Authors
- Mogilevsky Nikolai Alekseevich Ph. D., associate professor
Annotation
The article analyzes the problems faced by provincial public libraries in the second half of the 1850s, reflected in the annual reports of governors to the emperor. The relevance of the topic is determined by the necessity to look at the problem of functioning of provincial public libraries with the involvement of a new type of sources
— in this case, governor’s reports. Public libraries in provincial towns began to be opened in Russia, at the suggestion of Admiral N. S. Mordvinov, after 1830. However,
they were initially placed in rather difficult conditions: their financing was entirely entrusted by the government to local societies, which did so reluctantly and insufficiently.
The chronic lack of money in provincial libraries also caused other problems: limited library funds, difficulties in hiring and maintaining staff, etc. After the tightening of censorship (since 1848), many provincial public libraries actually ceased to function. Their revival began only after the accession to the throne of Alexander II, when the government paid close attention to the spread of education and raising the general cultural level of the population, especially in the regions. In the gubernatorial reports of the epoch under consideration, public libraries received a lot of attention, which allows us to analyze the problems faced by provincial public libraries at that time. The study showed that the situation of provincial public libraries on the eve of the abolition of serfdom was ambivalent: on the one hand, there was a positive trend — new libraries were opened and old ones were revived; on the other hand, all the previous problems inherent in provincial public libraries (first of all, financial) were not solved.
How to link insert
Mogilevsky, N. A. (2025). MAIN PROBLEMS OF FUNCTIONING OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES ON THE EVE OF THE ABOLITION OF SERFDOM (1855–1861) ACCORDING TO GOVERNOR’S REPORTS Bulletin of the Moscow City Pedagogical University. Series "Pedagogy and Psychology", № 4 (60), 62. https://doi.org/10.24412/2076-9105-2025-460-62-75
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