RUDN Journal of Russian History (Dec 2014)
PERSONAL BOOK COLLECTIONS IN THE SYSTEM OF NATIONAL CULTURE (STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM)
Abstract
The research goal of this article is to consider the place of personal book collections (also often referred to as «private library») of the late XX th − early XXI st centuries in the national culture system. The article analyzes the problems associated with collecting books. The author considers the reasons of literary collections formation and their tragic fate after the revolutionary events of 1917, when a large part of the book collections was divided or died completely. There are pointed out specified leading private book collections of the last century and forms of cooperation of private libraries owners with the state. The author comes to the conclusion that the personal book collections are an essential value for the development of the Russian culture in the New and Newest time, particularly considering the example of separate book collections of the last decades. It is equally important to admit that the state should play a special role in the formation of private book collections and care for the preservation of book culture through the development of private libraries, because the culture of the book is subjected to strong pressure from electronic texts that carry information, but are not books.
