New Realities: Libraries in Post-Soviet Russia

The transition away from communism toward a more democratic society and the move to a market economy had profound effects on Russian libraries. Using the main public library in Bryansk, the Bryansk Region Scientific Library, as a case study, this article examines the changes in library service, including information access and the opening of previously closed collections, funding issues, the library’s relationship with the government, changes in the professional mindset of librarians, and the information needs of library users in this period of transition. Introduction The end of the twentieth century saw Russia moving from a highly controlled society to a more open and democratic one. Russia was also transitioning from a controlled economy to a market economy. Both the political and economic transitions have had profound effects on Russia’s libraries. Under the Soviets, the library was not free to collect and disseminate any information they wished. Partiinost, propagating the ideology of the party, was the order of the day, and collection decisions had to be approved by the government. Nonetheless, literacy was important to the Soviets, book publishing flourished, and it was an accepted ideal that no person should have to walk more than fifteen minutes to get to a library (Kuzmin, 1995). After perestroika libraries were faced with drastic budget cuts and closures, but at the same time they had a new freedom to open access to information. The citizens of Russia were also faced with many changes that created more information needs. Writing in the mid-1990s, Evgeny Kuzmin noted: LIBRARY TRENDS, Vol. 55, No. 3, Winter 2007 (“Libraries in Times of War, Revolution, and Social Change,” edited by W. Boyd Rayward and Christine Jenkins), pp. 716–729 © 2007 The Board of Trustees, University of Illinois New Realities: Libraries in Post-Soviet Russia