Head of a village reading room in the USSR. About reading huts, red corners and clubs

Sergey Kez

This station has world fame, which few people in Russia know about. Passengers of the Trans-Siberian Railway crossing Russia can rightfully say that they have passed through Malta. Geography connoisseurs should not get excited: on the map there was a place not only for the island state of Malta, but also for a station with the same
title. Moreover, the residents of Siberian Malta are no less proud of their history than they are of the Mediterranean.

Malta means “bird cherry place” in Buryat. With the current head of the station, Andrei Drachuk, no matter how hard we tried, we could not find even a hint of the remains of bird cherry thickets. Either the first builders of the great Siberian road completely eliminated this bush with black tart berries, or it disappeared for unknown reasons even before their arrival. The head of the local municipality, Sergei Miller, also a railway worker in the recent past, could not shed any light on the botanical incident. True, through joint efforts they successfully covered that part of the story that concerned the most notable historical events of the 333-year-old village.

Malta originates from a monastic village that belonged to the Ascension Monastery in Irkutsk. The founding date is considered to be 1675. The village, apparently, was destined to be first a postal station and then a railway station. The Senate decree on the construction of a high road from Moscow to Irkutsk was signed in 1731, and almost three decades later the road reached Malta. The landmark, according to historians, was the old shackled path along which convicts and settlers dragged themselves. Neither Radishchev, nor Chernyshevsky, nor the Decembrists, nor the exiled Poles escaped Malta. History repeated itself in the 20th century, when a camp for Japanese prisoners of war appeared in the village.

The life of Malta changed dramatically after the arrival of the railway: it was divided, as it were, into two parts - the railway and the purely rural. Over time, the railway began to dominate. A school, a holiday home, and shops appeared here. In short, the center of business and cultural life has shifted closer to the railway.

But the real glory of Malta came from excavations, when it was revealed that almost its entire territory is a unique monument of the Paleolithic era. Moreover, it all started, according to old-timers, as often happens, anecdotally. In 1929, a local peasant Savelyev was deepening his cellar and during this simple task he hardly pulled a giant bone out of the ground. Savelyev did not attach much importance to the curiosity, and a few days later Maltese children began to use the find as a sled. The head of the village reading room turned out to be a more knowledgeable person; he reported the strange-sized bone to the Irkutsk Museum of Local Lore. In Malta, without delay, the world-famous anthropologist, archaeologist, historian and sculptor Mikhail Gerasimov appeared.
Continuing to deepen the Savelyevsky cellar, the archaeologist, to unspeakable delight, discovered mammoth bones, artistic items made from its tusks and the remains of other long-vanished animals. This is how the oldest human settlement was found in Siberia.
And then discoveries rained down like from a cornucopia. Over several decades, Gerasimov continued his archaeological research until 1959, and not only in the cellar, he found many bone human figurines. They were all female. According to the scientist, this was explained by the fact that the ancient Maltese had a matriarchy. According to him, more than two tens of thousands of years ago, on the site of Malta there was a tundra along which herds of mammoths, rhinoceroses and bison slowly moved. They served as the main object of production. The ancient Maltese ate animal meat, and built a tent from bones, using deer antlers woven together as a roof. Skins were thrown over this frame of bones, which were pressed down by massive mammoth skulls and tusks. (It is curious that in Mediterranean Malta, the discovery, for example, of the Hypogeum was accompanied by similar events: the owner of the land accidentally discovered a hole leading to underground caves. site note)

Archaeologists continue excavations to this day with varying degrees of intensity.
Here, wherever you poke a shovel, with luck you can get into a world sensation, because the entire territory of Malta, according to Mikhail Gerasimov’s student, Irkutsk scientist, Professor German Medvedev, has long been declared a continuous zone of archaeological heritage. With all the ensuing restrictions for local residents: getting a plot of land for construction or starting one, Sergei Miller admitted, is a big problem. The matter will move forward only when scientists issue a permit.
But the head of the local government himself dreams of a time when Malta’s world fame will begin to bring at least a penny into the meager municipal budget.

“It would be entirely possible to organize a paid excursion to the ancient human sites already discovered in the region. We are late, but we are even creating a museum for this purpose, which will be located in the building of a former parochial school, also, by the way, a local old-timer - this house is almost years old. And archaeologists have long been notified: dig, but some of the artifacts found are for us. Otherwise, there is practically not a single good exhibit - everything is in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In a word, a shoemaker without boots, says Sergei Miller.

And finally, we go to the famous Maltese springs. A mug of cold salt water goes around in a circle. Sergei Miller promises to give me a book about the history of Malta, which was written by retired teachers Anatoly Grechenko and his wife Antonina, along with other family members.

And I’m trying to find a piece of the landscape where there is not a single sign of modernity, so that I can imagine how herds of mammoths wandered here thousands of years ago. It seems that I have found it, and now giant animals will appear. But a locomotive passing nearby sounded its whistle, and the obsession disappeared.

D.V. Popkova (1933-2002), since 1954, head. mobile fund of the Central Regional Hospital,

1962-1965 - acting head Central District Hospital,

1969 -1971 head Dmitrov Children's Library,

1975-1976 – head. reading room of the Central District Hospital,

1983-1988 – methodologist at the Children's Children's Hospital.

Everything I want to tell you about is connected with the history of the Dmitrov regional library and, of course, about the years that I devoted to serving it, about the people with whom I worked.

I began my activities on September 1, 1952 as an inspector of the cultural department. At that time, the cultural department worked closely with the library. We held joint seminars, which were attended by library and club workers, as well as the heads of reading rooms (one employee worked as both the head of the library and the head of the club. Everything was in one room). Before the seminars, we made field trips to the area. We went out as a group - head. department of culture (there was Yuri Nikolaevich Babakin) or I, inspector of the department of culture Dontsova Dina Vasilievna, from the district library - head. library Varvara Vasilievna Minina or head. mobile fund Maria Bedash. They checked the work of clubs and libraries, left suggestions and indicated deadlines for their implementation. And then at the seminars they analyzed the work of the proven institutions and gave directions on how to work in the future to everyone present at the seminar. A representative of the cultural department (department head or inspector) from the district library - head. library or manager mobile fund. The last word was with the employee of the CPSU Civil Code, who was assigned to culture.

In 1953, the cinema network was added to the cultural department (although this union did not last very long then).

The head of the cultural department is the first person, the second is his deputy, head. cinema network, inspector of the cultural department.

All personnel participated in inspections of libraries, clubs, film installations, and conducting seminars.

In addition, in those years when I worked as an inspector of the cultural department, visits to the village began to be carried out 2-3 times a year for a week with an inspection. The visiting group included:

Head - representative of the CPSU Civil Code

District Council Representative

Head agricultural department

Head RONO

Head district health department

Representative of the cultural department

Representative of the regional library.

They checked the work, each according to their own profile. Then we all gathered together with the leaders of the collective farm, schools, hospitals, cultural institutions, the chief livestock specialist and the chief veterinarian, the chairman of the village council, and the secretary of the party organization. And only then in Dmitrov the question was brought up to the bureau of the CPSU Civil Code.

Such trips yielded positive results. We often sought repairs to libraries and clubs, and additional money from the council to stock their libraries.

They also sought from the collective farm leaders to improve the housing of cultural workers or repair cultural institutions.

In April 1954, I was transferred to work at the regional library - head. mobile fund. I must say that working as an inspector of the cultural department for 1 year and 7 months was not in vain for me. I received my first baptism, then it was easy for me to work in the library: I already knew all the library workers, all the workers of the CPSU State Committee and the district council, the secretaries of the village party organizations and the chairmen of the village council. This later made it easier for me to work in the district library. Working in the mobile fund, I myself served 5 large mobiles: a printing house (now an offset printing factory), RTS in Vnukovo, a sewing workshop, Zarechye, Shpilevo, and 10 mobiles were served by the mobiles of those organizations where they took books. I went to each movement once a week. She carried books and handed them out. In addition, I regularly went to the villages to check the work of libraries and provided them with all possible assistance. Of course, most of all I went to those new to library work.

At that time, the library organized courses to train library staff for further work in area libraries. The courses were designed for a 6-month training period. The lesson program was taught by all employees of the district and children's libraries. These are: Kaftannikova E.M., Tugarinova E.A., Minina V.V., Glukhova A.I. and etc.

In each department of the library, cadets had internships and then took tests. Upon completion of the courses, they received a “certificate” giving them the right to work in libraries. These courses played a significant role at that time, since there were only a few with a library education. There were many library workers who did not have a library education, but they were experts in library work. Many library workers graduated from library technical schools after the courses.

In those days, the book collections of libraries were overflowing with books, brochures, magazines and newspapers, since in those days everything went into the main fund. At that time, libraries occupied old houses with stove heating, and our district and children's libraries occupied a 2-story building with stove heating. The children's library was on the 2nd floor, and the district library occupied the 1st floor on Zagorskaya Street.

The book collections were closed with a barrier; there was no free access to books. The reading room did not satisfy the readers, because... was small. Pupils and students sometimes agreed among themselves and came to classes, distributing seats in the reading room by hour: I am from 12.00 to 16.00, and you are from 16.00 to 21.00. That's how the library worked back then. Despite the difficulties, the library always worked stably, fulfilled the plan for readers and book distribution, regularly held reader conferences and literary evenings, reviews of new products, etc. In addition, workers traveled to the area to provide practical and methodological assistance to local libraries. And the team was only 5 people. When I came to the library (in April 1954), they were working: head. library Minin V.V., head. subscription Tugarinova E.A., librarian Suchkova N.N., head. reading room Kaftannikova Evnikia Mikhailovna, and I, head. mobile fund, Demidova D.V. V.V. Minina was visiting the area at that time. and I.

In 1957, Rogachevsky (former Communist district) was annexed to the Dmitrovsky district, and in 1962 the Taldomsky district was also added.

In 1961, the district library received new premises in the Palace of Culture and the team also got to move it! And the staff of the Dmitrov regional library was 5 people and remained so. And the workload on the team was large and responsible. Only the composition of the library staff has changed:

Acting Head library from 1962-1965 – me,

Head subscription Butylkina N.P.,

Librarian Minina V.V.,

Head reading room Khokhlova A.T.,

And about. head mobile fund of Mitrofanov M.I.

They began to go to the area in turns, mainly: me and N.P. Butylkina, me and A.T. Khokhlova, me and M.I. Mitrofanova.

We needed to get acquainted with the people of these areas and with the funds. A lot of literature had to be copied, mainly on agriculture, and transferred to those libraries where it would find its readers.

It was necessary to resolve the issue of holding seminars. The Rogachevsky district was closer and somehow closer to us. And most importantly, we found complete agreement with the head. Rogachev regional library Kasatkina Maria Sergeevna and head. reading room Klyueva L.S.

Great difficulties arose with the annexation of the Taldomsky district, because the libraries had to be reached mainly on foot along swampy roads. After all, there was no transport in the culture department at that time, and there was nothing to say about libraries. And yet we managed to find a common language. Seminars were held either in Dmitrov, then in Rogachev, or in Taldom. We cleaned out the book collections and found an approach to each other. And the residents of Taldom began to understand that we were their friends and helpers.

It should be noted that we were very lucky then. There was such a tendency to open public libraries and create library councils. And at our library, a library council was created under the leadership of Tatyana Sergeevna Nemkova, which helped us a lot during that difficult time. We could go to rural libraries, because we knew that we had assistants from the Library Council, who worked with readers and conducted reviews, participated in reading conferences and evenings, helped in working with the liquidation of debtors, and a member of the Library Council, Sedov N.Z. left a great memory of himself. For many years he sought the construction of a new library and achieved it. The library on Poshtovaya Street is his gift to Dmitrov residents. At that time, a public library was opened on Cosmonauts, which later became the 2nd city library.

But, perhaps, the most joyful event was that the Taldomsky district moved away from us, leaving behind its memory, several libraries behind the canal: Dutshevskaya, Ramenskaya...

In connection with the release of V.V. Minina to work in her previous position - head. Dmitrov Central District Hospital, I went to work in film distribution from July 1, 1965 to September 16, 1969. But I didn’t lose contact with the library; I went 1-2 times on a voluntary basis to the library on the street. Cosmonauts.

On September 16, 1969, I was transferred to the Dmitrov Children's Library, due to the departure of A.I. Glukhova. retired, she worked in the children's library for more than 37 years. I worked there until December 16, 1971, because... was elected as the released chairman of the Civil Code of the trade union of cultural workers from December 16, 1971 to August 1975.

In connection with the preparations for the transition of libraries to centralization, they immediately remembered the lifesaver Dina Vasilievna, both in the culture department and in the regional library. And on September 1, 1975, I was transferred to the position of head. reading room, but with V.V. Minina, we were preparing the transition to centralization. True, it was a little hard for me, because... Our library has been dealing with this issue for a long time, and I came after a long break when I did not work at the regional library.

I started with a trip to the regional library, read a lot of literature there, and got acquainted with the documents of the Department of Culture. In short, I studied the basics of the transition to centralization. The main thing was to prepare the book collections for work in the new conditions. If earlier book collections accumulated, library workers fought to write them off, but now centralization raised the question of flexibility in working with collections. Very well, someone said at a seminar in Moscow: “Remember once and for all, we must now work with the fund so that the library never drowns... the book fund must be replenished and written off regularly and evenly.” This is what all the libraries began to urgently do, and the central library helped them with this as always.

The question of reducing the number of libraries, the placement of personnel, and premises for libraries was very difficult.

But the most difficult issue was the approval of the new staffing table. Varvara Vasilievna Minina and I had to be at the Ministry of Culture of the RSFSR every other day and settle and defend, sometimes almost crying, the new staffing schedule. It was a shame that the cultural department didn’t really rush to help the regional library; they scolded us more. And many districts received a lot of help and benefited from it, they received more staff, and then this was so important. Having approved the staffing table on March 16, 1976, changes were made to the work books, because personnel management has passed into our hands. There was a lot of work. All HR matters were taken over from the culture department. They have already started business in the library again.

Painstaking work began in the methodological department. We had to visit all the libraries. Conduct seminars on new issues in librarianship. Exorbitant work fell on the department of acquisition and processing of the book fund. A new era in librarianship had begun, which required many changes in work.

Young people with higher education, strength and energy came to work in the library. And in November 1976, for family reasons, I left for Tomsk, where I lived for 6.5 years, and there I participated in the organization and development of the Tomsk Central Library Service.

And from April 1, 1983 to April 8, 1988 (retirement) I was again in my homeland, in Dmitrov, and again in the Dmitrov Central Library, but I was already working in the methodological department and I came to the conclusion that the closest job to me in all Libraries mean working with collections, with books, and when you see the fruits of your work, you are simply happy and retire peacefully.

June 1998

Memories of the oldest library workers

Kaftannikova Evnikia Mikhailovna, head. reading room from 1919 to 1957. During these long years of work in the central library, E.M. Kaftannikova was a true promoter of library books and periodicals. Not in words, but in deeds, she promoted the book to the masses, did a lot of work with library workers in the region, instilled in them the basics of the art of librarianship, and at that time this was of great importance, since they mostly had a secondary education. Many of them fell in love with this profession so much that they graduated from library colleges in absentia and devoted their entire lives or many years to this work. Evnikia Mikhailovna attached great importance to her work and promotion of the book among high school students. Having an excellent knowledge of literature, she passed on her knowledge through systematic literary evenings, conferences, debates and reviews.

Every week Evnikia Mikhailovna went to enterprises with loud readings in the tailor's workshop, because... the dressmakers had no time to read. She systematically read in the workshop for several years, thereby introducing women to the latest literature.

Tugarinova Ekaterina Aleksandrovna, head. subscription until 1960. She carried out painstaking individual work with readers, attracting them to read not only fiction, but also to help self-education and improve professional skills.

These two tireless workers, thanks to their ability to work with readers, attracted a huge number of readers for that time. The authority of the library among the population was great. And this is a great merit of Evnikia Mikhailovna Kaftannikova and Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Tugarinova.

I have known Varvara Vasilievna Minina since September 1952 through work. First, as an inspector of the cultural department. Together with her and the head. The culture department, Yuri Nikolaevich Babakin, systematically went out with methodological and practical assistance to workers of cultural and educational institutions in the region. I think V.V. Minin as his mentor. V.V. Minina is a mentor to many library workers who now work in many rural libraries in the region.

V.V. Minina is a person who, without sparing herself or her health, gave all her strength and knowledge for the development of the library network and library science in the Dmitrovsky district. Throughout his entire work as head. library and director of the Central Library Varvara Vasilievna did not pursue fame, ranks and titles. She worked at full capacity and demanded (sometimes harshly, but fairly) the same dedication from all library workers.

She raised excellent library staff, especially in rural areas, systematically spoke at seminars on library issues, and devoted a lot of effort to the movement to organize public libraries and library councils. At the district library, the first public library council in the region was created (chairman Tatyana Sergeevna Nemkova), which at one time played a huge role in promoting library books and bringing books to every family. It was they who helped, members of the Library Council, and especially N.Z. Sedov, V.V. Minina to achieve the construction of such a library as we are now in.

V.V. Minina was the initiator at the end of 1975 of the transition of our state libraries to centralization. It took a lot of willpower and perseverance for her to carry out all the work on the transition in the shortest possible time, and in March 1976 the libraries began to work under new working conditions. This is the great merit of V.V. Minina. In addition to library work, all library employees were engaged in social work. V.V. Minina was the secretary of the party organization of the cultural department for almost ten years.

Librarianship. Reading huts. Club establishments. Museums Krupskaya Nadezhda Konstantinovna

AN IMPORTANT SITE OF SOCIALIST CONSTRUCTION

Lenin attached enormous importance to the good organization of library science and paid exceptionally great attention to this section of the cultural front. This is eloquently evidenced by the book “What Lenin Wrote and Said about Libraries,” which contains a number of his letters, articles, speeches, orders, and decrees he passed. From them it is clear how closely he followed the organization of library work, how specific his instructions were. During the years of the Civil War and the years of NEP, a lot of valuable things were created on the library front, but many valuable undertakings were also destroyed due to the extremely difficult situation, the civil war, and the often incorrect understanding of “self-financing” on the ground.

To build library science in the Land of the Soviets in such a way that a dense network of libraries of various types serves the entire population in a timely manner with the books they need, satisfies the ever-growing need of the masses for knowledge, broadens their horizons, and responds to their requests - such is Lenin’s behest.

A special Library Department has now been organized in the People's Commissariat for Education, which should raise this matter to the proper height.

The first immediate task is provide existing libraries with the space they need. It is necessary that the premises for libraries be spacious, bright, dry, well heated, so that libraries have comfortable reading rooms.

The same care that we see now for school buildings must be shown in relation to library buildings. This must be achieved. We must once and for all put an end to this state of affairs that the head of the educational library occupies library premises for kindergartens, schools, and student dormitories, transferring them to rooms that are more cramped, dark, damp, and not convenient for readers, or simply throws books into the basement, where they perish. Such heads of the ONO must be immediately removed from their positions and handed over to the prosecutor. But IT is not the only one that gives orders. We know of many cases where district councils take library premises for apartments and retail space. The library department needs to put a stop to this. The prosecutor's office, the RKI, the Soviet public and, first of all, the Soviets and their sections should come to his aid. Our country has grown culturally; This attitude of many districts towards libraries and library property, towards public book property should be branded with disgrace.

Our library network is completely insufficient, especially in the villages. We need to build new libraries, but we need to build wisely. How many cases have been observed - very large amounts of money are spent, but the money is wasted: either a library is built next to another, only more luxurious (often departments “compete” - they build large libraries next to each other), or it is built in a place where the population is uncomfortable with it use, or convert the sheds of old barracks into libraries - the result is cold, damp, unusable premises. Needed here planning, taking into account local conditions, taking into account tomorrow.

An agreement is needed between departments and organizations It is necessary to develop standard agreements that would help make the most of each library.

Particular attention should be paid to the development of types collective farm libraries, which collective farms so need now. The political departments at MTS can help a lot here.

District libraries should help stock libraries, reading rooms, libraries of collective farm clubs, should instruct the heads of these libraries, help them master library technology, and help school libraries.

From questions library technology A lot depends on it - the safety of books, the maximum use of book wealth, meeting the needs of readers and even the political face of the library. Different types of libraries require different techniques. It is important to be able to advertise the right book, promote it, it is important to be able to increase its circulation, organize instructions, etc., etc. In the field of library technology, we have a great lack of awareness, which interferes with the correct formulation of the matter.

The rapid pace of economic and cultural construction requires the creation of specialist personnel in a relatively short time. They, like all participants in social construction, have to learn a lot on their own. They need books. In our conditions, scientific libraries cannot be something closed, accessible only to a narrow circle of people. They should help the scientific qualification of personnel who have already entered into work and specialists preparing for it.

Scientific libraries should open their doors wider to people who seriously want to learn and deepen their knowledge. You need to think about how best to do this. The Library Department will include not only public, but also scientific libraries.

A very important and big question is the issue of supplying libraries with books. How to power libraries? What to eat?

Books have the ability, as they say, to “become morally obsolete”; they become especially obsolete morally in the conditions of our fast-paced life. Books written under the old censorship conditions in Aesopian language, books written for the former ruling classes, dealing with issues that worried these classes, even if they were artistically written, are of little interest to the modern mass reader. He craves books that are close to him, that speak about things that concern him at the moment. You can’t feed a socialist construction worker with old literature. And a library that is not constantly replenished with newly published literature loses interest for the reader, he stops going to the library and is indifferent to it.

A close connection must be established between our mass libraries and our contemporary writers.

The writer needs to take into account the needs of readers, and when drawing up publishing plans, the voice of the library reader must be heard.

This is one part of the question. Other - supply technology, distribution technology. Let’s be honest, our book supply authorities often reason in relation to libraries in the old fashioned way: “It’s on you, God, that it’s not good for us,” - we’ll put the best on sale, and we’ll sell what’s left to the library. And our distribution of books should be socialist, and first of all, we should supply the bodies for the collective use of books - libraries, and not the private consumer - with the best books. It will be necessary to expend a lot of effort to break the established traditions in supplying libraries.

Next comes accounting issue. Accounting on the library front is lame on all fours. If you take the data of one region, only political and educational libraries are taken into account, the data of another region includes trade union libraries, the data of a third does not include trade union libraries, but includes library reading rooms, etc., etc. But the accounting of each library includes a lot of indicators, takes a lot of time. The resulting materials are incomparable - materials that cannot be operated on. Obviously, you will have to consult with TsUNKHU and the State Planning Committee on how to record the most basic data, but real accounting, without which all financial and planning issues hang in the air, all calculations are made “by eye.”

A library cannot function without a librarian.

Librarian- the soul of the matter. A lot depends on him. He must be an enthusiast of his work, be able to work with a mass of readers, master the methods of library work, and be able to use these methods to organize the entire work of the library. A librarian in our Soviet libraries cannot be a simple technical issuer of books; he must master not only the technique of issuing books, recording books, and the ability to take into account the number of subscribers, although he must be able to do this too.

This skill is necessary, but far from sufficient.

Our Soviet mass library cannot and should not turn into a bureaucratic institution, it must be a living cultural center, and this requires the librarian to be able to approach the masses, to work with the masses, to know their needs, the ability to direct their interests in a certain direction, to awaken the initiative of readers , conduct a lot of instructive work among them. A Soviet librarian must be an educated and politically savvy person, Soviet librarian - a responsible participant in socialist construction - In the village his role is no less, but even greater, than in the city.

Extremely important therefore skillful selection of library workers, their proper training and retraining. As of 1933, 36% of librarians had no library training, 24% had a seven-year education and either one year of library experience or short-term library training. In other words, 60% of current librarians are untrained beginners in this matter, and the enormous turnover of this composition is understandable, and turnover on the library front means the actual squandering of library collections, weaning readers away from the library. Of the remaining 40% - 15% are librarians with an education at a library technical school (full-time or part-time), as well as workers with incomplete secondary education and no practical work experience. less than two years. As we see, this category is also very poorly trained, and only the remaining 25% can be called real librarians.

So, On the front of library personnel we have a clear breakthrough. This must be said openly, and exceptional attention must be paid to personnel training. This is the most pressing task right now. It would be a huge mistake, in connection with the organization of the Library Administration, to close existing library branches at pedagogical colleges, curtail the little work that is currently available. It is necessary, first of all, to strengthen what exists, and then it will be necessary to provide the Library Administration with the material capabilities to develop the necessary network of special library technical schools.

But the matter of training and retraining library workers will be successful only if if the librarian's position - both material and moral - is improved. This requires great care on the part of the Library Administration and Tsekpros. The librarian needs to be given the same attention and care as teachers. It is necessary for the best forces to mobilize themselves on this front. It is not without reason that back in 1919, Vladimir Ilyich, in a special letter to the extracurricular department, wrote about the need to organize socialist competition on the library front. Social competition is the way to promote the best workers, the way to transform their work into a practical demonstration of how to raise a business to the proper height. Competition, properly staged, ignites the fire of enthusiasm among workers in the area of ​​work where it is carried out.

A number of reasons - our past lack of culture, the weak organization of librarianship, and the need to focus the main attention on creating a base for social construction - led to the fact that the library has not yet entered everyday life. It happens like this: there is an excellent accessible library nearby, but people don’t know about its existence, and even if they do know, it doesn’t even occur to them that they can and should use it. There's a lot of work to be done to attract mass readers. Each library must acquire an active readership, which can do a lot to raise the work of the library to the proper height.

Ilyich believed that in librarianship, as well as in eliminating illiteracy, it is important that the masses take up this matter themselves. They only need to be systematically instructed about the immediate tasks of library construction.

In the USSR there are proven ways to eliminate difficulties. We know how to mobilize forces. Now that the attention of the party, the attention of the Soviet government, is directed to librarianship, one cannot doubt for a moment that things will move forward quickly. The Soviets and their sections will help, the press will help. The Komsomol is already involved in this matter. Undoubtedly, the political departments of MTS will help, letters are already coming from the political departments about libraries. Tsekpros and the whole mass of enlightened people will help, who understand the role of libraries in the construction of socialism, who will teach both children and adults how to use the library. The active workers, the shock workers of the collective farm fields will help, writers will help, engineering and technical workers, university workers and students will help, all Soviet bodies will help.

And then our Country of Soviets will not only become literate, it will become a reader, using all the achievements of science, everything that has been acquired by mankind for centuries in the field of knowledge, technology, art, and will absorb all the experience of applying knowledge in practice. The masses will learn to truly learn. The development of librarianship will strengthen the school and make its work many times easier.

1933