Library of Foreign Literature schedule of events. All-Russian State Library of Foreign Literature named after M. I. Rudomino

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Library of Foreign Literature named after. Many Muscovites know Rudomino under the popular name “Foreigner”. The library's collections contain more than 5 million copies of books, magazines, and newspapers in most languages ​​of the world. In 2000, Inostranka specialists began digitizing the collections; to date, a colossal electronic catalog of foreign literature has been created with free access to a virtual storage of information.

In addition to book collections, the library has rooms for exhibitions, press conferences, and lectures. Foreign and domestic authors regularly present their new books within the walls of Inostranka.

Library named after Rudomino has absorbed all the best achievements of the Soviet library system, generously diluting them with the latest technologies. Today, Inostranka is considered one of the most modern libraries in Moscow, attracting readers of all ages. The goal of the cultural institution remains the study of the world's intellectual and artistic heritage.

The very appearance of a library of foreign literature in Moscow is legendary. Her story began with one closet in which the polyglot and translator Margarita Ivanovna Rudomino kept her books. It was Margarita Ivanovna who came up with the idea of ​​​​creating a repository of books in foreign languages ​​in the capital. To legalize the library, Rudomino created the Neophilological Institute in 1921, which existed only on paper. The new educational institution was allocated premises in a dilapidated house near Arbat Street.

After some time, the institute announced self-liquidation, and the library that existed with it became a separate cultural institution - the Neophilological Library.

The famous writer K. Chukovsky told how he came to the Rudomino library. It was a closet filled with books under the very roof of a five-story building, so cold that the bindings were covered with frost. And the keeper of the book wealth was a thin, hungry girl with red, frostbitten hands.

In 1924, the institution received a new name - the Library of Foreign Literature. In the same year, the book collections were transported to the premises of the Historical Museum. For some time the library was located in rooms built specifically for Emperor Alexander III. It was clear that the library would not last long in the Historical Museum. Already at the end of 1924, Rudomino was ordered to transport the books to Stoleshnikov Lane, to the Church of St. Cosmas and Damian.

In 1943, the library was awaiting a new move - to Lopukhinsky Lane. In 1948, the institution was awarded all-Union status.

The “Foreigner”’s wanderings through various buildings in Moscow ended in 1967: the library moved to a new building on Nikoloyamskaya Street. The author of the project for a large house in the Art Nouveau style with many halls and storage rooms was the architect D. Chechulin.

In our time Library of Foreign Literature named after. Rudomino is not only a public library institution for the humanities, but also a cultural center engaged in establishing and strengthening international relations, organizing exhibitions, festivals, classical music concerts and creative meetings.

Federal Library

In 2002, the All-Russian State Library of Foreign Literature named after M. I. Rudomino (Library of Foreign Literature), one of the largest public and scientific libraries in Russia, celebrated its 80th anniversary. The unique profile of the collections and the multifaceted activities of the Library have determined its special place among Russian libraries. The history of "Foreigner", as many call VGBIL, began with a small library of the Neophilological Institute, numbering a little more than 100 books. After the closure of the short-lived institute, its library in October 1921 received the status of an independent institution as the Neophilological Library. In April 1922, it opened its doors to its first readers, who were mainly philology students, teachers, and translators. In 1924, the Neophilological Library was renamed the State Library of Foreign Literature (GBIL).

From the first steps of the Library, its main goal was to promote the study of foreign cultures and foreign languages, in particular by introducing the best examples of foreign fiction. From the very beginning, one of the main tasks of the Library was practical teaching of foreign languages ​​in order to prepare and attract new readers. At GBIL, small groups (circles) were created, and then courses for the study of German, French and English languages, transformed in 1926 into the Higher Courses of Foreign Languages. On their basis, in 1930, the first institute of foreign languages ​​in the USSR was organized - the Moscow Institute of New Languages, subsequently - the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute of Foreign Languages ​​named after M. Thorez (in 1990 renamed the Moscow State Linguistic University).

The turning point in the life of the Library was 1948, when, by government decree, it received all-Union status and was reorganized into the All-Union State Library of Foreign Literature (VGBIL) - the central book depository in the USSR with an almost universal profile (except for foreign literature on technology, agriculture, military affairs and medicine ). Since that time, along with the humanities, VGBIL began to acquire literature on the natural sciences: mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, geology, theoretical mechanics, astronomy. The VGBIL was assigned a number of new functions for conducting scientific, bibliographic and methodological work. It becomes a scientific and methodological center for the country's libraries for working with foreign literature.

Profound changes in the policy of acquiring library collections were caused by the approval in 1975 of a new thematic plan (profile), according to which the acquisition of natural science literature was stopped, and the following priority areas were identified: the humanities, fiction and art of foreign countries , reference publications. The revision of the profile was to a certain extent a forced measure: on the one hand, it was difficult for the book depository to accommodate the entire flow of incoming literature, on the other hand, it became possible to direct more funds to the formation of more complete collections of fiction, publications on social sciences, linguistics, literary criticism and art; as well as to enrich the reference fund in the field of humanities.

Currently, VGBIL has unique funds of foreign literature of a wide humanitarian profile, numbering about 4.4 million copies as of January 1, 2003, including books and periodicals, in more than 140 languages ​​of the world. Among foreign publications, the rich collection of world classical and modern literature in the original language, especially in English, French, German and Spanish, is of paramount importance. The book fund of VGBIL, amounting to about 1.9 million copies, also widely includes foreign publications on literary studies and linguistics, including methods of teaching languages, books on foreign art and art history, historical works and works on regional studies. Collections of literature on philosophy, sociology and aesthetics, law and religion, bibliology, library science and information science are also systematically replenished. The fund of books published abroad is supplemented by domestic publications in Russian and foreign languages, devoted to literature, art, history of language, problems of the development of culture and social thought of foreign countries (with the exception of countries that were formerly part of the USSR). At the same time, translations into Russian of fiction and scientific literature on the Library's profile are completed as completely as possible.

In the process of acquiring the collections of the VGBIL, preference has always been given to literature in common foreign languages, primarily in English, German and French. The book collection contains the most numerous publications in these languages. In addition, there are tens of thousands of books in Polish, Spanish, Italian, Bulgarian, Swedish, Japanese and a number of other languages. The Library has carefully selected collections of books in Scandinavian, South and West Slavic languages, in Hungarian, Romanian, Greek, Portuguese, in many languages ​​of the peoples of Asia and Africa, in the artificial language Esperanto.

The library collections include over 2.5 million periodicals (magazines in the number of issues, newspapers in annual sets). The repertoire of current periodicals received by VGBIL amounts to more than 1,500 titles, including about 1,100 titles of foreign newspapers, magazines and ongoing publications.

In accordance with modern trends, the number of publications on non-traditional media, including microforms (in particular, newspapers are microfilmed) and electronic media, is steadily growing in the VGBIL collections. The library is the owner of the unique “World Biographical Archive” on microfiche with name indexes for foreign countries, published by the publishing house “Saur”. National bibliographies of foreign countries are regularly purchased on CD-ROM, and subscriptions to databases of periodicals, in particular from the EBSCO Publishing company, are carried out on a corporate basis.

In 1974, a rare book fund was allocated from the Library’s general fund, which now includes more than 41 thousand rare publications. The rare book research department stores, in particular, early printed books (8,701 copies), including 22 incunabula and 527 paleotypes.

In addition to using the reading rooms, VGBIL readers have the opportunity to receive literature at home from the subscription fund, which is stocked with publications that are in active demand. These are, first of all, works of foreign fiction in the original language or their translations into Russian, works of classics of Russian literature and modern writers translated into foreign languages, educational, educational, methodological and reference literature for students of foreign languages, textbooks on the Russian language for foreigners, guides to Russia and other countries of the world.

In conditions of limited budgetary allocations for the acquisition of library collections, book exchange is a significant source of their replenishment. About a thousand foreign organizations (libraries, universities, publishing houses, bookselling companies) from 92 countries are partners of VGBIL in international book exchange.

Another important source of library collections is donations. It was on the basis of gifts that, in particular, the Fund of Russian Abroad was created in the VGBIL, which in terms of its volume and content is among the most significant in Russia. Its history began in 1990 with the organization of an exhibition and sale of printed products of the oldest Russian publishing house abroad, YMCA-Press (Paris), in the Library. From the director of the publishing house, Professor N.S. Struve VGBIL received a gift of books and periodicals presented at the exhibition, which marked the beginning of a valuable collection of books from Russian diaspora. Later it was supplemented by gifts from the publishing houses “Life with God” (Brussels, Belgium) and “Ardis” (Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA). Among other valuable gifts in the fund of Russian diaspora is the Library of Nikolai Zernov, a professor at Oxford University, which in 1993 was transferred to the Library by his widow, at the will of the scientist.

When completing the auxiliary funds of individual VGBIL centers, funds from targeted grants are used to develop their activities. Examples of such projects initiated by the Library of Foreign Literature are the projects for opening the Center for Legal Information (1999) and the Center for Oriental Cultures (2002), which were carried out with the financial support of the Open Society Institute (George Soros Foundation) - Russia. One of the main tasks, the implementation of which was provided for by the received targeted grants, was the formation of funds of legal literature and literature on the countries of the East, the creation of thematic databases and the provision of access to electronic information resources on legal issues and Oriental studies.

VGBIL provides the right to use its services to all categories of readers, including children and adolescents aged from five to 16 years in the children's room. Since 2001, the Library has had 80 thousand regular readers registered, and more than a thousand people visit it daily. A significant part (more than 50%) of VGBIL users are students of humanities universities; other visitors are dominated by teachers of foreign languages ​​in universities and schools, philologists, teachers, historians, art historians, librarians, and lawyers. More than half of the Library's readers are young people aged 20-30. In accordance with the data of a questionnaire survey conducted in 2000 among Library users, the priority purposes of visiting it are: preparing for classes, conducting scientific research, reading for personal pleasure. Many readers speak foreign languages ​​to one degree or another: English, French, and German are most often indicated. VGBIL enjoys popularity and authority not only among residents of Moscow or the Moscow region, who make up the majority of its readers, but also among specialists from other cities of Russia and from foreign countries.

The 1990s, marked by democratic transformations in Russian society, were associated with significant changes in the life of the VGBIL, which affected the management and organizational structure of the Library and contributed to the expansion of the range of services provided. After the collapse of the USSR, the Library was renamed into the All-Russian Library, which, however, did not change the abbreviation (VGBIL) of its name. The library received the right (1990) to bear the name of Margarita Ivanovna Rudomino (1900-1990), its founder and permanent director for more than 50 years. Since November 1993, VGBIL has been headed by General Director E.Yu. Genieva, who is one of the recognized leaders and authorities among the Russian and international library community, takes an active part in the work of various Russian and international organizations. She was elected Member of the Executive Bureau (1993-1995), Second Vice-President (1995-1997) and First Vice-President (1997-1999) of IFLA; was a member of the Presidential Council for Culture and Art (1996-2000); for many years she served as president of the Open Society Institute in Russia. E.Yu. Genieva is also vice-president of the Russian Library Association, a member of the Board of the All-Russian Cultural Foundation, and a member of the editorial board of Russian (Foreign Literature, Library) and international (Libri) journals. VGBIL continues and develops the traditions laid down by M. I. Rudomino, who saw the main goal of her life in “carrying world culture into the consciousness of people.” The Library organizes differentiated services for readers through a system of specialized reading rooms and departments. Some of them arose in the early 1990s, including children's literature, American literature, religious literature and publications of Russian foreign countries, literature on linguistics. Based on the hall of literature on art, in 1990 the Comprehensive Department of Literature on Art was formed. In January 1992, a Cultural Center appeared at VGBIL, created on the basis of several departments and designed to develop, coordinate and implement numerous cultural programs. In June 1993, the American Center was opened as one of the structural divisions of the Library, which provides free access to a wide range of sources of information about the United States using the latest electronic technologies. In 1995, the Center for International Library Science (on the basis of the Department of Foreign Library Science) and the Educational and Linguistic Center, equipped with modern equipment for individual and group lessons in foreign languages, were created within the structure of VGBIL. At the end of the same year, on the basis of the reference and bibliographic department, the VGBIL Information Center was formed, at which an Internet class was opened to teach users how to work on the World Wide Web. Here, users are provided with a rich fund of reference literature collected over many years: dozens of encyclopedias from different countries, hundreds of volumes of national bibliographies, various dictionaries and reference books, geographical atlases, databases on compact optical disks and many other sources. In July 2000, the UNESCO Information Center was opened at the Information Center.

Over the 80 years of its existence, the Library has not only grown into one of the most significant repositories of foreign literature in the world, but has also gained recognition as a major international cultural, educational and research center. The main directions of research activities of VGBIL are cultural studies and cultural relations between peoples; foreign library science; bibliology and book history; conservation and restoration of library collections; informatization of library processes and functions. As a methodological center for working with literature in foreign languages, the Library carries out intermediary and coordination functions in distributing book products of foreign publishing houses among the country's libraries, and also provides them with assistance and assistance in organizing international activities.

Along with performing traditional library functions, VGBIL pays significant attention to promoting foreign humanitarian culture and the achievements of librarianship in the depths of Russia, improving the professional qualifications of not only librarians, but also other cultural workers. The library has reached a high level in organizing cultural events, holding seminars, exhibitions and conferences, many of which have received international recognition. In addition to organizing traditional library exhibitions, the VGBIL Exhibition Center develops and organizes complex archival-museum-type exhibitions. During their preparation, extensive research work is carried out in the country's archives, libraries and museums, and scientific catalogs are published. Examples of such exhibitions include: “Anglophilia at the Throne: British and Russians in the Time of Catherine the Great”, “Germans in Russia, Russians in Germany - the Age of Enlightenment”, “Censorship of Foreign Books in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union”. In addition, the VGBIL Art Gallery displays works by Russian and foreign artists, masters of decorative and applied arts and artistic photography. To present exhibitions in other cities of Russia and abroad, mobile tablet exhibitions developed by the Exhibition Center are successfully used, which are easy to transport to any place in the world and conveniently installed in any exhibition space of both ancient and modern architecture.

Since 1996, VGBIL has had a center for advanced training of librarians, which later became part of the structure of the Rudomino School Training Center. Its main goal is to provide continuing education opportunities for specialists and managers of libraries and cultural departments, teachers of library disciplines in the country's universities. The “School” organizes internships, training and problem-solving seminars, conducts summer library schools, publishes textbooks and newsletters on issues of continuing professional education.

VGBIL conducts diversified publishing activities, an important role in which belongs to the Rudomino publishing house, created at the Library at the end of 1990. They publish, in particular, bibliographic indexes dedicated to both the work of individual writers (the series “Writers of Foreign Countries” has over a hundred issues), as well as national literatures, scientific works and reference publications, exhibition catalogs and conference materials, annual calendars of memorable dates on foreign fiction. A number of periodicals are published: “Consolidated Bulletin of New Arrivals of Foreign Books: Social Sciences”, scientific and information collection “Libraries Abroad”, international bulletin “Spoils of War” (Russian edition “Spoils of War”), etc. Relying on the rich funds of the Library , "Rudomino" also publishes translations of books by foreign authors, including children's books, memoirs, and literature with religious and philosophical content.

VGBIL carries out significant work on the automation of library and bibliographic processes, the introduction and development of new information technologies and services, and the formation of local industry databases. The Library's catalogs are gradually being converted into electronic form. Along with card catalogs, electronic catalogs are provided to readers for use: new book arrivals at VGBIL (since April 1997), periodicals and ongoing publications, and the subscription fund (since 1996). Work continues on the retrospective conversion of the alphabetical general card catalogue, in particular, scanning of the retrospective catalog of books in English, French, German and Russian has already been completed. The Document Delivery Center ensures the fulfillment of requests from remote users for electronic delivery of full-text documents from the VGBIL collections. Library staff and readers have access to the Internet. The VGBIL Web server, opened since September 1996, hosts the Library’s home page with information about its structural divisions, resources, services provided, and electronic publications; information about IFLA programs and annual conferences is provided in Russian; links are provided to the home pages of other Russian libraries - participants in the federal program LIBNET ("Creation of an all-Russian information and library computer network"), etc. The Library of Foreign Literature has always attached great importance to the development and strengthening of international relations, active participation and activities of international organizations. Since 1971, VGBIL has been the information and intermediary center of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA): until 1992 - for the Soviet Union, now - for Russia and some CIS countries. The direct performance of functions for collecting, storing and making available for use documents and materials of IFLA annual conferences is entrusted to the Center for International Library Science; informing Russian librarians about the activities of the Federation is one of the priority areas of the center’s work. In accordance with the decision of the IFLA Executive Bureau, in 1997, the IFLA Regional Center for Preservation and Conservation for Eastern Europe and the CIS was located at VGBIL, whose tasks include disseminating information on the preservation of library collections, organizing training programs, and coordinating preservation work in libraries of all types.

Many library programs and projects are carried out in close cooperation with international organizations, foreign libraries and cultural centers - IFLA, UNESCO, the US Library of Congress, the German Cultural Center. Goethe, the Mortenson Center for International Library Programs (at the University of Illinois at Erbana-Champaign, USA), etc. In accordance with cooperation agreements, VGBIL readers are served in the library of the French Cultural Center, the Information Center of the British Council and the Information Department of the Japanese Embassy located within its walls . On the fourth floor of the main Library building there is a permanent stand of the BBC World Service, where visitors have the opportunity to get acquainted with popular English language courses and receive educational audio and video cassettes for home use for a reasonable fee.

The international board of trustees of VGBIL includes famous scientists, cultural experts, librarians, publishers, public and religious figures from Russia and foreign countries.

At the beginning of the third millennium, VGBIL strives to become an international cultural forum - a meeting place for live, free communication between representatives of different countries, peoples, cultures, languages, and confessions. A new international project of the VGBIL - the program "Tolerance and Intercultural Dialogue" - aims to create an Institute of Tolerance on the basis of the Library of Foreign Literature.

Federal Library
Address: 109189, Moscow, st. Nikoloyamskaya, 1
Opening hours: Weekdays - from 11.00 to 21.00 Saturday, Sunday and holidays - from 11.00 to 19.00 Sanitary day - the last Thursday of each month Registration of readers and their entry into the library ends half an hour before the end of work. Participant

The Library of Foreign Literature is a public library with a broad humanitarian profile, simultaneously fulfilling the mission of an international cultural center. The library is a meeting place and lively, relaxed communication between representatives of different countries, peoples, cultures, languages, confessions...

History of the library

The birth of the Library is shrouded in legend, however, soberly enough tied to the reality of those troubled post-revolutionary years to turn into a myth. The legend features a cabinet containing a hundred books in German, French and English; who delivered books from Saratov, from the collection of her late mother, was the young enthusiast Margarita Ivanovna Rudomino, the same age as the century, the founder and then the permanent director of VGBIL for more than fifty years; and a certain Neophilological Institute in Moscow, which self-liquidated before it even had time to open. And it's all true. The library at the virtual institute was M.I.’s troubles. Rudomino was officially legalized as Neophilological and received at her disposal a dilapidated apartment in the Arbat area, on the corner of Denezhny and Glazyevsky lanes.

In 1924, the Neophilological Library was renamed the Library of Foreign Literature (BIL); it gradually combined a public, scientific and educational library and lecture hall into one. In the same year, the Library was asked to vacate the premises in Denezhny Lane, since the wife of A.V. Lunacharsky, N.A. Rosenel decided to arrange an apartment for herself on the fifth floor. The library was urgently “transferred” to the building of the Historical Museum on Red Square, first to the “royal chambers” (three rooms built in 1883 for Alexander III, who honored the opening of the museum with his highest presence), then to another wing. But even from here, the Library was urgently transferred to the rebuilt building of the Church of St., which was closed by the authorities. unmercenaries Kosma and Damian in Stoleshnikov Lane.

In 1943-1949. The reading rooms and scientific departments of the Library were located in a mansion on Lopukhinsky Lane. In 1948, it received the status of an all-Union state library and transformed from the BIL into the VGBIL; it was entrusted with managing the formation of collections of foreign literature in the country's public libraries and providing them with methodological assistance.

In 1949, the Library was given the building of the former trading office of the Russian manufacturer and philanthropist Savva Morozov on Razin Street (now Varvarka), built, by the way, on the foundation of the destroyed Aglitsky courtyard. Then the Library received the affectionate nickname “Razinka” from readers.

In 1967, the Library moved to a building on Ulyanovskaya (now Nikoloyamskaya) street, specially built for it according to a design developed in the architectural studio of D.N. Chechulin. After the collapse of the USSR, it changed from All-Union to All-Russian, which, however, did not affect the abbreviation of its name.

At the very beginning, small groups for studying foreign languages ​​appeared at GBIL. On the basis of these courses, the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute of Foreign Languages ​​was later founded. Maurice Thorez (in 1990 renamed Moscow State Linguistic University).

In 1948, by government decree, the library received all-Union status and was reorganized into the All-Union State Library of Foreign Literature (VGBIL) - a central universal book depository.

Along with humanities literature, the funds were formed from publications on the natural sciences: mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, geology, theoretical mechanics, astronomy.

In 1975, a new thematic plan was adopted, according to which the priority areas for the development of the library were the humanities, fiction and art of foreign countries, and reference publications.

Library building

Almost immediately the library needed a new building instead of a small premises on Razin Street. Margarita Ivanovna Rudomino in her book “My Library” writes about the new building of the VGBIL: “I have invested almost my entire life in this building. For almost 30 years (except for the military) since 1930, I have been working day after day, month after month, year after year for the possibility of constructing a special building for the library.”

In 1949, a plot of land was provided for construction on Ulyanovskaya Street, next to the Astakhov Bridge. And only in November 1961 the first piles for the new building were driven in. The project was made in the architectural studio of D.N. Chechulina. The building was equipped with the latest technology of the time and housed an eight-story book depository (16 tiers), 14 reading rooms and a conference room for 400 people.

In the spring of 1965, the library moved to new premises. Margarita Ivanovna recalled: “I’m afraid to seem sentimental, but I admit: seeing on the new shelves the long-suffering books that had been nomadic for so long, having experienced basement dampness, cold, and moving to different parts of the city, and finally being placed in a permanent place in this convenient storage, I couldn’t resist and kissed them. All employees participated in the move and transportation of books, although we practically did not close the library to readers for a single day. Literally in hand, along a chain, the four million dollar fund was transferred from trucks to tiers of storage.” The library staff already then numbered about 700 people.

The writer Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky, who was particularly concerned about the fate of the library, wrote after the opening of the new building: “There was a closet, cold, dank, dark, all littered with junk books. The books were frozen through. This property was guarded by an emaciated, chilled girl with fingers swollen from the cold. And how can I not rejoice that before my eyes, this pitiful closet has turned into a fabulous multi-story palace, and the thin, pale-faced girl has become the majestic mistress of these palace palaces - our dear Margarita Ivanovna, commanding seven million books in one hundred and twenty languages!”

Library today

Since 1990, the library has been named after its founder, Margarita Ivanovna Rudomino. As of January 1, 2003, the library's holdings totaled about 4.4 million items, including books and periodicals, in more than 140 languages.

The basis of the fund is a collection of world classical and modern literature in the original language, as well as foreign publications on literary studies and linguistics, including methods of teaching languages, books on foreign art and art history, historical works and works on regional studies. The library collections include over 2.5 million periodicals, and the number of publications on electronic media is steadily growing in the VGBIL collections.

Just like 90 years ago, the library runs language courses for adults. And for the youngest readers, the Children's Book Center is open, where you can visit clubs for the study of foreign languages, the history of literature, art and regional studies.

The library hosts various cultural events, seminars, exhibitions and conferences.