Library today

Our Library today

The State Public Scientific Technological Library (SPSTL) belonging to the Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch, is one of the oldest in Russia. It was established in 1918 in Moscow, in 1958 moved to Novosibirsk. (see Brief history of the SPSTL).
The SPSTL SB RAS is a public library of comprehensive scope.

The impressive size of its collections – 10 million printed items -makes the SPSTL SB RAS one of the largest libraries of Russia and the world.

The SPSTL’s collections are especially strong in research and instructional literature, as well as in materials pertaining to the problems of industrial production, about 25 percent of editions in a language other than Russian. The universal character and comprehensiveness of the collection rank it as the main resource for information provision of science, industry and culture of Siberia.

The SPSTL is a copyright depository, it receives all kinds of documents including patents which arrive at the Library in quantities equal to those received by the Federal Technical Patent Library in Moscow. By the size of its collection and other basic characteristics, the SPSTL SB RAS can be compared to the Russian National Library (St.-Petersburg) and the Russian State Library (Moscow).

The Library’s collection of rare books and manuscripts stands a significant monument of the history and culture of Russia. Due to its uniqueness and comprehensiveness, this collection is considered an insurance of national memory of the Russian people. Books and manuscripts collected in archeographic expeditions in Siberia and the Far East constitute the core of the rare books collection. In 1992 the SPSTL opened its Book Museum.

The mission of the SPSTL SB RAS is to provide information and library services to all categories of specialists in Siberian region, to ensure their right for free access to information and to make available the universal values of science and culture.

Besides that, the SPSTL SB RAS stands:

· a scientific institute where researches in library science, science of bibliography, bibliology and computer science are conducted,
· the Center of scientific and technical information of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences;
· the State-owned multi-sectoral regional depository for scientific and special libraries of Siberia and the Far East;
· the regional center of interlibrary loan;
· the scientific and methodological center for the libraries of the SB RAS’s institutes.

The SPSTL has 18 reading rooms with on-site space for 600 readers. Each day nearly 1000 readers visit our reading rooms where they get supplied with 12000 items and receive library and information services at their request.
The SPSTL SB RAS is an information center of federal significance.
Our resources:
· on-line catalog for all types of editions (1992-);
· over 40 data bases created by the SPSTL’s specialists (bibliography on urgent problems of scientific research);
· analytical reviews on ecology;
· more than 6000 full-text scientific journals in electronic format, data bases of abstracts produced in 140 information centers of the world.
Publishing activities. As an established provider of information support to scientific research, the SPSTL SB RAS issues through its own polygraphic facilities a number of current and retrospective indexes of literature on regional topics and analytical reviews on ecology. As an academic institution, the Library issues collections of scientific papers, monographs on the problems of book publishing, library science and informatics, methodical guides. Published by the SPSTL scientific journal “Bibliosphere”, devoted to problems of library science and bibliology, is the only one of its kind behind the Urals.

SPSTL SB RAS – a major center of culture and education. Lectures, conferences, scientific seminars, presentations, vernisages and excursion tours are conducted here every day of the week.

SPSTL SB RAS – a center of international cooperation. Scientific interests and business pursuits connect the Library with countries of the world, among them Germany, Great Britain, China, North Korea and others. The majority of foreign editions added to our collection, were acquired through the international book exchange with 290 organizations in 39 countries.

Human resources. The SPSTL employs a permanent staff of 431 employees. In their number 281 library practitioners, 10 persons have a scientific degree of doctor, 37 – candidates. The Siberian regional Center of Continuous Education, organized in the SPSTL, applies every effort in order to raise the professional skills of library employees. The SPSTL houses and supports departments of the State University and State Pedagogical University of Novosibirsk, maintains its own post-graduated courses. A Dissertation Council is functioning since 1996 to promote defending of candidates’ theses.