Reading Periodicals at the Troitskosavsky Public Library in 1891–1909

The relevance of the topic is determined by the important role of reading in the life of the individual and society. The purpose of the article is to analyze the demand for periodicals at the Troitskosavsky public library in 1891–1909. For the first time, the share of periodicals in the issuance of publications from its collections was calculated and ratings of popular magazines and newspapers were compiled – annual dozens of leaders and three generalized twenty of the most read: 1) for the 1890s; 2) 1900s; 3) for the entire period. In the course of the study, the share of periodicals for home lending was determined: on the average, it was one third of the total issuance. We proved that the most popular were magazines, which were at the same time literary, socio-political and scientific publications. “Russian Wealth”, which became the absolute leader, and “Russian Thought” as a whole for the entire period were issued more often than all other periodicals. Among popular ones, there were literary (“Niva”), historical (“Historical Bulletin”), pedagogical (“Education”), for children (“Sincere Word”), local (“Eastern Review”) publications, as well as “World of God” and “Bulletin of Europe”. The results obtained indicate the presence of modernization processes in the Siberians’ reading, which manifested themselves in the significant predominance in the issuance of secular publications over religious, an increase in interest in popular science and socio-political publications, and can be useful in recreating the detailed picture of regional reading.

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