The Permanent Commission for the Organization of Public Readings and the General Staff: Joint Work on Recommendation of Publications for Lower Ranks’ Reading

The purpose of the article is to present the joint work of the Highest Approved Standing Commission for the Organization of Public Readings and the General Staff on recommendation of publications recognized as relevant to the goals of primary education and moral training of lower ranks. The interaction of these structures was traced from the moment of receiving publications by the Military Scientific Committee of the General Staff up to sending to the Permanent Commission circulars with concrete indication of publications recommended and admitted to the troops. The identified interaction algorithm, in addition to the named initial and final stages, included the following sequence of actions: the selection of necessary publications; payment of invoices for selected publications; approval of editions by the General Staff; their recommendation to circulation in the troops through the circulars. The recommended publications in each circular of the General Staff and their total number were counted. Catalogs of books in soldiers’ libraries were analyzed for presence of publications recommended by circulars. When correlated with each other: 1) lists of publications of the Standing Commission and their availability in the circulars of the General Staff; 2) lists of recommended publications and their presence in the soldiers’ libraries catalogs of books made it possible to identify the results of the joint work. The study is of great practical importance, since the experience of interaction between the General Staff and the Standing Commission can be useful today for cooperation of the military department with institutions and organizations of other departments.

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