later – Senior Editor of the Department. Excellent professional knowledge and accumulated work experience allowed her to lead the Storage Sector of the National Collections in 1978.
Ms Bakhankova was known as one of the compilers of the bibliographic quarterly index "The Belarusian SSR during the Years of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union (1941-1945)", which at that time was the only one dedicated to the subject in the USSR. Since 1983, she, along with other employees of the Department, worked on a joint project with the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR on the creation of a retrospective index “The Belarusian SSR during the Years of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union”.
Ms Bakhankova actively participated in the public life of the Department and the Library and was a member of the people's control. Her professional achievements were noted by the Library administration: she was repeatedly put forward on the Board of Honour, received letters of appreciation and diplomas from the library administration.
Ms Bakhankova devoted 26 years of work to the Department of the Belarusian Literature and Bibliography of the National Library of Belarus, making a significant contribution to the preservation and popularization of the Belarusian national press. She went on a well-deserved rest at the age of 66.
Ms Bakhankova enjoyed a well-deserved authority among her colleagues and readers due to the tenderness and kindness of her character. Colleagues recall her as a hardworking and highly qualified specialist, who was very responsible, accurate and attentive in performing the tasks entrusted to her. Even today, people never fail to appreciate her personal contribution to the development of the “Belarusian Department” and the Library as a whole.
Ms Evgenia Galievskaya warmly recalls her colleague:
“... Ms Bakhankova was so practical, that even the youth found it hard to catch up with her strength and energy. She was very modest, having had beautiful eyes and beautiful handwriting. Like many empathic people, she couldn't just stay still, she had a strong team and often helped young employees ... ."
There is a lot of respect and gratitude in the memory of Mr Dmitry Davidovsky: “... She was my first chief. I liked how she directed the young staff. When I or somebody else asked her to help find a book or a magazine she said: "You want it, you'll find it." And so we did! Eventually we did find everything we needed. Thanks to this method, it didn't take much time for me to learn our collections, the structure, layout and what the books looked like. Ms Bakhankova instilled in me a habit of not just handing over a book to a reader, but also to look it through beforehand to be aware of the general gist, so in the end I could easily replace a bibliographer on duty and give the readers the most accurate and complete information. What books to use to start writing a thesis or a dissertation, for example. The principle "You want it, you'll find it" works: only this way you can become a real pro."
Ms Bakhankova passed away in 2007.
Bibliology Research Department
Read about the veterans and employees of the National Library of Belarus in "Our History: a Portrait Gallery" section.
