The apocryphal “Tale of Aphrodithian” is one of the most popular apocrypha of Ancient Russia; it narrates about the Magi’s worship to newborn Christ. The article is devoted to a brief review of Slavic homilies at Christmas, based on an apocryphal text. In total, four works of the XVXVIII centuries were identified, containing the apocrypha: “The Word about the star Irania”, “The Word about the Coming of the Magi”, “The Word at Christmas of the former Archbishop Spiridon” and “Tale for the Nativity of Christ”. The article records the number of lists preserved and the degree of elaboration of each work in the scientific literature. In all homilies, the Tale becomes a source of additional information about the worship of the Magi, but the authors of these homilies use the apocryphal details of the Tale in different ways.

In the “The Word about the star Irania” the foggy and obscure language of prophecy in the idol temple is corrected, every detail is included in the context and explained. “Tale for the Nativity of Christ”, in our opinion, is a Western Russian revision of “The Word about the star Irania” and both texts are primarily aimed at revealing all the details associated with the appearance of the star – from the first prophecy by Balaam to the final journey of the Magi. The “Word about the Coming of the Magi”, on the other hand, combines most of the popular Old-Russian narrative texts related to Christmas into one plot: this is how the tale of the Magi, The Legend of Aphrodithian and the Word of John Chrysostom, noted only in Russian lists, (first words: “Today is my nature to the promise of renewal comes”) are combined. In the “Word for the Nativity of the Archbishop ex-Spyridon”, the apocrypha become just an occasion for discussion on the theme of Christmas and the worship of the Magi, the main idea of the author is to follow the spiritual Sun - Christ.

The legend of Aphrodithian in this case becomes one of many sources, far from been paramount, in the text intended for public sermon, not for private reading.

The article is devoted to the thematic collection of books of the Cyrillic font of the XVII – early XX century, stored in the Department of Historical and Cultural Heritage of the Irkutsk Regional Library named after I. I. MolchanovSibirsky. The library staff formed this collection by means of identifying books from the general book storage, donations and purchases from private individuals in the period from 1976 to 2018. It presents data about the history of the collection formation, the main sources and stages of books receipt, the characteristic of its current state: number, analysis by year, place and type of publication. Particular attention is paid to books acquired at the end of XIX – early XX century. Circumstances of the pre-revolutionary library stock formation (until 1920 – the Irkutsk City Public Library) and books of the Cyrillic font purchased during this period are considered. Books accepted according to the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of 1918 «On the order of requisition of libraries, book warehouse and books in general» are analyzed. On the example of books belonging to the library of the Irkutsk Ascension Monastery, the role of preserved ownership and dedicatory inscriptions in the study of the history of this library and the history of the individual specimens is considered. Descriptions of the four versions of the monastery library bookplates and some inscriptions with notes about the receipt history of books are provided. Inscriptions on four editions of the XVIII century are examined in detail as examples of books with the unique history. Texts of inscriptions are reproduced in the original orthography (excepting obsolete letters). All books are associated with famous personalities in the history of the region and Russia as a whole. Among them: the Bishop of Irkutsk and Nerchinsk, Saint Sophronius (Kristalevsky; 1703–1771), Hieromonk Herman, etc. The article is an interim result of a two-year study and description of the collection. The result of the work will be the release of a printed catalog.

The article considers the personal contribution of the outstanding historian of the Russian middle ages Academician Mikhail Nikolaevich Tikhomirov to the national concept of documentary sources (book rarities) preservation. The scientist expressed a generalized view of historical science about how the work on the book heritage preservation at the national level had to be organized most effectively, systemically and “eco-friendly”. From the point of the present-day view on the practice of book rarities preservation in the Russian Federation, he justified the exceptional relevance and proposed the main principles of documents preservation, which are now basic at the law and library practice level.

The historical science development determined the establishment of conservation centres in libraries, since a serious obstacle to historical research was the problem of poorly organized and, sometimes, careless storage of historical documents in libraries, museums and archives. In accord to the brief history of scientific conservation in Russia, this time is viewed as the beginning of the most active development of scientific conservation methods and their introduction into library practice.

In the middle of the XX century, Tikhomirov proposed and formed the concept of book rarities preservation, consisting of such important components as: scientific research and popularization of book rarities and their value for the society, organization of public and state associations aimed at implementation of these tasks; search and collection of privately owned book rarities on the national scale (archeographic inspection of the territory of Russia), scientific publication of documents, catalogues of scientific descriptions compiling and forming the Union catalogue on their basis; scientific research of the material basis, conditions of ensuring physical safety and arrangement of work on book rarities preservation; legislative and regulatory support of all activities on book rarities preservation.

"Academia" Publishing House (1922–1937) books are an example of high publishing culture.

For many years, the products of the publishing house have been the subject of close attention on the part of bibliophiles and collectors in many countries of the world. The reason for this interest is literary impeccability and excellent decoration. To reach unprecedented artistic heights became possible thanks to the work of the best Soviet professional artists. All the existing printing methods, the best printing houses, and graphic art techniques were used while creating these books. The history of the publishing house, covered in rare publications, alongside with triumphal events, victories at international book competitions, is full of dramatic and even tragic pages. It can be called the publishing house of repressed editors, authors, and books.

Almost all the managers of Academia, many employees were subjected to repressions, were sentenced to capital punishment. Their names were extorted from the output of the entire book circulation; introductory articles were cut out, publications were discontinued, sometimes, entire print runs of books were destroyed. In modern libraries, copies of such "repressed" books have been miraculously preserved. That is why it is difficult to overestimate their historical and cultural value – genuine documentary witnesses of historical events of almost a century remoteness.

The history of the Academia Publishing House is intertwined with Irkutsk, since the stuff included people whose fate related to the city on the Angara: the last head of the “Academia”, Yakov Davidovich Yanson, after the October revolution held leadership positions in the government in Irkutsk; the founder of the Soviet school of folklore and anthrax studies, Irkutsk professor Mark Konstantinovich Azadovsky also collaborated with the publishing house “Academia”.

The article is the first to observe the questions of valuable collections formation and preservation in the Irkutsk Regional Universal Scientific Library named after I. I. Molchanov-Sibirsky (IRSUSL), the former library of the Irkutsk Pedagogical Institute and the library of the Irkutsk Regional Art Museum named after V. P. Sukatchev (IRAM). Collecting bit-by-bit book masterpieces, librarians study, popularize them at exhibitions, presentations, lectures, showing the authentic Russian book art culture.

The Central Scientific Library of the Irkutsk Scientific Center SB RAS has an extensive collection of literature on various topics of scientific research of academic institutions of Irkutsk and the Irkutsk region. This library is the successor of the Library of the East Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. With the organization of the Branch its own scientific library was being created. Acquisitions to the library stocks were carried out by its first head A. S. Chumicheva.

The first books of the library were books from the exchange stocks of the Library of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (Leningrad), special libraries’ sector of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (Moscow); books from other institutions’ libraries all over the country; trophy books from Germany; books from personal libraries of scientists, rare book stores; since 1958 books began to come to hand from the State Public Scientific and Technological Library of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences (Novosibirsk). The first library accumulations were the source of material that Russian science had in the period of its making on the Irkutsk soil, and an especially stored part of the library stock. There is a currently increasing interest of specialists in rare books’ collections organization, storage and use.

A particularly valuable publication is the book, dated 1676, the life-time publication of the French geographer Pierre Duval (1618–1683).

In 2019 its ex-libris was studied. They managed to determine the owner of the book and the history of the library. The ex-libris is heraldic, coat of arms belongs to Franciszek Velepolsky (1732–1809), and the book is from the Pinchuv Majorata library.

In the library collections there are publications by prominent domestic and foreign scientists of the XIX–XX centuries, including Nobel laureates; books from personal libraries with notes of owners; autographed books, books with dedicatory inscriptions, bookplates. Works of scientific organizations of the XIX–XX centuries, reports of expeditions, and works of scientists about Siberia are of interest.

Most of academic journals are presented starting since the first years of their publication.

The collection of rare books is being replenished thanks to readers’ donations.

The provision of bibliographic resources for individual branches of science and / or practical activity is traditional and now it is one of the most developed areas of bibliography. The library and information sphere, including library, bibliographic and scientific information activities and the scientific disciplines that study them needs (library and information sciences) it as well. These areas are characterized by the proximity and significant concurrency of goals, objects, processes, methods, and results of activities. At present, their further integration, transformation of traditional libraries (first of all, scientific ones) into library and information centers is underway.

The bibliography of library and information science and practice includes: 1) bibliography of literature on history, theory, methodology, organization, methodology and technology of these activities, 2) bibliography of publications and electronic resources of library and information institutions; for bibliography as such bibliography of bibliography is also of particular importance, 3) bio-bibliography of branch leaders (polybiobibliographic and monobibiographic (personal) resources).

Since the 1940s the Russian State Library is the main center of the current bibliographic registration of literature on librarianship and bibliography (until 2015 – the release of current indexes, since 1989 – the formation of a thematic abstract bibliographic database). The library prepared many printed retrospective indexes and lists on the problems of library and bibliographic science and practice, which creation not only its bibliographic, but also research, methodical and production structural units took active part in.

In the XXI century, the Library activities in the field of retrospective branch bibliography are limited to the creation of a series of indexes “Bibliography. Bibliographic science”, reflecting the scientifically significant array of native bibliographic literature in Russian since 1959. The main attention is paid to bibliographic registration of publications and electronic resources of the Library and about it, as well as works of its staff.

Electronic catalogs and bibliographic indexes are being created that take into account the products of libraries of the Russian Federation, as well as countries – the former Soviet republics. Polybiobibliographic and personal indexes are being prepared.

While carrying out their local lore activities, public libraries of the country orientate themselves on the “Guide on local lore activity of public libraries in RF” goals. In rural municipal districts, library local lore activity has its own characteristics. The article reveals the specifics of the layout of the material on the rural municipal Internet resource, gives the results of the study of “Literary map” sites of the Siberian Federal district rural areas. Attention focuses on the causes of loss of locally generated literary and local history materials and the necessity for them to be restored and preserved in order to introduce literary and historical picture of the region.

The characteristic of the author’s model, that represents literature and local history material at the library website, is given; a link to materials describing the detailed mechanism of creation of literature and local history site is adduced; the structure of the website is given; statistical indicators showing the demand for the development of this theme in Russia are enumerated. Special attention is paid to the introduction to the site a section that allows composing material on human settlements. 

It contains brief geographical, historical, toponymical, demographic information about the settlements of the municipality, as well as full-text literary material. The article makes a significant contribution to the study of literary and local history material as a part of the cultural heritage of Russia, highlights the problem of presenting this information in an open access on the Internet.

The results of the study, conducted on the base of Prokopievsk municipal libraries of the Kemerovo region, correlate with the tasks, set for cultural institutions in the national project “Culture”, developed within the framework of the presidential Decree “On national goals and strategic objectives of the development of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2024”, which includes, along with the projects “Cultural environment”, “Creative people”, the Federal project “Digital culture”.

The experience of the Regional Universal Scientific Library of Pskov as part of the ecosystem of the regional digital economy is presented. The essence of the problem is to create a new library digital model for to implement the national project «Culture».

For Pskov specialists, digitalization is a catalyst for the development of library innovations.

It brings about many opportunities. In particular, understanding how to use digitalization tools to increase readers’ activities and involvement, how to develop library specialists in the digital environment and how to attract investments for SMART projects implementation.

The author dwells on such problems as an optimal portfolio of digital library projects’ development and implementation, which consists of digitizing book rarities, including them in the electronic full-text library «Pskoviana» and the National Electronic Library; organization of a free accessible online service for continuous informing and consulting both specialists and the people at large using the official library website and information resources; motivation and facilitation of assistance to Pskovians in mastering key competencies of the digital economy; formation and promotion of the library website as a digital third place digital.

The author describes in detail the scenario for moving to the digital economy, developed in 2018 and including five directions: information and telecommunication infrastructure; information security; digital supervision and elimination of information and digital illiteracy of users; monitoring the operational readiness of various groups and categories of the Pskov region population for life and work in the digital economy environment; library staff for the digital economy.

Specialists have formed a portfolio of digital projects for the near future and built a system for monitoring the economic and social effectiveness of projects, which has showed that among the library users the level of involvement in the consumption of digital information and online communications has grown; a digital information-enlightenment and intellectualleisure ecosystem has been created. A new social reality has developed, based on wide access to former exclusive goods and values.

The German National Library for Science and Technology (TIB) seizes the opportunity of an epochal change into the Digital Age, inter alia, by maintaining a prestigious research department covering the areas data science & digital libraries, visual analytics, scientific data management, knowledge infrastructures, learning & skill analytics, open science, and non-textual media. Without neglecting the original mission of collecting and curating literature for a widespread access to scientific information, TIB merges well-established processes with intelligent assistance tools. The Specialised Information Service for Mobility and Traffic Science (FID move) is one example of combining the mentioned research areas in order to build a user-centred subject-specific research infrastructure to support and shape tomorrow’s scientific work. We give a detailed introduction to the project’s action fields: web service platform, information supply with a focus on open access, strategy & structure for reusable research data, research community exchange & networking, communication strategies for the public & for scientists. Exemplary, we present the ongoing activities in building a comprehensive knowledge organisation system for e-mobility.

The purpose of the article is to present a new approach to building a competency model for a specialist in library and information activities. Methods used in the work: analysis and generalization of the content of domestic and foreign sources on the problem of professional education.

The article presents an analysis of the lists of competencies of the Federal State Educational Standard, opinions of specialists in the field of library and information activities, an approximate list of the scientific (academic) library specialist’s competencies, prepared in 2017 by employees of SPSL SB RAS at the request of the St. Petersburg State Institute of Culture representatives.

It is concluded that, taking into account numerous discussions about FSES and the professional standard of a specialist in library and information activities, it is necessary to combine the efforts of representatives of the professional community for to achieve consensus in this area and update the existing regulatory framework. It is also advisable to consider the possibility of creating competency profiles that would form the basis for the above-mentioned documents and ensure interests of organizations providing training in the field of library and information activities and institutions-employers.

Novelty. Complex approach is proposed to build a competency model for a specialist in library and information activities, based on integration of approved regulatory documents and employers’ requests: for each group of competencies the basic minimum should be determined (approved by the federal authorities responsible for the state supervision and ensuring compliance of requirements in composition of labor functions, knowledge and skills in approved documents) and the variable part, ensuring compliance of competencies being formed with particularities of libraries of various types (public, academic, special).

This requires development of a regulatory framework in the field of library and information activities (updating existing and developing new documents). The proposed competency model correlates with regulatory documents.

Practical significance: a competency model is proposed, within which educational organizations, institutions of the library and information sphere can jointly form an effective process for training specialists.

Potentiality of using altmetrics in the academic library bibliographic services is examined. Free altmetric services such as Altmetric bookmar klet and tracking online-news about scientific articles (Paperbuzz, PLOS Article Level Metrics) and others are reviewed.

90 foreign and 30 Russian publications for the period of 2012 – 2019, which are dedicated to altmetric researches of works in library science or using altmetric tools in library activities, have been submitted to content analyses. Information and analytical systems such as Scopus, Web of Science and Russian Index of Scientific Citing (RISC) are its sources.

The main directions elicited in foreign publica tions are as follows: altmetric analysis of publications, comparison of altmetric indica tors with traditional ones, investigation of cases concerning provision of scientific activi ties with ailtmetric data, altmetrical analysis of online libraries and repositories, use of altmet ric facts for acquisition needs. The main directions elicited in Russian publications are as follows: altmetrics as an indicator of scientific influence, provision of librarians and researchers with information about altmetric opportunities, provision with altmetric infor mation from licensed databases. Libraries have an opportunity to generate altmetric informa tion, possibility of generating altmetric infor mation by libraries. The language barrier, paucity evidence about Russian publications, provoke doubts about favors of using altmetric information reduce Russian users’ interest to alternative metrics.

The described possible scripts of Russian scientific libraries`work with altmetrics are as follows: provision of users with specialized altmetric services by analogy with services on defining traditional indicators of publication activities, generation of own altmetric informa tion. Informing about possibility of using altmetrics is important for referencebibliographic servicing practice. For lack of direct inquiries for alternative metrics, they could be one of information criteria for thematic search or preparation of reviews.

The main purpose of scientific rankings is not only comparison, but also stimulating the development of universities and research institutes, improving the effectiveness of their educational and research processes. However, existing webometric ratings are not suitable for this task because of the lack of the possibility of their analysis and verification. The solution is to change the approach to webometric measurements, to perform them based on the principles of regular collection and openness of source data. The article discusses the indicators used in the tasks of academic webometrics, their reliability and stability, substantiates the need for regular collection of the values of these indicators to improve the quality of data and analyze their dynamics. Based on the experience of implementing a project to research the Russian academic web space (http://www. webometrix.ru), problems are analyzed that arise when collecting the values of webometric indicators of sites of research organizations and institutions of higher education on a global scale with a frequency of at least 1 time per month.

The author describes a distributed system for collecting values of webometric indicators and evaluates the necessary degree of parallelization of the process. The developed approach is universal for the tasks of collecting large amounts of information by the method of extracting data from website pages, and the collection of webometric data is also relevant for the tasks of analyzing other thematic segments of web space, such as library websites.

In 2019, the Central Scientific Library of the Irkutsk Scientific Center of SB RAS (CSL ISC) celebrated its 70th anniversary. The library history began with the creation of the East Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences (ESB or Branch) in Irkutsk in February 1949. Immediately the aim of information support for×scientific research arouse. One room was allotted on the second floor of the building on the Red Star street, 18 (now – Sukhe-Bator St.). The first 600 books were purchased at the local library collector. Anna Sergeevna Chumicheva, having at that time rich work experience in various types of libraries: trade-union library, NKVD club, and university library, was appointed director of ESB scientific library.

The library acquisition profile was determined in accordance with research directions of institutions that were part of the Branch at the very beginning of its activities: Institute of Geology, Institute of Energy and Chemistry, Biological Sector and Geographic and Economic Sector. Much attention was paid to bibliographic activities: in the 1960-1980s. the staff of ESB scientific library created a series of indexes on hydrogeology, seismicity and engineering geology of Siberia and the Far East, on Lake Baikal.

Currently, the Central Library is a methodological center for scientific libraries of academic institutes in Irkutsk and the Irkutsk region. The library has more than 366 thousand documents (books, brochures, journals), including 1000 documents on electronic media, about 4 thousand readers (scientists, graduate students, students), including 1260 online. CSL creates resources of own generation – the electronic database “Lake Baikal”, the database “Abstracts and Dissertations”, etc. In terms of popularizing science, the library has published a series of booklets about scientists and a documentary essay, “Irkutsk Academic-city: milestones in history” (Irkutsk, 2019). Since July 2017, the director of the Central Scientific Library is a young scientist Ivan Leonidovich Trofimov. From 1968 to the present day, the library is located in the building of the Institute of the Earth’s Crust of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences (since 1992 – SB RAS).