College and Research Libraries B y A V R A H M Y A R M O L I N S K Y Soviet Libraries This account is based upon a talk given before the Conference of Eastern College Librarians at Columbia University on January 29, 1944. TH E O U T S T A N D I N G F A C T a b o u t t h e l i -brary facilities in the Soviet U n i o n is their a m a z i n g g r o w t h . T h e available fig- u r e s — t h e y relate to the period of the sec- ond and third five-year p l a n s — a r e elo- quent. In 1 9 3 4 there w e r e some 1 1 6 , 0 0 0 libraries containing about 299,000,000 books; in 1 9 3 9 2 4 1 , 0 0 0 libraries w i t h 442,000,000 volumes w e r e in existence. T h e s e data are cited in a book w r i t t e n by the dean of Russian librarians, M m e . L . B . H a v k i n a , and published in M o s c o w in 1943 under the title Svodnye Katalogi (union c a t a l o g s ) . Incidentally, it is one of the f e w Russian books on a library sub- j e c t w h i c h has reached the author's desk since the beginning of the w a r . T h e figures f o r 1 9 3 9 are those of Tzentralnoe upravlenie narodno-kho- zyaistvennovo ucheta ( t h e central bureau of statistics). T h e earlier figures, too, are official. T h e y are based on the find- ings of the detailed library census taken on O c t . 1, 1 9 3 4 , in accordance w i t h a decree issued by the C e n t r a l E x e c u t i v e C o m m i t t e e of the Soviets, the highest ad- ministrative o r g a n of the union. T h e census covered not only the size of the collections, the number of readers and of volumes used, but also personnel, salaries, area of library buildings, and other rele- v a n t matters. I n good time this mass of statistics w a s duly tabulated and published in the f o r m of t w o substantial volumes. 1 W h a t swells the totals given above is the f a c t that they include small libraries, f o r instance, those attached to kindergartens and elementary schools. I t should be noted, h o w e v e r , that f o r 1 9 3 4 M m e . H a v k i n a omitted some ninety thousand kindergarten and school libraries w h i c h at that time did not furnish i n f o r m a t i o n re- g a r d i n g the size of their collections, but it is not clear w h e t h e r she f o l l o w e d the same procedure in c o m p u t i n g the figures f o r 1 9 3 9 . T h e 1 9 3 4 census w a s carried out under the supervision of the state planning com- mission by the commissariats of education of the constituent Soviet republics and by the Supreme Soviet of the T r a d e U n i o n s . T h e participation of the latter body w a s due to the f a c t that a number of libraries, f o r example those attached to trade schools, are under its jurisdiction. O t h e r libraries, according to their charac- ter, are controlled by the various commis- sariats, but the largest number are subject to the authority of the commissariats of education, of w h i c h there is one in each of the autonomous republics that make up the union. I t goes w i t h o u t saying that l i b r a r y service is furnished exclusively by the state and that, like the schools, the press, the movies, and the radio, libraries are under strict g o v e r n m e n t control. T h e distinction between popular and 1 Tzentralnoe upravlenie narodno-khozyaistvennovo ucheta. Vsesoyuznaya bibliotechnaya perepis l-go oktyabrya 1934. g. Moscow, 1936. SEPTEMBER., 1944 351 special or research libraries obtains in the U . S . S . R . as elsewhere. B u t in Soviet terminology the f o r m e r institutions are k n o w n as mass libraries. T h e s e may serve a region or a district or be urban or r u r a l ; they may exist independently or f u n c t i o n in connection w i t h a club, an industrial plant, a l u m b e r j a c k s ' cooperative, a state f a r m , a tractor station. T h e y are l a r g e l y financed f r o m local f u n d s though certain items of library equipment may also figure on the budgets of the republics. L o c a l f u n d s also support most of the school and children's libraries but only some of the specialized reference libraries attached to factories, " t r u s t s , " financial institutions, p l a n n i n g commissions, and the innumera- ble bureaus that compose the administra- tive machinery of the cooperatives, the trade unions, the C o m m u n i s t P a r t y , and the g o v e r n m e n t . State Public Libraries L e t us look a little more c a r e f u l l y at three types of Soviet libraries that are closest to the interests of college librarians. T h e so-called state public libraries come first. T h e s e are the g r e a t c e n t r a l book depositories of the union. A m o n g them, to begin w i t h , is the institution sacred to the f a t h e r of Soviet Russia, the L e n i n P u b l i c L i b r a r y of M o s c o w . I t is the national library of the Soviet U n i o n . P r i o r to the G e r m a n invasion its n e w building, reputed to be the biggest library structure in E u r o p e , w a s n e a r i n g completion. I t is l a r g e l y a Soviet creation, developed since the revolution f r o m a nucleus that w a s the p r e r e v o l u t i o n a r y R u m y a n t z o v library, not a v e r y old, extensive, or distinguished col- lection, as book collections go in Russia. A c c o r d i n g to the census of 1934, the num- ber of books in the L e n i n library stood at nearly nine and a half million, of w h i c h , h o w e v e r , only about half w e r e duly processed. A n official M o s c o w statistical handbook 2 credits the library w i t h nine and a quarter million books as of I937> w i t h o u t d r a w i n g any distinction between processed and unprocessed volumes. T h e total includes, no doubt, a huge reserve and duplicate f u n d . E v e n so, the g r o w t h of this collection has been phenomenal. I t must have absorbed some of those vast stocks of printed matter that accumulated in the early years of the revolution, o w i n g to the nationalization of private libraries and of the libraries of institutions that had been liquidated. A n o t h e r state public library is the f o r - mer Imperial L i b r a r y of S t . P e t e r s b u r g . Some years a f t e r the revolution it w a s re- named f o r S a l t y k o v - S h c h e d r i n , a cele- brated satirist of the old regime, and on the occasion of its one hundred and t w e n t y - f i f t h anniversary, w h i c h occurred in 1939, it w a s decorated w i t h the O r d e r of the W o r k e r s ' R e d B a n n e r . A s a re- sult, it is officially styled the S a l t y k o v - Shchedrin State P u b l i c W o r k e r s ' R e d B a n n e r L i b r a r y , if I may o f f e r a rather l u m b e r i n g translation. W h e n it first opened its doors, t w o years a f t e r N a - poleon invaded the c o u n t r y , it had on its shelves exactly five volumes in Russian, in addition to some 250,000 volumes in the W e s t e r n languages seized in W a r s a w by order of Empress C a t h e r i n e a f t e r the suppression of the K o s c i u s z k o insurrec- tion. T h e books w e r e divided into seven classes, f o r does it not say in the B i b l e , " A n d w i s d o m hath h e w n out her seven p i l l a r s " ? Some f e w changes have oc- curred since then in the l i b r a r y . T o make a l o n g story short, in 1 9 3 7 it w a s officially reported to house over eight and a half million books,3 a l t h o u g h three years earlier 2 Sotzialisticheskoe straitelstov S.S.S.R. (1933• 1938. Moscow, 1939, p. 129.) 8 Ibid. v 352 COLL EGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES it w a s credited w i t h only 6,150,000 units and a duplicate f u n d of one million units ( I am, of course, r e f e r r i n g to the census of 1 9 3 4 ) . A third Russian source credits it, as of 1939, w i t h nearly ten million books, i n c l u d i n g a duplicate f u n d of t w o and a half million units. I t is not my ambition to settle the question as to w h e t h e r the L e n i n library of M o s c o w or the public library of L e n i n g r a d has the l a r g e r holdings, and consequently w h i c h of the t w o has the distinction of being the largest library in the w o r l d . W h a t e v e r the exact size of its holdings may be, the L e n i n g r a d P u b l i c L i b r a r y , w i t h its vast and systematic accumulations of literature, native and foreign, w i t h its many special collections and w i t h its priceless assem- blage of manuscripts, is one of the w o r l d ' s really g r e a t treasure houses of c u l t u r e . Its official status is that of the national library of the Russian member of the Soviet federation. Libraries of the Republics E a c h of the other constituent republics, too, presumably has its central l i b r a r y , at least in the m a k i n g . T h e national li- brary of the U k r a i n i a n Republic, w h i c h is also the L i b r a r y of the U k r a i n i a n A c a d - emy of Sciences, has been located in K i e v . > W i t h its seven million volumes, of w h i c h , according to the census of 1934, five and a quarter million w e r e processed, it is an institution of more than local significance. T h e other republican libraries, if I may phrase it that w a y , like that of W h i t e Russia at M i n s k , are perhaps only of regional importance. T h e r e w e r e thir- teen state public libraries in 1 9 3 4 and the same number in 1 9 3 9 . T h e L e n i n g r a d P u b l i c L i b r a r y caters both to the general public and to students and has a children's library in an annex. T h e activities of the other g r e a t central libraries are similarly varied. T h e abun- dant resources of these institutions emi- nently fit them to act as research libraries also. Research Libraries In addition, there are research libraries f u n c t i o n i n g exclusively as such and so designated. Some of them have a broad scope. Such is, above all, the library of the A c a d e m y of Sciences in L e n i n g r a d . A l t h o u g h it cannot boast of more than a paltry f o u r million volumes, its collec- tions, w h i c h have been a c c u m u l a t i n g since the time of P e t e r the G r e a t , place it a m o n g the w o r l d ' s m a j o r libraries. T h e very fine library of the A c a d e m y f o r the H i s t o r y of M a t e r i a l C u l t u r e and the dis- tinguished collections of books and manu- scripts available at the H i s t o r i c a l M u s e u m in M o s c o w and in the recently opened historical library in the same city, cover a rather w i d e field. T h e n too there are highly specialized research libraries. O n e can instance, a m o n g others, those attached to the L e n i n g r a d Diesel Institute, to the Institute of A e r i a l P h o t o g r a p h y in the same city, to the M o s c o w Institute of H o r s e - B r e e d i n g , and to the Institute of G r a p h i c Statistics. F i n a l l y there is the Soviet equivalent of our college libraries. W h e r e w e speak of colleges and universities, the Russians speak of vuzy or institutions of higher learning. A s a rule, these do not offer courses in the liberal arts. B y the time a student enters a vuz, he is assumed to have completed his liberal education. Some of these Soviet institutions still bear the glamorous name of university. B u t a Soviet university is v e r y different f r o m the traditional universitas, a school offer- i n g instruction in all the branches of higher learning. T h e Soviet university generally limits itself to the exact sciences. SEPTEMBER., 1944 353 O n e or t w o also have a department of history. H i g h e r education is carried on l a r g e l y in special schools. T h e general tendency there is to b r i n g theory closer to practice, to concentrate on w h a t is im- mediately u s e f u l , to make instruction sub- servient to the social purposes of the n e w dispensation. I t is not surprising to find a trend to overspecialization. T h e L e n i n - g r a d institutions of higher l e a r n i n g include a college f o r the preparation of C o m - munist P a r t y cadres, an institute of auto- mobile roads, and a school of restaurant e n g i n e e r i n g ; a m o n g the M o s c o w vuzy there are a peat college and a school offer- ing instruction in the art and science of bread-baking. I n c i d e n t a l l y , this l a t t e r school boasts a l i b r a r y of f o r t y thousand volumes. T h a t the equipment of each institution of higher l e a r n i n g includes a library or a g r o u p of libraries may be taken f o r granted. M a n y of them offer facilities f o r research in special fields. T h e drastic re- o r g a n i z a t i o n of the old universities and professional schools that has taken place since the revolution meant a similar re- o r g a n i z a t i o n of the libraries attached to them. C o l l e c t i o n s w e r e broken up, com- bined, rearranged, shifted f r o m place to place. I n the process they must have suffered s o m e w h a t . O n the other hand, it is certain that both the number of col- lege libraries and their resources have g r e a t l y increased since the c o m i n g of the n e w order. I n 1 9 3 4 there existed 2 3 9 5 re- search libraries w i t h thirty-five million v o l u m e s and 1 1 3 9 college libraries w i t h f o r t y - e i g h t million v o l u m e s ; by 1 9 3 9 the number of libraries had dropped respec- tively to 1 5 5 7 and 663 ( L . B . H a v k i n a . Svodnye katalogi, p. 1 0 ) . Since their hold- ings had g r o w n d u r i n g that interval, con- solidation must have taken place as a reaction against overspecialization. T h e maintenance of the three types of libraries dealt w i t h above figures p a r t l y in the budget of the union, p a r t l y in the budgets of the i n d i v i d u a l republics. "Obligatory Copies'' Some of the principal libraries in the union are provided w i t h the c u r r e n t out- put of the Soviet presses, w h i c h is enor- mous, by means of an a r r a n g e m e n t in- v o l v i n g the so-called " o b l i g a t o r y c o p y . " E v e r y p r i n t i n g press is under l e g a l obliga- tion t o deliver to the U n i o n B o o k C h a m b e r , f r e e of charge, a number of copies of every publication produced, T h e chamber is a combination of a copyright depository and a bibliographical institute. H e r e each item is registered and c a r e f u l l y described on a standard c a t a l o g card, w h i c h is printed f o r the use of libraries and is e v e n t u a l l y inserted into an issue of the w e e k l y Knizhnaya Let0pis, the official bibliography of the union. O n e or t w o of the obligatory copies are retained by the chamber, the rest are distributed a m o n g certain libraries specified by l a w . T h e library of the A c a d e m y of Sciences gets three, w h i l e the L e n i n l i b r a r y and the L e n i n g r a d P u b l i c L i b r a r y receive t w o obligatory copies of every book, serial, and important newspaper, and these t w o li- braries also get one copy of all the other newspapers issued w i t h i n the union. C e r - tain special libraries are also supplied w i t h one copy of every publication in their respective fields. U n t i l recently the number of obligatory copies varied f r o m f o r t y - f i v e f o r books, periodicals, and maps, to t w o f o r mimeographed institutional ma- terial. A decree of the Soviet of the People's Commissars dated N o v . 10, 1939, reduced the number of copies to t w e n t y - five f o r m o r e important publications and v 354 COLL EGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES to f o u r f o r minor and ephemeral items. A n official ordinance of M a y 9, 1940, put every publishing agency under obligation to deliver to O . G . I . Z . ( t h e central state publishing house) 1 5 0 copies, of those first printed, t o be sold either at a discount or at cost price to a specified g r o u p of li- braries. A number of free obligatory copies in the l a n g u a g e s of the ethnic minorities of the union are also distributed a m o n g the local libraries.4 Distribution of Libraries T h e 1 9 3 4 library census, M m e . H a v - kina points out, has revealed the uneven distribution of library facilities in the union. T h i s is a rather obvious f a c t and one rooted in the w h o l e history of the vast c o u n t r y . B u t the hinterland is w a k - ing up. A demand f o r books is g r o w i n g in the remotest sections. H e n c e , the c r y f o r an interlibrary loan system on a na- tional scale. T h i s , it is argued, means a f u l l e r and f a i r e r u t i l i z a t i o n of existing resources. B y 1933 the C e n t r a l C o m m i t - tee of the C o m m u n i s t P a r t y w a s w o n over to the idea. A n d so the f o l l o w i n g year the C o m m i s s a r i a t of E d u c a t i o n of the R . S . F . S . R . decreed the practice. Si- multaneously the postal authorities w e r e instructed to accept free of charge parcels of books g o i n g f r o m l i b r a r y to l i b r a r y . A l t h o u g h this postal regulation w a s rescinded f o u r years later, interlibrary loan e n j o y s a considerable v o g u e . U n d e r the circumstances, the problem of union catalogs begins to loom l a r g e . W i t h o u t such catalogs, it is argued, inter- l i b r a r y l o a n i n g cannot be carried on effi- ciently. In f a c t , M m e . H a v k i n a ' s latest book is a plea f o r them, a history and survey of those n o w existing, and a man- 4 Godkevich, M. A . "Sovetskoe sakonodatelstvo ob obyazatelnom ekzetnplyare," Sovetskoya bibliografiya, 1940, I . ual on the technique of compiling them. I n this w o r k M m e . H a v k i n a w o u l d link the construction of union catalogs w i t h another bibliographical project n o w un- der w a y in Russia. Since 1 9 2 7 the book chamber has been p r i n t i n g cards f o r all Soviet publications. W e n o w learn that the L e n i n g r a d P u b l i c L i b r a r y has printed cards, about 125,000 of them, f o r all titles issued f r o m 1 9 1 7 to 1926. T h e material is thus ready f o r the publication of a com- plete repertory of the Soviet book, about eight hundred thousand titles in all, and the book chamber has been instructed to c a r r y out the project. In the meantime, the L e n i n g r a d P u b l i c L i b r a r y is to go on c o m p i l i n g cards f o r Russian publications c o v e r i n g the period f r o m 1 7 2 5 to 1 9 1 7 , estimated to run to about 550,000 titles. A s the output of the Russian presses f r o m the beginning of p r i n t i n g in 1 5 6 4 to the death of P e t e r the G r e a t in 1 7 2 5 does not exceed a f e w hundred titles, a complete register of the Russian book, w h i c h has l o n g been the dearest wish of Russian bookmen, is no longer a dream. M m e . H a v k i n a suggests that the proof copy of the cards should be circulated at least a m o n g the m a j o r libraries, thus enabling them to make additions to the list and to indicate location of copies. She envisages a n e t w o r k of regional union catalogs, even- t u a l l y to be combined into a master cat- a l o g f o r the entire c o u n t r y . O f course, all these projects must remain in abeyance w h i l e the w a r goes on. Libraries in the War A n d w h a t has been happening to Soviet libraries w h i l e the w a r has been g o i n g o n ? I t is hard to answer this question. T h e w o r l d k n o w s that the Russians are f i g h t i n g w i t h a wholeheartedness that gives a n e w m e a n i n g to the hackneyed phrase, " t o t a l SEPTEMBER., 1944 35 w a r . " N a t u r a l l y , library resources, like e v e r y t h i n g else, are mobilized to help the w a r effort. I t is reported that the li- braries of M o s c o w functioned normally even d u r i n g the critical days w h e n the G e r m a n s w e r e at the gates of the capital. T h e L e n i n library is n o w engaged in mak- ing a most comprehensive collection of ma- terials r e l a t i n g to the w a r . I have seen a statement to the effect that three and a half million books have been removed f r o m its shelves to a place of safety. M a n y of the more precious volumes b e l o n g i n g to the L e n i n g r a d P u b l i c L i b r a r y have also been evacuated, w h i l e its catalogs, occupy- ing an area of eight thousand square feet, w e r e moved to the cellar of the building. T h e w a y the staff of this g r e a t library carried on w i t h o u t a day's stoppage under indescribable hardships t h r o u g h o u t a l o n g siege is part of the epic of L e n i n g r a d . I am glad to be able to report that w h i l e neighboring buildings have been gutted, the L e n i n g r a d P u b l i c L i b r a r y has re- mained unscathed by the bombing. A p - parently the library of the academy has also escaped damage f r o m the onslaughts of w a r . T h e r e is no question but that in the occupied regions the libraries suffered heavily f r o m w a n t o n destruction and loot- ing. D e t a i l e d i n f o r m a t i o n on the subject must n a t u r a l l y w a i t upon the end of hostilities. A l r e a d y , h o w e v e r , certain facts have come to l i g h t . T h e library of O r e l w a s burned. T h e collections of the central l i b r a r y of M i n s k have been either removed to G e r m a n y or destroyed. T h e library of the U n i v e r s i t y of K i e v w a s b l o w n up. A similar fate has befallen the libraries of m a n y W h i t e Russian and U k r a i n i a n cities. A c c o r d i n g to an au- thoritative statement in Izvestiya f o r D e c . 3 1 , 1943, in the region of K h a r k o v the G e r m a n s demolished 1 7 8 0 clubs, v i l l a g e reading-rooms, and libraries out of a total of 1800. A b o u t f o u r million volumes have been either destroyed or removed f r o m K i e v alone. O n l y a part of the collec- tions of the g r e a t K o r o l e n k o library of K h a r k o v , next in importance only to the U k r a i n i a n N a t i o n a l L i b r a r y of K i e v , has been preserved. F r o m occasional notices in the press one gains the impression that the restoration of devastated libraries is carried out w i t h - out delay as part of reconstruction activ- ities. I n a postscript to her book, M m e . H a v k i n a indicates that she has laid before the proper authorities a plan f o r the for- mation of a state f u n d f o r the restoration of destroyed libraries. T h e books to be contributed to the f u n d should come f r o m the public, the publishers, the Soviet- li- braries, as w e l l as f r o m British and A m e r - ican libraries, the latter perhaps on an exchange basis. I t is not k n o w n if the f u n d has a c t u a l l y been established, but it appears f r o m a recent issue of the Infor- mation Bulletin of the Soviet Embassy in W a s h i n g t o n that the L e n i n library has released one hundred thousand volumes f o r the libraries that are being restored in the occupied regions. v 356 COLL EGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES