The undoubted sources of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941—1945 are the patriotism and unity of the peoples of the USSR, the readiness to defend the Motherland, mass heroism and dedication at the military and home front. The manifestation of these qualities during the war years was largely the result of the state policy of the pre-war decade aimed at preparing the country to repel possible aggression. One of the tools of such a policy was the book, which mobilized and campaigned, educated and enligthted various categories of the population. The purpose of this article is to analyze military book publishing in the 1930s and early 1940s in the context of large–scale militarization campaigns, the formation of Soviet patriotism, and the education of readiness to defend the Motherland.

The authors of the article cite the main statistical indicators of the output of printed domestic periodicals in 2024, especially analyzing in detail the current state and trends in the development of this sphere in Russia. 14 tables with comments give an idea of the number of journal, magazine and newspaper titles, their circulation, geography and languages of issue, subject matter and purpose. There has been an almost continuous decline in all annual core indicators for both these groups of publications since 2015, with the exception of total circulation of 2024 magazines and journals which exceeded the indicators of 2023 (588,4 millions of copies against 543,6).

The article investigates the problem of moved library collections during World War II. The relevant scientific works by A.M. Mazuritsky are analyzed. The historical, legal and ethical aspects of the problem are considered. Some very valuable cultural objects that Russia has already handed over to Germany are listed. The search activity for lost national library collections is shown. Optimal solutions to address modern restitution issues are formulated.

The article is devoted to the activities of the Russian State Library in the field of popularization of fiction about the Great Patriotic War by means of a recommended bibliography. The object of research is bibliographic indexes of relevant subjects published in the 20th century. These publications are presented in an evolutionary development, the innovation of their content is noted, the formation of stable traditions in their design is shown. All indexes are chronologically divided into two groups: those created directly during the war (in 1942—1945) and in the second half of the 20th century (a kind of “jubilee” cycle). In 1965—1985, every five years, on the anniversary of Victory Day, the library published indexes of the same type in structure and with information about literary works published over the past five years. Thus, a comprehensive systematic analysis of all previous editions is very important for the further development of this type of bibliographic manuals.

The article presents a documentary and memoir story of the evacuation of the State Public Historical Library collections in the summer and autumn of 1941, together with the funds of other Moscow libraries and museums (including the Lenin State Library of the USSR and the State Historical Museum) on a barge to Khvalynsk (in the Saratov region), and then to the city of Kustanay, the Kazakh SSR, the activities of the United Museum and Library Repository No. 1 and the return of library collections to Moscow in the summer of 1944. Some published documents are being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time.

The article is aimed at analyzing the work of the Main Political Directorate of the Workersʼ and Peasantsʼ Red Army and the editorial board of the military-political journal “Agitator and Propagandist of the Red Army” (“Propagandist of the Red Army” in 1941—1942) in popularizing military-related publications among commanders, political workers and soldiers of the field army during the Great Patriotic War. It is considered different strategies for presenting content on books that were actively used in the journal (including bibliographical lists and bibliographical reviews, book reviews, survey articles, announcements, indexes of literature for reports, talks and political activities). At the same time, much attention was paid to promoting the combat experience of the Russian army and motivating military personnel to fight the enemy. The 1941—1945 editions, which contributed to the victories of the Red Army on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, were widely presented in the journal. The author also talks about the desirability of understanding this experience in new conditions.

Editions of A.S. Pushkinʼs works are more or less present in the home libraries and collections of all lovers of books and literature, because “Pushkin is our everything”, as the poet A.A. Grigoriev said in 1859 (for example, over 4 million copies of his works were produced during the Great Patriotic War). The library of A.K. Tarasenkov (1909—1956), which is an impressive collection of Russian poetry from the first half of the 20th century, was no exception (at the time of the collectorʼs death, it numbered about 10 thousand copies; currently, part of it is kept in the Russian State Library). Since the collection includes only poetry of the first half of the 20th century, the work of A.S. Pushkin as a poet of the 19th century is not presented in it directly, but thanks to the works of poets of the first half of the 20th century, through their vision, reading and impressions. Some of these publications are commemorative ones.

In the light of the tasks of revealing the historical truth about the Great Patriotic War (1941—1945), the work of the bibliographers of the National Library of Russia (the Saltykov-Shchedrin State Public Library) during the war, especially during the Siege of Leningrad, is reviewed, and their multifaceted bibliographic activities (including scientific ones) are presented. The article analyzes the reference and bibliographic services provided by representatives of the rear services and the front, the preparation of literature lists based on requests from organizations and individual readers, and the special importance of bibliographic information on military topics during that period, as well as in order to overcome the consequences of wounds and starvation. The names of the authors of the most significant bibliographic manuals are indicated. The steadfastness of the bibliographers who worked in the library and made, as far as possible, an invaluable contribution to ensuring the Great Victory was emphasized.

The review of the collection “The Great Patriotic War and the Siege of Leningrad in the Destinies of the Staff of the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences” (2024), prepared by library specialists N.V. Bekzhanova and A.A. Balakina, is presented. The purpose of the collection is to capture the memory of the employees whose selfless labor ensured the functioning of the academic library during the war years. The structure and content of the publication, which consists of a biographical dictionary of the staff who worked in the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) in 1941—1945, their memoirs and fragments from their autobiographies related to the period of war and the blockade of Leningrad, are analyzed. The central section of the publication is the biographical dictionary, which contains 532 references to the library staff of the war period. The content of personal articles of the dictionary is considered, the composition of the reference apparatus and appendices of the collection is revealed. The relevance of the publication under consideration is emphasized, and its importance for research on the history of the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the history of librarianship of the country as a whole is noted.

On February 20—21, 2025, the Chelyabinsk Regional Universal Scientific Library hosted the All-Russian Cultural and Historical Forum “The Great Patriotic War and Historical Memory: On the 80th Anniversary of Victory” (one of the first large-scale events of the current year in Russia and the Chelyabinsk Region dedicated to the significant date). The forum was organized by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the Russian Library Association, the Ministry of Culture of the Chelyabinsk Region, the Russian Historical Society, the State Public Historical Library of Russia, the Chelyabinsk Regional Universal Scientific Library, the United State Archive of the Chelyabinsk Region, and the State Historical Museum of the Southern Ural. The Forum was held with the active support of higher educational institutions — South Ural State University, Chelyabinsk State University, South Ural State Humanitarian and Pedagogical University, Chelyabinsk State Institute of Culture. A wide range of issues was considered (reflection of the events of the Great Patriotic War in various forms of historical memory and memorial culture, educational activities of institutes of social memory, information resources on the national military history of the 20th—21st centuries, the specifics of military subjects in fiction and art, the peculiarities of memory preservation in the formation of local identity, as well as topical issues of the organization of the system patriotic education).

The article provides an overview of the presentations of the participants of the 30th Readings on the History of Libraries and Librarianship in Moscow (February 19—21, 2025), a scientific and practical conference that traditionally unites specialists in the history of librarianship and bibliography, book culture and social communications. The conference was co-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. The plenary session and two sections are briefly described: “Russian Libraries During the Great Patriotic War” and “Libraries and the Special Military Operation”