Samara Regional Universal Scientific Library

Russian Empire

The Samara Public Library was opened on January 1 ( January 13 ), 1860 at the initiative of Governor K.K. Grot . She is the successor to the reading room at the editorial office of the Samara Provincial Gazette. The grotto personally applied to various organizations for a donation of literature for the library, contributed large sums for its development, and before his death he bequeathed to her a personal collection of books.

In 1884, P.V. Alabin became the chairman of the public committee of the public library. Alabin made a significant contribution to the development of the library: he requested an increase in the number of books, compiled library catalogs, and work reports. As a result of his fruitful work, by the 1890s the library had 50 thousand books, and in 1882 the library itself was named in honor of Tsar Alexander II - it became known as Alexandrovskaya.

Soviet Russia

After the revolution, the Alexander Library began to be called the central one and received the name of the October Revolution.

During the Great Patriotic War, the library was serviced by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, as well as employees of foreign embassies. Her services were used by Dmitry Shostakovich, Ilya Erenburg, Nikolai Aduev ^[4] .

By 1960, the size of the library collection exceeded one million, and the library itself was awarded the Certificate of Merit of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR.

By 1973, the library stock consisted of about two million publications, and the number of recorded readers reached 50 thousand people.

In August 1975, the library was approved by the interregional depository of the Volga zone.

In the 1980s ^{[ specify ]} the construction of the main library building on Lenin Avenue was begun. The building was designed specifically for the library by architect A.P. Gozak , but during the construction process there were many deviations from the original sketches, in particular, the blue color of the facades was replaced with brown. However, the building has become a city landmark.

Modern Stage

In 1991, the Samara ONUB began to publish regional lists of underutilized literature based on the "List of Literature Offered by Libraries for Depository Storage". The first consolidated “list” of the Volga region included card information on the literature of large libraries of various departments of the cities of Samara, Penza, Kazan, Ufa ^[5] .

For many years, being the central universal book depository of the Samara region, a scientific and methodological center, a regional center of industry information on problems of culture and art, the library also becomes a coordinating center for the automation of regional libraries. Currently, the library retains the status of the central universal book depository of the Samara region and seeks to develop a new information space. So, in 2005, the database of the electronic catalog was converted to MS SQL format. To search for information in electronic catalogs in the library, automated workstations are organized, and the electronic information sector for working with Internet resources also works ^[4] .

Within the framework of the program of informatization of library activities, in 2006, with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Samara Region, a single Portal of the libraries of the Samara Region was created ^{[6] [7]} .

Currently, the library funds have more than 4 million storage units, including not only books and periodicals, but also state standard specifications, music notations, maps, audio and video resources. The number of library readers exceeds 50 thousand people, the number of visits is more than 300 thousand per year, and the annual book issuance reaches 2 million documents ^[8] .

• Subscription department
• Automation department
• Art department
• Cataloging department
• Picking department
• Corporate Acquisition Department
• Local Lore Department
• Department of Literature in Foreign Languages
• Department of Interlibrary Loan
• Scientific and Methodological Department
• Department of Basic Book Storage
• Department of Legal and Patent Technical Information
• Department of rare books
• Information and bibliographic department
• Department of Statistics
• Reading Room Department
• Reading Support and Development Center
• Center for Culture and Creativity (Gallery "New Space")
• Department of Digital Technology
• Center for the Development of Professional Competencies of Library Specialists

Every year, SUNSB holds more than four hundred mass socially significant events. Among them: Open door days, various presentations (exhibitions, books), demonstration shows, literary and musical evenings ^[9] .

In 2008 were held:

• Regional competition of municipal libraries "Library of the XXI century",
• Competition of professional skill "Worker of Culture of the Year" named after O.N. Noszova,
• Interregional seminar "Modern aspects of the formation of library collections",
• Events dedicated to the “All-Russian Library Day”
• The action “Vivat, student! Vivat, the library! ”,
• Interregional scientific-practical conference "First Grotov readings" ^[10] .

In 2009 were held:

• Linguistic Fair
• Presentation of unique digitized publications,
• Seminar “Support and development of reading: Russian realities and foreign experience”,
• The action "Book - a new life!",
• Regional seminar “Support and development of reading: Russian realities and foreign experience”,
• Regional seminar “Support and development of reading: Russian realities and foreign experience”
• Gogol Week in Samara
• Opening of the New Space Gallery, the Synthesis Multicultural Center, the Reading Support and Development Center
• III International Forum of Library Media Specialists “Dialogue in electronic format”.
• Round table “Raising a thoughtful reader: library experience”
• Interregional Festival of Sociocultural Projects “Bright Idea” and other events ^[11] .

In 2010 were held:

• All-Russian Scientific Conference “Great Victory in the Memory of the People” (167 people from 14 cities of Russia took part in the conference with reports and messages),
• The fourth academic book exhibition of university publishing "University-science-city-2010",
• literary tournament "The library opens talents",
• International Festival "Book Graphics and Bookplate" ^[12] ,
• complex exhibition “We Save and Create,”
• Interregional scientific-practical conference "Second Grotov readings" ^{[13] [14]} .

In 2011 were held:

• Exhibition "Russia for All"
• Presentation of a rare facsimile edition
• Project "Department: public lectures of prominent Samaritans"
• 8th inter-municipal intellectual tournament “Book. Youth. Intelligence".
• Interregional scientific-practical conference “Children's reading and children's library. The dialogue continues. ”
• Moscow Libraries Day
• Seminar "Fundamentals of Computer Literacy for Librarians"
• Interregional Festival-Fair of Sociocultural Projects “Bright Idea - 2011”
• Mini-conference for English teachers on the topic: "Modern teaching methods and assessment of educational achievements of younger students."
• Italian Spring Festival
• Festival "Literary Crossroads" and other equally significant events ^[15] .

As of January 1, 2017, the SOUNB Fund amounted to 4,441,300 copies of documents.

The volume of the electronic catalog at the end of 2016 amounted to 1,095,182 entries

Currently (2017), the director of the library is Natalya Nikolaevna Nikulina.

• Samara Regional Universal Scientific Library: Encyclopedia / compiled by A. N. Zavalny. - Samara, Publishing House "Rarity", 2009. - 297 p.