One of the largest libraries in Russia on the Eurasian continent, the State Public Scientific Technological Library of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SPSL SB RAS) in 2023 celebrates its 105th anniversary from the date of foundation (Moscow) and the 65^th anniversary of its activity in the Siberian region (Novosibirsk). The library’s main periods of development from 1918 to the present are considered.

 A brief history of the library of the Institute of Economics and Organization of Industrial Production of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, which celebrates its 65^th anniversary in 2023, is presented. 

The journal "Proceedings of SPSTL SB RAS" is a keycommunication platform for discussing actual topical issues related to the activities of scientific libraries and information centers that provide information and methodological support to scientists and specialists. These issues are actively discussed at library forums and conferences, including the annual conferences of the Russian Library Association (RLA). It is a brief report on the meeting of the Section of Special Scientific, Scientific-Technical, Research and Technical Libraries of the Russian Library Association (section 35), which took place at the XXVII Annual Conference of RLA (Murmansk, June 11–17, 2023).

Library staff qualification is a decisive factor for effective information and library services to the population. In the article the activity of secondary and higher educational institutions specialized in the training of library staff, as it is in the Republic of Azerbaijan, as well as the history of secondary and higher education in the country, are highlighted. 

Lifetime and rare editions of works of great writers, researchers, public figures are of special cultural and historical value and enjoy the increased attention of the keepers of book collections and visitors of book museum exhibitions. The purpose of this article is to introduce into scientific circulation the rare copies of domestic and foreign editions of works of the historian and writer N. M. Karamzin (1766 – 1826), stored in the Novosibirsk State Regional Scientific Library (NSRSL) and the State Public Scientific and Technological Library of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SPSTL SB RAS). Among them are books from the library of the Kolyvan-Voskresensk mining plants, including those received there from personal collections of mining engineers, copies of the journal “Vestnik Evropy” for 1802-1803 from the collection of V. S. Mikhalkov, a volume of “History of the Russian State” used in one of the oldest educational institutions in Russia – the Smolensk Boys’ Gymnasium, a volume of a lifetime edition of the “History of the Russian State”, which belonged to the historian, archaeographer P. M. Stroev, the compiler of the “Key, or alphabetical index to the “History of the Russian State” by N. M. Karamzin”.
Special attention should be paid to the first complete Russian-language edition of “On Ancient and New Russia in its Political and Civil Relations”, written in 1811, addressed directly to Emperor Alexander I and for censorship reasons first published only abroad, in Berlin, in 1861. A copy from the Department of Rare Books and manuscripts of the State Public Scientific Library of SB RAS is unique in that it contains proofreading notes of the historian A. N. Pypin. Relying on this copy of the Berlin edition of N. M. Karamzin’s work and consulting the handwritten copies of it which were at his disposal, he prepared the first complete publication of the text of this manifesto of Russian conservatism in Russia in 1900 as an appendix to his monograph “Social Movement in Russia under Alexander I”. A careful study of valuable publications from the collections of Novosibirsk libraries deepens our knowledge about the book culture of Siberia and, more broadly, about the history of Russian-language book culture, about the history of the formation of Novosibirsk book collections, demonstrates the continuity of these collections in relation to the outstanding book collections of the past.

A brief description of publications for employees of printing houses is presented: reference books, calendars, which made it possible for typographers to learn the basic rules of typing, historical information on the printing business, as well as the addresses of printing houses in St. Petersburg. Special attention is paid to the characteristics of publications devoted to the printing business, from which information can be gleaned about ancient book-making technologies. In almost every publication, you can get bibliographic information about both printing manuals and small brochures intended for students. The authors shared their long experience of work in printing houses, thus helping the successors to avoid mistakes and perform works efficiently. Publications became necessary as reference and information materials, especially for owners of printing establishments, because from them it was possible to learn about factory legislation, insurance laws and customs tariff. After 1918, the governing bodies changed, so the directories contained information about the main state management bodies for the press and publishing houses of the Supreme Economic Council (Supreme Council of the National Economy) and for Petrograd, the structure of the Union of Workers of Printing Production, etc. There are no modern studies on the information support of the process of printing books in the late XIX – early XX centuries. The purpose of this article is to generalize information about reference literature aimed at typography workers of that period.

Scientific libraries are intermediaries between science and society; they concentrate scientific and popular scientific information for a wide range of users. The information block: science – library – society works. Libraries solve the issues of book preservation, documentary, archival heritage of scientists through various forms of preservation and popularization of the achievements of regional science: work with the rare collection of scientific publications (study of marks, book plates, autographs, etc. on books), publication of articles about scientists, creation of bibliographic and biographic databases (DB) and other electronic information publications of own generation.
Communicative interaction between libraries, science and society is constantly expanding, including various new components of the popularization of science among young people than attract young people to science and cause interest in the profession of a scientist. The article describes the work of the Central Scientific Library of the Irkutsk Scientific Center of the Siberian Branch of RAS in this direction on the example of the organization of electronic memorial library of Baikal scientist, Professor Mikhail Mikhailovich Kozhov.

The article is devoted to the history of the collections acquisition of the Sverdlovsk Regional Universal Scientific Library named after V. G. Belinsky (SOUNB) in 1940 as a part of the study devoted to the history of the library collections formation. The efficiency of any library depends on the quality and quantity of the book collections, so the selection of documents is the main function of librarians throughout the entire period of the library existence. The author aims at tracing how approaches to the creation of collections have been changing for the space of work of the Library named after V. G. Belinsky. The purpose of the study is to present the history of the library through the collections acquisition. The task was to find documentary and statistical materials about the activities of librarians working with collections. The history of the acquisition is unstudied yet, therefore, official government documents, publications in the local periodical press and documents from the archive of SOUNB served as sources for research. For the first time, data revealed in the library archive are introduced into scientific circulation, and an attempt is made to recreate the history of the most important component of library activities – the acquisition of the largest library in the Middle Urals. Special attention is paid to the topic of obtaining the mandatory copy, opening the department for blind readers, creating an exchange stock, also the problems of current acquisition, preservation of book collections and lack of the necessary space for their placement are considered. To study the topic, the method of historical alignment of the chronological sequence of events has been applied.

The article discusses the main issues related to the organization of reference services in university libraries all over the world in the framework of the traditional reference bureau and virtual reference service. The implementation of the concept of digital reference service requires high professionalism, expert knowledge of digital tools and methods of working with them on the part of the staff of reference services. The development of information technologies changes the format of communication between the bibliographer and the user. Traditional reference services are complemented by specialized research assistance carried out in accordance with research practices of universities. The provision of real-time and deferred virtual reference services, digital transformation of libraries, and the involvement of catboats with artificial intelligence in reference services are current issues in library theory and practice.
The turning point in the evolution of reference services has been the university libraries strategic initiative for online learning and additional professional education. Due to the increasing educational mission of university libraries in the professional library community, the role of information curator that the reference librarian can assume is being actively discussed. Reference librarians, alongside with other information professionals, shape the library’s research and educational space. The article bases on the analysis of publications in foreign professional periodicals.

The article defines the main directions of library and information activities to popularize the historical and cultural heritage among the youth; the problems of cultural values influence on the spiritual and moral development of young people are considered. It is stated that in working with youngsters to promote the historical and cultural heritage of Russia, traditional and innovative forms of enlightenment and educational practices remain in demand. The mechanisms for promoting cultural values of the country in the educational, cultural and leisure activities of library institutions are revealed on the example of the State Universal Scientific Library of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. The experience of the regional library in the implementation of social and cultural projects aimed at forming the national and civic identity of young people is reflected. It is indicated that the socio-cultural design of the library is a unique technology that can systematically perform operations and procedures, ensure the reliability of results, and the flexibility of implementation. The features of the organization of project activities are highlighted - information, consulting and subscription services, information support for self-education of participants in each project. The creation in the library of the historical and cultural space “The Book Heritage of Krasnoyarsk”, which during the project contributed to the convergence of the value orientations of young people and older people, made it possible to use diverse innovative forms of promoting cultural and historical heritage. It is noted that the library projects helped to convey to the youth the cultural traditions of the peoples of Russia, the Krasnoyarsk Territory, brought the organization of educational events to upgrade the book culture to a higher qualitative level, created conditions for the use of modern technologies. Project initiatives result in the library becoming a powerful tool for the cultural and reproductive activities of young people in mastering the most important achievements of Russian culture through access to information resources, the main component of which is the book.

Since 2014, agricultural and medical scientific institutions, previously been a part of the specialized agricultural and medical academies of sciences are under the scientific and methodological guidance of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS). Among them is the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute for Fundamental and Applied Parasitology of Animals and Plants – a branch of the Federal State Budget Scientific Institution “Federal Scientific Centre VIEV” (VNIIP – FSC VIEV), named after K. I. Skryabin and Ya. R. Kovalenko.
Special attention in its scientific research is devoted to the study of formation and functioning patterns of parasitic systems; to the development of theoretical foundations to prevent parasitic diseases in livestock animals and plants, and to the improvement and implementation of integrated systems for protecting humans, animals and plants from socially dangerous and economically significant parasitic diseases by creating new methods for early diagnosis and prevention based on the widespread use of biotechnology, genetics and immunology; and to invention of fundamentally new means of protecting animals and plants that provide a high economic effect.
The implementation of the Institute’s main tasks predetermines active scientific and publishing activities that can be designated as the final stage of any research work; therefore, scientific and research institutions publish monographs, collections of scientific papers, reference books, study guides, etc. The purpose of the article is to present main directions of VNIIP’s research and publishing activities highlighting features that characterize certain types of publications.
The characteristic is given for two printed publications on advanced scientific research in parasitology, namely, the collection of materials from the “Theory and Practice of Parasitic Disease Control” Conference and the Russian Journal of Parasitology. A typological analysis of publications is given, and its results are presented. The declared features of the publications confirm their quality and meet key requirements of the current book publishing industry in this direction.
The material is of interest to promote achievements and findings of the most important studies conducted by the team of scientists of the Institute and will be useful both to publishers and to authors of publications.

The purpose of this article is to discuss the actual problem of using smart systems, metaphorically called “artificial intelligence technology”, “virtual reality”, etc. In addition to the terminological problem, special attention is paid at such important aspect as “digital transformation”, which is the fourth stage of automation of activity, including that of libraries. In digital transformation, the main thing is the transformation of the regulatory framework, in particular, putting it in order. Without terminologization, algorithmization and creation of an ontology of the subject area of information and library activities, it is impossible to create a professional smart system. The study bases on the categorical tensor approach. It shows that the main trend in the development of digital innovations in library and information activities is smartization, mediatization and virtualization. The basic properties of smart systems that allow analyzing the authenticity of scientific and technical texts and identifying authentic texts in them are revealed. It is noted that compression and visualization of analyzed texts can enable librarians to carry out information analysis of publicly available documents, for example, abstracts of dissertations in order to identify detonation data located in the peripheral zone. The emergence of smart systems in the form of a GPT chatbot (Generative Pretrained Transformer) will reflect in the use of professional smart systems, which, unlike anti-plagiarism systems, will identify scientific media products at the semiotic level. The presented results can intensify the discussion on the topic under consideration.