The article presents the phenomenon of reading in its modern sense: studies of recent years confirm that as a social phenomenon and personal socio-cultural practice, reading still retains its position. The role of reading in society is revealed at the levels of personality and society. Contrary to popular belief, reading does not leave the life of a modern person, but modifying (in particular, the term “digital reading” appeared), covers all areas of his life (study, professional activity, life, rest, privacy, etc.). However, an analysis of the federal laws “On Basic Guarantees of the Rights of the Child in the Russian Federation”, “On Education in the Russian Federation”, “On Librarianship”, as well as the “Family Code of the Russian Federation” shows that the concept of “reading” has not been properly reflected in them. The author emphasizes that now it is necessary not only to talk about the phenomenon of reading in scientific terms, but also to persistently seek the inclusion in the conceptual apparatus of legislative initiatives in the humanitarian sphere of various modifications of the concept of “reading” (including, for example, “family reading”, “reading culture”, “reader development”, etc.).

The article presents an analysis of the document flow on the topic “Scientific and Methodological Support of Libraries’ Activities” for 2014—2023. The study obtained data on the quantitative and species composition of the flow, its geographical and author structures. The thematic analysis showed that most often the authors devoted their works to describing the experience of implementing the main functions of scientific and methodological services (analytical and consulting activities, promotion of professional development of specialists, formation of the legal library field, identification and study of new experience), the characteristics of the profession of a modern methodologist and the changes taking place in scientific and methodological activities, including under the influence of the development of information and communication technologies. The analysis of publications confirmed that the content of scientific and methodological labor changes depending on the general situation in the country and in accordance with the needs of library practice.

The article is presented on state-level support for the activities of Russian writers and publishers aimed at achieving goals that are priority for the development of national science and culture, education and enlightenment. The author proves the need for a comprehensive and systematic approach to solving this problem (including the adoption of a legislative act guaranteeing the rights of publishers and writers and formulating requirements for these important subjects of the book business). The existing regulatory framework and real publishing practice are analyzed, blurring the differences between a professional writer and an amateur. Such measures as licensing of relevant activities and certification of the products received, state subsidies and price control in the production and distribution of this selected range of the most significant publications are proposed.

The article is devoted to the publishing activities of universities in the postSoviet period (1992—2022) in Novosibirsk in the field of bringing out monographs, textbooks and other literature on the history of Siberia. A brief review of book studies on certain aspects of university book publishing of the stated period is given. The relevance of the study lies in the fact that at present there is no special work on this topic. The aim of the article is to research the trends in the development of university book publishing in the city. The scientific novelty of the work: for the first time a comprehensive analysis of the document flow (DF) on this problem was carried out. For this purpose the DF was identified, the statistics of published literature in time range, by universities was presented; the characteristic of publishing houses was given; the structure, typology and themes of publications were considered. A comparative analysis of literature on Siberian history of two leading universities of Novosibirsk in the late-Soviet and post-Soviet periods was performed; the practical significance of the study was also determined.

The relevance of the topic is due to the transformation of the requirements of modern users to the level of library services. The task of modern information services is to stimulate visits to public libraries. Art-therapeutic methods (bibliotherapy, fairy tale therapy, music therapy, color therapy, etc.) can not only attract users, but also maximize the productivity of their work. The presence of such methods in the library’s arsenal makes it a cosy and at the same time creative space in demand by different categories of the population. The novelty of the article is the processing of the results of a sociological survey of users and library specialists about the optimal parameters of the working art space. Two modern ways to solve this problem are shown (in Krasnodar and Rostov-on-Don).

The article is devoted to the project of the V.I. Dahl State Museum of the History of Russian Literature, the encyclopedia “Literary Museums of Russia”, implemented in 2014— 2024. The characteristics of the organization of work, conceptual installations, approbation of the concept and vocabulary are given. It is emphasized that the encyclopedia contains the general collection of literary museums, there is an index of museums. The main blocks of articles are named (including papers on library-museums and literary museums in libraries, on the territorial distribution and functioning of literary museums, on the basic concepts of the science of museum — museology, biographical articles). It is stated that the array of high-quality information collected in the encyclopedia has made it possible to significantly advance the study of the history and structure of this specialized group of museums, to transfer literary museums to a qualitatively different level of communication with each other, with scientific and socio-cultural institutions and specific scientists and cultural figures.

The analysis of individual bindings of hand-printed books belonging to the same owner opens up great possibilities in the study of bookbinding of a certain time period. If the bindings are characterized by significant similarities in the use of materials, production techniques and decoration, it is possible to assume their common origin from a single bookbinding workshop. The presence of a superexlibris, contemporary to the binding work, is a sign of the work of a bookbinder who performed the whole complex of tasks at once – to protect, decorate the book and inform about its ownership. In this case, the dates of the owner’s (customer’s) life and the milestones of his biography can serve as a reference point for dating the bindings. More than 70 copies of European editions of the 18th century with superexlibris of the Vyazemsky princes in bindings of the end of the 18th – beginning of the 19th century were found in the collection of the Research Scientific Department of Rare Books (Book Museum) of the Russian State Library. The article proves that these books belonged to Andrei Ivanovich Vyazemsky and their bindings were made in Russia. Several groups of bindings united by material, constructive and decorative features are identified and described. Speculations are made about the location of the workshops that produced these bindings and about the possible influence of the customer’s tastes on their design. Characteristic features of bindings from the library of A.I. Vyazemsky, given in the article, can be used in the description of Russian bindings of the 18th and 19th centuries to clarify the date of their production.

The activities of the outstanding representative of Russian book culture Nikolai Mikhailovich Lisovsky, whose 170th anniversary is celebrated in 2024, have received high praise and recognition not only in Russia, but also abroad. The article examines the process of spreading the bibliographer’s international fame in the period from the late 19th century to the 1920s. Critic reviews of N.M. Lisovsky’s works, published at this time in France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, the USA, and Poland, are analyzed. Archival materials of N.M. Lisovsky’s correspondence with foreign figures, stored at the Manuscript Department of the Institute of Russian Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Sci entific and Bibliographic Archive of the Russian Book Chamber, are also used. It is shown that during this period in foreign literature the main bibliographic works of N.M. Lisovsky were characterized, his biography, work in bibliographic societies, the system of scientific views in the field of bibliology were covered.

The review of the Russian translation of the book of the British sociologist John B. Thompson “Merchants of Culture: The Publishing Business in the Twenty-First Century”, published by the “New Literary Review” in Moscow 2023 in printed and electronic versions is presented. The article discusess main special features and tendencies of development of digital book editions. Among the main ones, by Thompson’s opinion, are: simple access, updating, scale, possibility of search, portability, flexibility, low price, intertextuality and multimediality. The reviewer adds to them three ones more: compactness, independence and ephemerality proving this assertion. The paper reveals both the common features of the digital book publishing in Russia and in the West and the national specific characters in this sphere.

The review of the second edition of the monograph of the Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor P.N. Bazanov “The Tsar and the Soviets: Russian Emigration in the Struggle for Russian Statehood: Political and Publishing Activities” (2022) is presented. The author examines the unions of the Russian abroad figures of the era of the firstwave emigration (smenovekhovtsy, post-revolutionaries and Young Russians). They were distinguished by a special (in comparison with other movements of emigration) interpretation of the events of the October Revolution and their attitude towards Soviet Russia (stemming from the justification of the very fact of the 1917 revolution). The monograph shows how the periodicals published and distributed by these associations reflected their original philosophical and political beliefs. The review also contains some stories related to the history of Russian book culture and literature (for example, the story of the “revenge” of the writer M.A. Bulgakov to the secretary of the publishing house “Nakanune” (On the Eve)). The significance of P.N. Bazanovʼs book for understanding the fate of modern Russia, as well as mastering the unknown heritage of caring thinkers and patriots of Russia abroad, is noted.

The article presents an overview of the speeches of the participants of the Readings on the History of Library and Librarianship in Moscow, the Scientific and Practical Conference that traditionally unites specialists in the history of librarianship and bibliography, book culture and social communications. The conference was organized by the I.S. Turgenev Library and Reading Room, the Fundamental Library of the Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Library History Section of the Russian Library Association. Three sections are briefly described: “Jubilee Libraries”, “Libraries: People and Destinies”, “Historical Aspects of Bibliography”.

On March 18—21, 2024, the International Scientific and Practical Conference “LIBWAY: Science, Technology and Information in Libraries” was held in Berdsk, the Novosibirsk Region, which was dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The main organizers of the conference were the Presidium of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SB RAS) and the State Public Scientific and Technical Library (SPSTL) SB RAS. The forum was attended by representatives of 24 countries of the world, 18 subjects of the Russian Federation, federal libraries and universities of Russia, scientific institutions of the Russian Academy of Sciences, museums, archives, publishing houses, editorial offices of journals. During the conferences, 2 plenary sessions, 6 scientific sections, 3 seminars, 3 round tables, the exhibition-presentation “Book Culture in Faleristics”, presentations of monographs, scientific journals of the SPSTL SB RAS and databases dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The conference is a traditional one, held annually by the library since 1966. It summarizes the results of research activities for the next period, discusses pressing problems of library science, book studies, bibliography, information technology, establishes new communication links, outlines tasks, plans and prospects for cooperation.

The article presents an overview of the 26th International Scientific Conference “Librarianship — 2024” (Skvortsov Readings — 2024) “Library in New Geopolitical Realities”, held on April 16—17, 2024 at the Moscow State Institute of Culture. The main events and key reports of the conference are highlighted. The content and main results of the round tables within the framework of the conference are disclosed: “Improving the Regulatory Framework as a Key Task of the Strategic Agenda for the Development of Librarianship in the Russian Federation” and “Information Culture of the Digital Generation in the Context of the Tasks of Professional Training of Cultural Personnel”.

A brief excursus of the development of Russian book studies as an independent scientific direction is presented. The main milestones in the institutionalization of book studies on the example of the Petrograd-Leningrad-Petersburg scientific school are considered: the formation of an academic discipline and a specialized department, the publication of a series of the first conceptual works directly focused on the development of methodological provisions of book science, the preparation of the first textbooks as evidence of the achievement of a certain level of consensus in the professional community, and the organization of a regular scientific forum — the conference “Smirdin Readings”. The thematic spectrum of modern book studies, the results of which were presented at the All-Russian Conference in 2024, is described, the analysis of key reports delivered at the plenary session is carried out, and an analytical review of the work of the sections is given.