1. Russian State Library (Moscow):
Russian State Library is one of the wonders of the country and been serving the nation for a long time. The library was founded in 1862 and now this on the its peak with an enriched collection of over 43 million materials together. The RSL is famous for different reasons and mostly this place is admired for its enriched collection of audio records, maps, newspapers, dissertations, and many other categories. There are documents preserved in 247 languages and they are accessible to the members of the library. The Russian State Library is the national library for the country and the largest one of the state in consideration of library collections. The library was named as the V. I. Lenin State Library of the USSR in the early part of the 20th century and the name has been changed as the Russian State Library in 1992. The number of books over 17 million while there are 13 million journals, 150,000 pieces of maps of different territories and many other interesting things. The number of books has increased as the publishers have submitted a copy of each books which has been published between 1922 and 1991. In fact, the submission of books had been made mandatory for the authors, publishers and other related with the book publication. The library is opened for public and only adults are allowed to use the library facilities and a good number of academicians, researchers, students and people of other professions use the library for their respective purposes.
2. Russian National Library (St. Petersburg):
Considered as the first library of the nation, the National Library of Russia has undergone different names during different periods. The library was known as the Imperial Public Library, State Public Library and Russian Public Library. This is also the oldest library of the country and is ranked as an enriched library of the world for its enriched collections of books and other materials. The library is considered as the treasury of national heritage of Russian for its enriched collections over the course of time. Almost all the collections represent the courses of history of the country and almost all the information related to Russia is available here. The library is also used as a comprehensive center for research and cultural activities as well. The library was established in 1795 and Catherine the Great is considered as the founder of the library and the contributions of the Empress are highly notable. The library has some exclusive collections and among them the collections of Diderot and Voltaire is notable. There were no plans to set up a public library before the 18th century and with the Russian Enlightenment, the idea emerged. The construction of the library began in 1795 and lasted for around 15 years. The entire structure has been designed by Yegor Sokolov with a Neoclassical style. The inauguration of the library was postponed for two years fearing the invasion of Napoleon in the country and now this is the source of all the greatest resources for Russia.
3. Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library (St. Petersburg):
Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library is the other library that is enriched with a great deal of information and books and often it is considered as the replacement of Wikipedia as that lacks information about Russia. Many of the information on the encyclopedia, about Russia, is supposed to be incorrect or twisted. The library was established by Vladimir Putin and now the library has become one of the national libraries of the country. This is one of the three libraries that contains some unique intellectual properties for development of Russia. The complete history of the Russian is preserved here in detail and the readers could get the right knowledge about the country. The citizens of the country are allowed to use the library without any cost and by this way, the library is serving to the nation after its inception. When the decisions were taken to build the library, the plans were set that it should be one of the most important one and will contain more information and collection of books than the other libraries of the world. The library came into the status of the national library in 2008 by the Federal Law and it was opened in May of 2009. This is one the digitalized libraries of the country and contains some of the rarest copies of manuscripts of the world. Besides, the Presidential library also aims to create a hub of information for its users so that the people could come to know about the history of the country.
4. Moscow State Children's Library:
5. National Library of the Republic of Tatarstan:
This is a unique public library in Tatarstan and famous for its enriched collection of books and documents. There are over three million books and documents available in this library. In fact, this is the state book depository for the state and contains publications of different level including republican, national, Russian and even so many foreign publications. Among the documents, it is estimated that around 100,000 documents are in Tatar language while another 100,000 documents are in foreign language. This shows the vastness of the documents of the library. The library is considered as the center of excellence for the people of the state and it has simultaneously performing different roles together. This is the national and public library of the state and was opened for public in 1865 but in the beginning the library was the collection of a book lover. It was Ivan Vtorov, a local book lover of the state. After the library was opened for public, Vtorov’s son donated 1908 pieces of collections again. The modern development of the library was done in 1991 when it was declared as a national library. This is now a center of culture, research, information and development. The required information is provided to the respective information seeker of various branches. The library also allows the readers and individuals who are to get into deeper stage of knowledge and also creates newer opportunities for them to research the subjects. This library has also connection with International Book-Exchange.
6. Pushkin State Scientific Library in Omsk:
This is the oldest public library in the state and has been named after Alexander Pushkin. The library has been being used for numerous purposes and majority of its users are from the locals of the state. This is also the main research center in the region for its enriched and rare collections. Decisions to make the library were made in 1899. The authority wanted to open the library in remembrance of Pushkin. After completion of the library it was opened for public in the early part of 1907. In the beginning of the library, the number of books were limited and even the spaces were also smaller than the current days. There were only 4160 books in the first year. Besides, the number of readers was also few – only 370 in the first year. But with the change of time, the library has been changed and the number of readers have also increased to a great extent. The library got an expansion in 1920. In line with the reading rooms, the authority opened a museum in the library and the museum had some departments including Russian bibliography, children’s department, a book binding section, foreign literatures etc. The fund of the library helped it get a massive expansion and turned into one of the largest book depositories in the locality. The library building has been shifted from places to places and in 1924 it returned to its original location and grabbed the entire building.
7. The State Public Scientific Technological Library in Novosibirsk:
This is the largest library in Russia. Some of the academicians consider this as the information center for different level while some others are on the view that this is the head library for the country. The Museum of Book, an enriched collections of numerous books is located here. The library has a centralizes system and is interlinked with some other libraries of the region and this is the only research facility in the eastern side of the country. The library is used mostly by the professors, postgraduates and tutors and the number of students using the library facility is over 10,000. The library is so popular among its users for various reasons and the most important aspect is the unique collection of books. The library is enriched with both Russian and foreign books, periodicals, magazines and journals and there are around 14 million documents over different issues. The native part has been formed with the collection of the native copies as it was made mandatory to submit a copy of every published books. There are over 100 databases available for the library which contain over 47 million records. The digitization of the books and manuscripts is another feature for the library and it has removed the distance and now the library is now accessible from internet. The 18 reading rooms of the library can accommodate 600 readers at a time.
8. Vyborg Library:
The library has a long history of transition and it was built during the reign of Finnish people in Russia. The domination began in 1918 and continued till 1940 – 44. After the occupation of the land by Russian authority, the name of the library was changed to the current name based on its location in the city. The building that holds the library was constructed in 1935 and it took around eight years to construct the library building. The library building design was made by Alvar Aalto, a notable Finnish architect and the architectural design resembles the Finnish architecture. Regional modernism began with the library architecture and the wave-shaped auditorium has brought it more fame. The name of the library has been changed several times and before the Second World War, the library was knowns as Viipuri Library while the name has been changed to Nadezhda Krupskaya Municipal Library when the USSR occupied the state. The massive restoration of the library began in 1994 and the task was completed in 2013. The Second World War had some great impacts on the library and the USSR authority did not repair the damages that the library building suffered during the war. Then the building was of no use for around 10 years and almost every structure inside and outside of the building got damaged seriously. The proper restoration for the library took place in 2008.
9. Chekhov Library:
Chekhov Library is considered as the oldest library is Russia and the name has been derived after the name of the renowned Russian author, Anton Chekhov. This is a public library and all types of people of the society have their access here. The library was officially opened in 1876 and the initial location was the city council office. Before the establishment of this library, there were no public libraries and the people who had their private libraries considered the books and documents as their private property. So, the mass people had almost no access to those libraries in their needs. The library moved into another location in 1878 and the building was granted by the city council which helped it earlier. A good number of famous people including Chekhov has passed his time in the library. It is known that Chekhov used to come early in the morning in the weekends and on other holidays and spent hours by reading books. Some of the academicians are on the view that the library is the place where Chekhov dreamt of deciding to be a story writer. Chekhov was asked to submit his books and he continued submitting all of his published books until his death to the library and after his death, the name of the library was changed after his name. The library authority also had set the first museum for Anton Chekhov in the library.
10. The Moscow M. V. Lomonosov State University Library:
This one of the best universities and public research institute in Russia and visited by a varied number of people of home and abroad. The institute was established in 1755 and appeared as the educational institution with the tallest structure. Now this is one of the best reputed universities of the world and the library of the university is highly popular among the students of home and abroad. The library is also considered as one the largest one in Russia for its enormous collection of books and documents. Currently, there are around 9,000,000 volumes are available in the library alone which is enviable to the other libraries. Annually over 50,000 readers are served by the library while the readers use around 5, 500, 000 pieces of books for different purposes. Moreover, the library proudly owns 2, 000, 000 books of foreign language and used by different people like researchers and academicians. Besides, this is a great place for visiting in the country.
