On the question of the crisis of domestic library activity: is there light at the end of the tunnel?

Abstract

The article is devoted to the prospects of development of the national library activity. The purpose of the article is to determine the ways of library construction. For the first time the original methodology for its development analysis on the basis of supply and demand for library services is proposed. The dynamics of changes in the market of library services in the Soviet and post-Soviet periods is presented. It is shown that the decrease in demand for library services is largely due to the obsolescence of library collections and the inability to meet the information needs of readers. The author comes to the conclusion that the vector of library construction should be set by the state and society. If in the Soviet period the emphasis was placed on the interests of the state to form a new “Soviet” person, today it should shift towards the humanization of social relations and the creation of conditions for the creative development of an individual. It is noted that the unfavorable situation in library construction is created by certain demographic and socioeconomic factors. Their compensation should also form the basis of the state library policy.

Keywords

• спрос и предложение на библиотечные услуги
• перспективы развития библиотечного дела