Scientific Library of the Russian Geographical Society. The Russian Geographical Society has established a book series "Library of the Russian Geographical Society

Bibliographic indexes and reference books

The next important section of the electronic library is. Currently, the most valuable ones with personal and geographical keys, descriptions of manuscripts of the Scientific Archive of the Russian Geographical Society, indexes, Shokalsky's libraries and others are placed.

And it is no coincidence that this section has the highest statistical indicators. The record holder was published by the Fairytale Commission of the Ethnography Department of the Russian Geographical Society in 1929. In the two years since its placement, this source has been in demand almost 2 thousand times.

Educational publications

The collection is adorned with textbooks by an outstanding scientist of the 17th century (1622-1650) and (1668-1731).

The uniqueness of these publications is determined not only by their venerable age, but also by the enormous importance that their appearance had on the formation and further development of Russian geography and related sciences. Until recently, these publications could only be seen in the collections of several libraries, and only with special permission.

The Scientific Library of the Russian Geographical Society is a unique specialized book collection and is one of the largest geographical libraries in the world.

The library began to form from the first days of the Society's existence. In accordance with the Charter of the Russian Geographical Society in 1849, it was intended for everyone involved in geography, and was supposed to become "one of the important manuals in the work of members of the Geographical Society."

The basis book fund made personal donations of scientists: books, periodicals, maps. They came both from individual members of the Society and from various institutions. The formation of funds in the 19th century was also carried out through the purchase of publications and exchange with foreign scientific and public institutions, the first of which was the Lisbon academy of sciences and Paris geographic society... The selection of books was carried out by members of the Society. They also ensured the work of the Library on a voluntary basis.

The library collection includes publications in Russian and foreign languages in all areas of geographical sciences and related disciplines, starting from the XVI century. At present, the volume of the fund is more than 450,000 books and periodicals. The most valuable part of the fund is the publications of the Society since its foundation: periodicals, scientific works researchers, expedition reports.

The fund includes publications from the personal libraries of famous members of the Society: P.P. Semyonov-Tyan-Shanskiy, Yu.M. Shokalsky, V.A. Obrucheva, E.N. Pavlovsky, A.V. Shnitnikova, I.I. Babkova, K. Ya. Kondratyev and others. Among them is a part of the personal library of the first chairman of the Society, Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich.

One of the priority tasks for the coming years is the formation of an electronic catalog of the library, digitization of funds and creation.

The purpose of creating the electronic library of the Russian Geographical Society is to preserve the scientific heritage of the Society, disclose the Library's funds and provide access to information, including the results modern research in the field of geography.

Several thousand users visit the electronic library every day.

The full-text electronic library (PEB) of the Russian Geographical Society contains mainly electronic copies of publications from the collections of the Russian Geographical Society. At present, almost the entire corpus of publishing products of the Russian Geographical Society has been digitized for almost a hundred years, starting in 1846 - the year of the publication of the first issue of the "Notes of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society". The collection includes all periodicals of the Society and its branches, scientific works of researchers, expedition reports, reference and bibliographic materials, etc. Many of them have survived only in largest libraries and, in part, in the libraries of the regional centers of the Russian Geographical Society. Most of them are already available for reading on the Society's website today.

Also, the electronic library of the Russian Geographical Society is replenished with electronic copies of publications from the funds of partner libraries: the Presidential Library (St. Petersburg), the Library of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation (Moscow), the Russian National Library.

Since 2017, in cooperation with the National Payment System "Mir", the digitization of rare editions from the funds of the Society has begun. . You can get acquainted with the collection scanned with the financial support of the National Payment System "Mir" at.

Access to electronic library free.

The Scientific Library of the Russian Geographical Society is a unique specialized book collection and is one of the largest geographical libraries in the world.

The basis of the book fund was made up of personal donations of scientists: books, periodicals, maps. They came both from individual members of the Society and from various institutions. The formation of funds in the 19th century was also carried out through the purchase of publications and exchange with foreign scientific and public institutions, the first of which were the Lisbon Academy of Sciences and the Paris Geographical Society. The selection of books was carried out by members of the Society. They also ensured the work of the Library on a voluntary basis.

The library collection contains publications in Russian and foreign languages in all sections of geographical sciences and related disciplines, starting from the 16th century. At present, the volume of the fund is more than 450,000 books and periodicals. The most valuable part of the fund is the publications of the Society since its foundation: periodicals, scientific works of researchers, reports of expeditions.

One of the priority tasks for the coming years is the formation of an electronic catalog of the library, digitization of funds and creation.

The purpose of creating an electronic library of the Russian Geographical Society is to preserve the scientific heritage of the Society, disclose the library's funds and provide access to information, including the results of modern research in the field of geography.

Several thousand users visit the electronic library every day.

The full-text electronic library (PEB) of the Russian Geographical Society contains mainly electronic copies of publications from the collections of the Russian Geographical Society. At present, almost the entire corpus of publishing products of the Russian Geographical Society has been digitized for almost a hundred years, starting in 1846 - the year of the publication of the first issue of the "Notes of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society". The collection includes all periodicals of the Society and its branches, scientific works of researchers, expedition reports, reference and bibliographic materials, etc. Many of them have survived only in the largest libraries and, partially, in the libraries of regional centers of the Russian Geographical Society. Most of them are already available for reading on the Society's website today.

Access to the electronic library is free.

Loshkomoeva N.M.

Library of the Russian Geographical Society

The Russian Geographical Society (RGO) was founded in 1845 in St. Petersburg on the initiative of 17 famous scientists and public figures. The main task of the RGS was the development of domestic geography in all its aspects, ethnography and statistics, the collection and dissemination in Russia and abroad of the most complete and reliable information about the country.

The Russian Geographical Society immediately began to create its own library, which was to become "one of the most important aids in the work of members of the Geographical Society." The Charter of the Russian Geographical Society in 1849 says that the Society's library is open to everyone involved in geography. In the same year, the Society received the name Imperial.

The library changed its name more than once in accordance with the change in the name of the Society, and since 1992 it has returned to its first name - the Library of the Russian Geographical Society.

The original foundation of the library was made up of gifts; further it was replenished both through purchases of publications in bookstores, and through exchange with other institutions. These were: the Society of Naturalists, the Rumyantsev Museum, the Royal Lisbon Academy of Sciences, the Paris Geographical Society, the Geographical Institute in Brussels, the Berlin Society for Geosciences, the Royal London Geographical Society, etc.

For more than 15 years, the Geographical Society did not have its own premises, and the books were kept in private apartments. Finally, in 1862, at the behest of Alexander II, the Society received an excellent building near the Chernyshev Bridge. The library was assigned a large hall and several rooms. The Society was in this house until 1909.

The construction of the Russian Geographical Society's own building in Demidov Lane (now Grivtsova Lane) was completed on December 28. 1908 (project of the famous architect G.V. Baranovsky in the Art Nouveau style characteristic of the beginning of the 20th century). All the requirements for library premises and the safety of books were taken into account. By this time, the library fund already totaled more than 100 thousand documents. When the Society moved to a new building, the main difficulty was the relocation of the library. It was necessary not to disturb the arrangement of books by codes on shelves up to two miles long. In the summer of 1909, the Society, together with the library, moved to a new building, where it is located to this day.

The decoration of the library is the gifts of the members of the Russian Geographical Society. These are not only unique, rare editions, but also objects of great cultural value: a model of the first Chinese ship in a glass case, unique globes; part of the old furniture has also survived.

In 1935, by the 90th anniversary, the library had more than 285 thousand copies. literature on geography and related sciences. The fund kept manuscripts and transparencies (later transferred to the Archives of the Geographical Society).

In 1938, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the Russian Geographical Society was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and received the name - the Geographical Society of the USSR (GO). The library now has the opportunity to purchase literature through the BAN. The acquisition department of the BAN allocated books for her from its doublet fund, bought 201 copies of foreign publications for currency.

Together with their city, the Geographical Society and its library survived the difficult years of the blockade. Already at the end of June 1941, most of the building of the Society was occupied by a hospital. The Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences decided to leave the Geographical Society in Leningrad functioning. The library did not stop working during the entire blockade. Readers and organizations related to defense work were provided with literature and information of a military-geographical nature; materials on the meteo- and hydrological regime of Lake Ladoga and the Neva helped to a great extent in laying the Road of Life. We owe the preservation of the greatest values of the library during the years of the blockade to the selfless work of its employees.

During the blockade of the city, book exchange was almost interrupted. Only the Royal Geographical Society in London sent their publications on occasion. The library received only books from Leningrad publishing houses. In 1943, after the blockade was broken, the situation changed. The library began to replenish with new books from various publishers.

The victorious year 1945, the year of the Geographical Society's centenary, was approaching. The USSR Council of Ministers instructed the Academy of Sciences to celebrate the anniversary. Appreciating the role of the library in development geographical science and the cultural life of the state, the Council of Ministers of the USSR in August 1946 decided to include the library of the Society in the number of libraries that receive a compulsory free copy of all maps, atlases, books on geography and related sciences published in the USSR. The first legal copies were received by the library in December 1945 - 191 documents, and in 1946 - 1638 documents. The Geografgiz publishing house regularly sent to the library address two copies of each published publication free of charge.

A major event (January 1947) was the donation to the Society of the personal library of the President of the Geographical Society, Acad. Yu.M. Shokalsky (1856-1940), who worked there for 58 years. The book collection of a world-famous scientist - about 13 thousand books - contains literature on his profile scientific activities primarily in oceanography, physical geography, cartography and other sciences close to geography. The materials of congresses, congresses, literature about the figures of geography are presented quite fully. Together with the library, a typewritten systematic catalog of literature, consisting of three volumes, was handed over.

Since 1950, the library has been supplied with foreign and domestic literature through the BAN.

In 1953, BAN included the GO library in the general plan of work on the inventory of the funds of the network of Leningrad academic libraries. The work began in the fall of 1953 and ended in December 1956. During the inventory period, the library was not closed and served the readers. The library workers were assisted by a temporary BAN team. At the same time, an inventory of the book and cartographic funds was carried out. For all maps and atlases, topographic cards were compiled, reflecting the entire cartographic fund; they were used when searching for the necessary materials, since there were no catalogs and cards with the main description.

Since 1965, the GO library was attached to the BAN as a department at the Geographical Society of the USSR. This is how the oldest geographical library became part of the centralized network of Leningrad academic libraries. At that time, the GO library had about 360 thousand documents, at least 5 thousand publications were received annually.

In 1973-1974. major repairs and reconstruction of the building were carried out, after which the presidium of the GO awarded the library of the Society and all its employees with certificates of honor of the Geographical Society of the USSR.

Today the library of the Russian Geographical Society serves a large contingent of readers - researchers, teachers, graduate students, university students. Literature is given out for work in the reading room (at home - only to members of the Russian Geographical Society). About 1,500 people turn to the library every year, of which 600 are members of the Russian Geographical Society. The library is also used by readers from other cities, former Soviet republics and states of all continents. The service is also carried out through the IBA.

The collection of domestic and foreign literature is reflected in the system of catalogs: systematic, alphabetical, topographic, cartographic, catalog of periodicals for readers, control and registration card index of periodicals.

The alphabetical catalog of articles includes the works of members of the Geographical Society. Its volume is 60 boxes. The catalog contains sections: history of the central organization of the Society, its branches and departments, "Personalia" (members of the Russian Geographical Society), publications of the Russian Geographical Society (11 boxes).

The main direction of acquisition of the library has been and remains geography in all its diversity - physical, economic, socio-economic, historical, political, medical, biogeography, ecology, tourism, nature conservation. As well as scientific literature popular scientific literature on geography, textbooks on geography are completed. The bulk of the literature comes through the BAN. A very important source, especially at the present time, is the gifts that the library receives from domestic and foreign individuals and organizations. V last years the supply of literature for objective reasons decreases. The gifts of the members of the Russian Geographical Society help out.

On Jan 1. In 1999, the library fund consisted of 473 650 documents, including 217 407 foreign ones. The library contains the rarest domestic and foreign publications on history geographical discoveries... Of great value are the reports of foreigners about Russia in the 16th-17th centuries. It was this literature that members of the Russian Geographical Society collected for the library at the dawn of its existence. There are 30 books published in the 16th century, about 150 - in the 17th century. Publications of the 18th century are also extremely important for the study of the history of geographical science. About 3 thousand publications are classified as rare books.

Of great value is a fairly complete collection of publications of the Geographical Society, not only the central one, but also its branches, departments and geographical societies of the former Soviet republics. In previous years, the library was often sent to the library by the Trans-Baikal branch of the Russian Geographical Society, the Geographical Society of Estonia, the Arkhangelsk and Orenburg branches of the Russian Geographical Society, the Primorsky Center of the Russian Geographical Society, the GO Dagestan, the Altai, East Siberian, Kaliningrad departments, the Pskov branch, the Sverdlovsk branch.

Readers love and value their library; wherever they live, they donate their books. We are glad to accept author's editions into our funds.

The RGS Library is the oldest and largest geographic library in our country, one of the largest geographic libraries in the world. When visiting St. Petersburg, none of the foreign geographers, no matter how he hurries, will pass by the Geographical Society and its library. Many Russian geographers believe that their successes became possible thanks to the library of the Russian Geographical Society.

The main task of the RGS library is to promote the development of geographical science by constantly improving the library and bibliographic services for readers, primarily members of the Geographical Society. To this end, exhibitions are organized twice a month for the information of readers and lists of new acquisitions are compiled. Thematic exhibitions of literature are periodically held. Since 1961, the journal Izvestia of the Russian Geographical Society has annually published Lists of the RGS publications received by the library for the year. Since 1979, six issues of "Calendars memorable dates"containing bibliographic lists of literature related to a particular event. Oral and written references are systematically performed.

Reference and bibliographic and information activities library staff finds a positive response from readers. The library is highly respected by the geographers of our country.