Source of knowledge: names and events

Another article based on the materials of the periodical of the database "National Library of Belarus in the Press" for the years 1960-1962 will recall the names of already famous library employees and reveal new ones, tell about the opening of its new building and reading room for young people.

Soviet Belarus. 1962.15 September. p. 3. Photo by K. Yakubovich

With great interest, together with the famous journalist and author of photographs Alexander Ditlov, we visited the State Library of the BSSR named after V. I. Lenin in the early 1960s. The author of the article published in the magazine Youth (“Маладосць”) introduced readers to some departments of the library, told them what literature could be ordered from them, about rare copies of books, as well as the daily work of specialists. There is also methodological assistance to regional, district, urban, rural libraries, and the exchange of literature with other libraries, and the work of a home subscription, and exhibitions of literature.

Students, the choirmaster of the cultural center of the Krupskaya sewing factory, a member of the amateur choir, chief librarian Georgy Golenchenko (in 1960-1962 he worked at the State Library of the BSSR), an employee of the interlibrary subscription department Rimma Zinevich, an employee of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR and others got into the camera lens.

                 Youth.(“Маладосць”) 1960. No. 6. p. 123              Youth. (“Маладосць”) 1960. No. 6. p. 123 in the art room.

Georgy Golenchenko's thesis at the All-Union Competition of scientific student papers for the 1959-1960 academic year was highly appreciated, its author was awarded the medal of the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Special Education of the USSR “for the best student work”.

Youth.(“Маладосць”) 1960. No. 6. p. 124

The head of the library's reading room, Nadezhda Stepanovna Chernenko, in "Soviet Belorussia" (“Советской Белоруссии”), spoke in detail about the reader service departments, noted that the library staff is making a lot of efforts to create the best conditions for them to work with the book. Valuable book wealth, attention to user requests, and a clear organization of the reference and bibliographic apparatus contributed to the growth of the number of regular readers: “over the past ten years, the number of researchers visiting the library has tripled, engineering and technical workers have more than quadrupled, and workers have more than tenfold.”

In one of the reading rooms of the Belarusian State Library named after V. I. Lenin.
Photo by L. Popkovich."Soviet Belorussia" (“Советской Белоруссии”) December 1960.7. p. 3

In 1960, the Editorial and Publishing Department of the Book Chamber of the BSSR at the State Library of the BSSR named after V. I. Lenin began publishing a monthly bibliographic bulletin "new books of the BSSR" (published from 1960 to 1991), which contained a list of recommended literature and a calendar of significant dates.

In the same year, some new very valuable reference books were released: “Periodical press of Belarus. 1817–1916."(compiled by Adam Antonovich Sokolchik, chief bibliographer of the Department of Belarusian Literature and Bibliography, who with great diligence and scrupulousness described newspapers and magazines preserved in the V. I. Lenin State Library, in the M. Gorky Government Library, in the State Archive of the BSSR and the Archive of the Minsk region), " periodical press of the Belarusian SSR. 1917-1958. Issue I. magazines " and " periodical press of the Belarusian SSR. 1917-1959. Issue II.Newspapers”. This was reported by A. Voronovich, the author of an article published in the magazine "Flame" (“Полымя”), making a significant comment about the insufficient circulation of bibliographic indexes and hoping that work on them will continue. The pages of the newspaper "Literature and Art" for 1961 noted the completeness of the collected material:

Of course, these publications have become an important source for many researchers in search of necessary information.

In 1961, the bibliographic reference book “Maksim Bahdanovich”, dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the birth of the Belarusian poet, and the bibliographic memo “Philip Pestrak” were published, in 1962 – the reference book “Fiction of Soviet Belarus (1917 – 1960)”, compiled by Nina Borisovna Vatazzi.

N. B. Vatazzi and F. I. Milchina. "Soviet Belorussia" (“Советская Белоруссия”);1962.15 September. p. 3. Photo by K. Yakubovich

The chronicles of the life and work of outstanding Belarusian writers contributed to a deeper study of their literary heritage and the promotion of the Belarusian book. The latest comprehensive reference book presents not only a list of works of fiction by Belarusian Soviet writers, but also contains information about translations of works, as well as books edited by writers of Belarus.

Readers of Youth (“Маладосць”) magazine could get acquainted with an interesting article "Kuzma Chorny and young Belarusian writers" by N.B. Vatazzi. The author talked about Kuzma Chorny's love for his native literature, his sensitive attitude towards young writers, and the writer's concerns about their fate.

From the article "The Palace of Books" published in the newspaper "Soviet Belorussia" (“Советская Белоруссия”) on November 11, 1961, we learned about the opening of a new library building in Kirov Street:

Mikalai Vasileusky, the head of the department of Belarusian literature, wrote excitedly about the need to expand work on identifying and collecting materials about his native land, on organizing book exchange with libraries of other republics, and suggested “establishing contact with second-hand bookstores in Moscow, Vilnius, Leningrad, Kiev, Riga, Warsaw, where a lot of Belarusian literature from private individuals gets" (LiM. January 1962.5. p. 4). In the article "What are we concerned about?" he spoke in detail about the achievements of the department, the replenishment of its fund, however, he was very concerned about the condition of some rare publications that required binding or restoration, the insufficiency of bibliographic work in compiling reference books on the works of classics of Belarusian literature V. Dunin-Martsinkevich, F. Bagushevich, writers of the 20-30s.

Today, in the National Library of Belarus, you can use electronic publications "our Dudar lives among us ..: to the 200th anniversary of the birth of V. Dunin-Martsinkevich”, “do not leave our Belarusian language..: to the 180th anniversary of the birth of F. Bagushevich”, which contain valuable materials about Belarusian writers, in particular including bibliographic information.

The NBB portal hosts a large-scale virtual resource ”On the Wave of Time, Throughout the Life“, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the literary association "Maladnyak", where the creative heritage of many writers of the 20s is collected and systematized. The information includes digitized books by authors, a photo gallery, bibliographic lists on the work of writers, etc.

M. S. Vasilevsky set specific tasks to streamline the department's fund, save rare publications, hoped that the best conditions-the department's relocation to a new premises, would contribute to high-quality service to readers.

On October 19, 1962, the newspaper "Soviet Belorussia" (“Советская Белоруссия”) opened the section “Book Lover's Corner”, in which the bibliographer of the state library Varvara Mironovna Silenko introduced readers to the most interesting new works about the life and work of Soviet people, novelties of foreign literature.

The head of the scientific and methodological department of the library, Anna Melamed, raised a number of issues on the pages of republican newspapers to improve reader service, promote reading, in the article ”closer to the reader" she talked about new forms of work of Brest libraries-home libraries: "pensioners, housewives, on their own initiative, take 100 150 books from libraries and give them to readers of their own houses, blocks, streets.” She also proposed to reorganize libraries – to attach small trade union libraries to the libraries of the regional trade union.

It was unexpected to learn that in 1962 a new reading room for young people was opened, which served students of technical schools, technical schools and senior classes of secondary schools. "In seven months in this hall, young people received and read 28,845 copies of books and magazines on various branches of knowledge,” wrote library director Fyodor Uladzimiravich Stepanyuk in the newspaper .

September 15, 1962 marked the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Lenin State Library, during which time it grew into a rich book depository, numbering 3 million 300 thousand copies of books.

"Soviet Belorussia" (“Советская Белоруссия”). 1962. September 14. p. 4

F. V. Stepanyuk reported:"by the fortieth anniversary of the library, a new building with a storage for 1 million 650 thousand books and reading rooms for 240 seats is being commissioned." Speaking about the multifaceted activities of the library staff, he noted that many of them have devoted their entire adult lives to librarianship. ("Soviet Belorussia" (“Советская Белоруссия”)1962.15 September. p. 3)

More detailed information on the topic can be found in the database “National Library of Belarus in the press". In addition, by subscribing to the newsletter of articles from the mentioned resource, you will receive all the news about our library.

The material was prepared by Tatyana Paprotskaya, Head of the Information and Analytical Department sector.

Bibliography:

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2. Багдановіч, М. Каштоўны даведнік / М. Багдановіч, І. Саламевіч // Звязда. – 1962. – 1 снеж. – С. 4.
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