Russian State Library

File:Pashkov house 20190501.jpg, old building of the Russian State Library. On the far right visible are the newer structures.]]

The library was founded on 1 July 1862, as Moscow's first free public library and as a part of the Moscow Public Museum and Rumyantsev Museum, or in short the Rumyantsev library.{{Cite web |others=LibWeb – Participants |title=Russian State Library |url=https://www.gpntb.ru/win/libweb/particip/rsl/rsl_e.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190313210943/https://www.gpntb.ru/win/libweb/particip/rsl/rsl_e.htm |archive-date=13 March 2019 |access-date=2022-08-19 |website=www.gpntb.ru |publisher=Russian National Public Library for Science and Technology}}

The Rumyantsev Museum part of the complex housed the historical collection of Count Nikolai Petrovich Rumyantsev, which had been given to the Russian people and transferred from St. Petersburg to Moscow.{{Sfn|Stuart|1994|pp=235–236}} Its donation covered above all books and manuscripts as well as an extensive numismatic and an ethnographic collection. These, as well as approximately 200 paintings and more than 20,000 prints, which had been selected from the collection of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg,{{Cite web |last=Kislykh |first=G. |title=The history of collecting prints of German School |url=http://germanprints.ru/articles/kollection_history/index.php?lang=en |access-date=2022-08-20 |website=germanprints.ru |publisher=The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts}} could be seen in the Pashkov House (a palace, established between 1784 and 1787, in the proximity of the Kremlin). Tsar Alexander II of Russia donated the painting The Appearance of Christ Before the People by A. A. Ivanov for the opening of the museum.{{Cite book |last1=Semenova |first1=Natalya |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LRttDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT85 |title=The Collector: The Story of Sergei Shchukin and His Lost Masterpieces |last2=Delocque |first2=André |date=2018 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-24107-5 |language=en |chapter=4}}

The citizens of Moscow, deeply impressed by the count's altruistic donation, named the new museum after its founder and had the inscription "from count Rumyantsev for the good Enlightenment" carved above its entrance.{{Cite web |title=Ленинке – 160! «На благое просвещение» |url=https://www.rsl.ru/ru/materialyi-novostej/leninke-160-na-blagoe-prosveshhenie |access-date=2022-08-28 |website=www.rsl.ru |publisher=Official site of the Russian State Library |language=ru}}{{Sfn|Briskman|2019|p=507}} In the subsequent years, the collection of the museum grew by numerous further donations of objects and money, so that the museum soon housed a yet more important collection of Western European paintings, an extensive antique collection and a large collection of icons. Indeed, the collection grew so much that soon the premises of the Pashkov House became insufficient, and a second building was built beside the museum shortly after the turn of the 20th century to house the paintings in particular.

Image:State Library named after Lenin (left wing of the building).jpg

After the October Revolution the contents again grew enormously, and again lack of space became an urgent problem. Acute financial problems also arose, for most of the money to finance the Museum flowed into the Pushkin Museum, which had only been finished a few years before and was assuming the Rumyantsev Museum's role. Therefore, it was decided in 1925 to dissolve the Rumyantsev Museum and to spread its collections over other museums and institutions in the country. Part of the collections, in particular the Western European art and antiques, were thus transferred to the Pushkin Museum. Pashkov House (at 3 Mokhovaya Street) was renamed the Old Building of the Russian State Library. The old state archive building on the corner of Mokhovaya and Vozdvizhenka Streets was razed and replaced by the new buildings. In 1925 the library was renamed the V. I. Lenin State Library of the USSR ({{langx|ru|Государственная библиотека СССР имени В. И. Ленина (ГБЛ)|Gosudarstvennaja biblioteka SSSR imeni V. I. Lenina (GBL)}}). It is nicknamed the "Leninka".{{cite web |date=2014 |title=Russian State Library |url=http://www.rsl.ru/en |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140528122617/http://www.rsl.ru/en |archive-date=28 May 2014 |access-date=2 April 2014 |website=RSL Official website}}

File:The Soviet Union 1939 CPA 655 stamp (Lenin Library).jpg

Design of the new buildings of the Lenin Library was to be decided through a competition announced in December 1927. The competition had an open component while other architects were invited through invitation.{{Sfn|Udovički-Selb|2009|p=468}}{{Sfn|Cheredina|Rybakova|2021|p=19}} While the first round was won by one team, another design by a team comprising Vladimir Shchuko and Vladimir Gelfreikh was chosen.{{Sfn|Udovički-Selb|2009|p=470}}{{Sfn|Cheredina|Rybakova|2021|p=20}} This particular design was further modified to a large degree.{{Sfn|Cheredina|Rybakova|2021|p=21}} Construction of the first stage was authorized in 1929 and commenced in 1930.{{Sfn|Udovički-Selb|2009|p=468}}{{cite web |title=History of the Russian State Library (in Russian). 1917–1941, p. 4 |url=http://old.rsl.ru/history/xxcentury4.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20080209130159/http://old.rsl.ru/history/xxcentury4.htm |archive-date=2008-02-09 |access-date=2008-12-10 |website=RSL Official website}} Famous sculptors involved included Matvey Manizer.{{Sfn|Cheredina|Rybakova|2021|p=22}} There are a number of statues on the roof.{{Cite book |last=Berton |first=Kathleen |url=https://archive.org/details/moscowarchitectu00murr |title=Moscow: An Architectural History |publisher=St. Martin's Press |year=1977 |isbn=0-312-54888-5 |page=228 |via=Internet Archive}} The first stage was largely complete in 1941.{{Cite web |last=Раппапорт |first=А.Г. |date=1 January 2006 |title=Библиотека Ленина |url=https://archi.ru/elpub/91120/biblioteka-lenina |website=Архи Ру |language=ru}} In the process, the building acquired the modernized neoclassicism exterior features of the Palace of Soviets (co-designed by Shchuko and Gelfreikh), departing from the stern modernism of the 1927–1928 drafts.{{cite book | author=Ikonnikov, A. V. | language=ru | title=Architecture of Moscow, 20th Century. [Arkhitektura Moskvy. XX vek]| publisher=Moskovsky Rabochy | year=1984 | pages=98–99 }}{{Sfn|Cheredina|Rybakova|2021|p=21}} The last component of Shchuko's plan, a 250-seat reading hall, was opened in 1945; further additions continued until 1960.{{cite web |date= |title=History of the Russian State Library (in Russian). 1945–1992, p. 1 |url=http://old.rsl.ru/history/xxcentury8.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080224210912/http://old.rsl.ru/history/xxcentury8.htm |archive-date=2008-02-24 |access-date=2008-12-10 |website=RSL Official website}} During this period the library was identified as a "mass library".{{Sfn|Ruggles|Swank|1962|p=12}}{{Sfn|Horecky|1959|p=8}} The Lenin Library was a central library, a national repository, a research institution in areas connected to libraries, and a center undertaking compilation of bibliographies.{{Sfn|Horecky|1959|p=208}} Its statues also designated it as an institution that "contributes to the development of communism in USSR".{{Sfn|Horecky|1959|p=208}} Its daily attendance was an estimated 5000 to 6000.{{Sfn|Horecky|1959|p=83}}

File:Moscow RSL main building asv2019-06 img1.jpg

File:Moscow RSL main building asv2019-06 img5.jpg

Copies of all printed items in the Soviet Union went to around ten institutions. Lenin Library received three copies, which the library could use for book exchange or distribution to other libraries. Lenin Library was one of two institutions that were permitted to take part in international book exchange until 1955.{{Sfn|Ruggles|Swank|1962|pp=38, 47}}{{Sfn|Horecky|1959|p=8}} International books coming into the library during this period numbered to over 40,000, mainly science related.{{Sfn|Horecky|1959|p=8}} In the mid-1950s the library was conducting exchange with 60 countries.{{Sfn|Horecky|1959|p=22}} The library also loaned and borrowed books from domestic and foreign libraries.{{Sfn|Horecky|1959|p=35}}

Lenin Library, along with three other institutions, cooperated on a 1707–1957 catalog.{{Sfn|Ruggles|Swank|1962|p=26}}{{Sfn|Horecky|1959|p=55|ps="... the operational responsibility lies with the Lenin Library ..."}} In 1961, the library had twenty-two reading rooms; in 1976 the 22 reading rooms had a daily attendance of up to 8000.{{Sfn|Ruggles|Swank|1962|p=59}}{{Cite journal |last1=Delougaz |first1=Nathalie P. |last2=Martin |first2=Susan K. |last3=Wedgeworth |first3=Robert |date=1977 |title=Libraries and Information Services in U.S.S.R. |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_special-libraries_july-august-1977_68_7-8 |journal=Special Libraries |volume=68 |issue=7/8 |pages=254 |issn=0038-6723}} The Reference and Bibliography Department assisted readers in finding books.{{Sfn|Ruggles|Swank|1962|p=64}} The library also assisted other libraries in book selections. These recommendations could reach to over three hundred pages.{{Sfn|Ruggles|Swank|1962|p=50}} The library staff in 1961 consisted of 1750 librarians, 400 technical staff, and housekeeping and ancillary staff.{{Sfn|Ruggles|Swank|1962|p=111}}

The holdings of the library were cleaned twice a year and observed throughout the year. Books showing problems were sent to the Department of Preservation. This department attended to 380,000 pages in a year. Microfilm preservation was assisted by the Special Institute of Cinematography.{{Sfn|Ruggles|Swank|1962|p=55}} Until 1961 only Lenin Library was decently furnished to handle and copy adequate numbers of microfilm.{{Sfn|Ruggles|Swank|1962|p=69}} Eugene Power commented that the library has a, "microfilm laboratory with twelve cameras, six of them of hybrid design utilizing an Eastman Kodak Microfile head, mast and lens; a copyboard and lights based on German design; and a book cradle of Russian design and manufacture".{{Sfn|Ruggles|Swank|1962|p=87}}

In 1968 the building reached its capacity, and the library launched construction of a new depository in Khimki, earmarked for storing newspapers, scientific works and low-demand books from the main storage areas. The first stage of Khimki library was complete in 1975. Between 1922 and 1991 at least one copy of every book published in the USSR was deposited with the library, a practice which continues in a similar method today, with the library designated by law as a legal deposit library.{{Sfn|Horecky|1959|pp=6–8, 171}}{{Cite journal |last=Sakharov |first=N. A. |date=2018-12-07 |title=Legal Deposit System in Russia: Stages of Development and Contemporary State |url=https://bibliotekovedenie.rsl.ru/jour/article/view/1382 |journal=Bibliotekovedenie [Russian Journal of Library Science] |volume=67 |issue=5 |pages=487–499 |doi=10.25281/0869-608X-2018-67-5-487-499 |s2cid=239570779 |issn=2587-7372|doi-access=free }}

In 1992, the library was renamed the Russian State Library by president Boris Yeltsin.{{cite journal | title=Creating a National Library for the Workers' State: The Public Library in Petrograd and the Rumiantsev Library under Bolshevik Rule | author=Stuart, Mary | journal=The Slavonic and East European Review |date=April 1994 | volume=72 | issue=2 | pages=233–258|jstor = 4211475}} It's legal mandate as a national library is under the federal law "On Librarianship/On Library Affairs" passed in 1994.{{Cite web |title=РОССИЙСКАЯ ФЕДЕРАЦИЯ ФЕДЕРАЛЬНЫЙ ЗАКОН О БИБЛИОТЕЧНОМ ДЕЛЕ |trans-title=Russian Federation Federal Law On Library |url=https://www.rsl.ru/photo/!_ORS/1-O-BIBLIOTEKE/7-documenty/fz/FZ-78_11062021.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331234351/https://www.rsl.ru/photo/!_ORS/1-O-BIBLIOTEKE/7-documenty/fz/FZ-78_11062021.pdf |archive-date=31 March 2022 |access-date=19 August 2022 |via=Russia State Library}}{{Cite journal |last=Sakharov |first=N. A. |date=2014-12-28 |title=The Federal Law «On Librarianship»: the Results of 20 Year-Long Work |url=http://bibliotekovedenie.rsl.ru/jour/article/view/116 |journal=Bibliotekovedenie [Russian Journal of Library Science] |issue=6 |pages=20–28 |doi=10.25281/0869-608X-2014-0-6-20-28 |issn=2587-7372|doi-access=free }} The national role of the library entails that it is a depository for state documents, for foreign documents, a library for the armed forces, and a hub of an inter-library system.{{Cite web |title=The Russian State Library |url=https://diss.rsl.ru/?menu=infoblocken/rgb/&lang=en |access-date=2022-09-02 |website=Digital Dissertations Library, RSL}}{{Cite journal |last=Kasinec |first=Edward |date=2001 |title=A Soviet Research Library Remembered |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25548888 |journal=Libraries & Culture |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=16–26 |doi=10.1353/lac.2001.0010 |issn=0894-8631 |jstor=25548888|url-access=subscription }} The Russian State Library, even before it officially became a national library, had a certain degree of cooperation with the earlier version of the National Library of Russia, the M.Y. Saltykov-Shchedrin State Public Library of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, functioning as a national library since 1795.{{Cite book |last=Zaitsev |first=Vladimir |url=https://archive.org/details/booksbricksbytes0000unse |title=Books, Bricks and Bytes: Libraries in the Twenty-first Century |date=1998 |publisher=Transaction Publishers |isbn=1-56000-986-1 |editor-last=Graubard |editor-first=Stephen R. |page=296 |chapter=Problems of Russian Libraries in an Age of Social Change |editor-last2=LeClerc |editor-first2=Paul |via=Internet Archive}} Once Russian State Library also became a national library, the two national libraries laid out a cooperation framework in 1996 with regard to functions such as storage of legal deposits and addressing duplication.

Reading rooms of the Leninka were organized by topic and format. Readers were required to have a suitable educational background. The elite as well as scholars used these. Under the national project 'Culture', the Russian State Library provides procedural assistance to developing libraries across the country.{{Cite web |title=Culture (project Culture) |url=https://xn--80aacacvtbthqmh0dxl.xn--p1ai/en/map/#link3778 |access-date=4 September 2022 |website=Next Generation Library |publisher=Department of Model Libraries, Russian State Library. Ministry of Culture, Russian Federation.}}{{Cite web |date=24 January 2020 |title=The Russian State Library: Model Libraries |url=https://www.cenl.org/the-russian-state-library-model-libraries/ |access-date=2022-09-04 |website= |publisher=The Conference of European National Librarians (CENL)}} The library has also undertaken identification and documentation of "trophy" items in its holdings.{{Cite journal |last=Grirnsted |first=Patricia Kennedy |date=2002 |title=Twice Plundered, but Still Not Home from the War: The Fate of Three Slavic Libraries Confiscated by the Nazis from Paris |journal=Solanus |volume=16 |pages=66 |issn=0038-0903 |via=Internet Archive}} A renovation of Pashkov House was completed in 2007.{{Cite conference |date=24–27 September 2008 |title=Russian Federation, Country Report |url=https://www.cenl.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/RSL_annual_report_2007.pdf |conference=22nd Conference of European National Librarians (CENL), Zagreb, Croatia}}{{Cite news |last=Kishkovsky |first=Sophia |date=2008-05-08 |title=A Treasure Is Restored, With Culture Its Bounty |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/08/world/europe/08pashkov.html |issn=0362-4331}} One of the main exhibition sites in recent times is the Ivanovo Hall.{{Cite web |title=Russian State Library |url=https://eng.rudn.ru/cooperation/employment-partnerships/partners/russian-state-library/ |access-date=2022-09-05 |website=Peoples' Friendship University of Russia}} A permanent exhibit exists in the form of a book museum.{{Cite journal |last=Zolotova |first=M. B. |date=2014 |title=Museum of Book at the Russian State Library: Development of Idea and Contemporary Cultural-Informational Challenges |url=http://bibliotekovedenie.rsl.ru/jour/article/view/92 |journal=Bibliotekovedenie |issue=5 |pages=8–12 |doi=10.25281/0869-608X-2014-0-5-8-12 |issn=2587-7372|doi-access=free }} The library holds events; for example in May 2019, Noize MC gave a lecture in the largest reading room and this was followed by other rap artists performing in front of the Marble Staircase at the entrance of the library.

The library originates from the personal library and historical collection of Count Nikolai Petrovich Rumyantsev.{{Sfn|Grimsted|2015|p=669}} At the time of his death in 1826 it consisted of around 28,000–29,000 books.{{Cite book |last1=FitzLyon |first1=Kyril |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u8D75IzFL4YC&pg=PA309 |title=The Companion Guide to St Petersburg |last2=Zinovieff |first2=Kyril |last3=Hughes |first3=Jenny |date=2003 |publisher=Companion Guides |isbn=978-1-900639-40-8 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Solovjeva |first=Tatiana |title=To The Piers of the English Embankment |publisher=ICAR (ИКАР) Publishers |year=1998 |isbn=5-85902-102-X |series=Along «The Main Street» of St. Petersburg. Vol 6. |location= |pages=137 |language=Russian, English |via=Internet Archive}} By 1899 the library of the Moscow Public and Rumyantsev Museum had grown to half-a-million volumes and in the next two decades would go on to cross 1 million volumes.{{Cite book |last=Harris |first=Michael H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KQ3FmadbMvkC&pg=PA210 |title=History of Libraries of the Western World |date=1999 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-7715-3 |pages=210}} The collection was significantly expanded through acquisitions and expropriation. In 1951 the Lenin Library had the largest collection of books in the world,{{Cite journal |last=Kazakevich |first=Vladimir D. |date=September 1951 |title=World's Biggest Library |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_update-ussr_1951-09_19_7/page/50 |journal=New World Review |volume=19 |issue=7 |pages=50–52 |via=Internet Archive}} it would remain the largest till at least 1973.{{Cite book |last=Showers |first=Victor |url=https://archive.org/details/worldinfigures0000show |title=The World in Figures |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=1973 |isbn=0-471-78859-7 |pages=184, 186 |via=Internet Archive}} In 1959 the collections of the Lenin Library crossed 20 million. In 1961, rare publications numbered 250,000. Manuscripts from the 11th–15th centuries numbered 30,000. Historical artifacts numbered 600,000.{{Sfn|Ruggles|Swank|1962|p=54}} In the Lenin Library a book was defined as a publication with five or more pages, along with certain other criteria.{{Sfn|Horecky|1959|p=184|ps=. "Publications containing textual material or text with drawings, illustrations, etc., of no less than five pages, issued in a single volume or in a preannounced number of volumes, published simultaneously or during a period stated in advance."|loc="Nomenclature of Publications and Units Used by the Lenin Library in Keeping Records"'}} In 1994 holdings crossed 40 million.

File:State Library named after Lenin (wide view).jpg]]

File:Shchusev Museum of Architecture moscow january 2019.jpg]]

In 2000, holdings were 42 million items, consisting of books in living and dead languages. In that year the library received over 357,000 thousand copies of documents including foreign items.{{Cite web |title=Russian State Library in 2000. Annual Report. To the Conference of European National Librarians. |url=https://www.cenl.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/russia-moscow00-01.pdf |website=CENL}} The holdings include a manuscript collection dating to the sixth century, family and estate archives including those of industrial and land-owning dynasties, personal papers of notable individuals from across the spectrum, and an autograph collection.{{Sfn|Grimsted|2015|pp=669, 671, 673}} The collection includes a Gutenberg Bible,{{Cite journal |last=Hetzer |first=Armin |date=1996 |others=Translated from German and Russian by Gregory Walker |title='The Return from the States of the Former Soviet Union of Cultural Property Removed in the 1940s' as a Bibliographical Undertaking |url=https://archive.org/details/solanusnewseries_0010 |journal=Solanus |volume=10 |issn=0038-0903 |quote=The 'trophy' books fulfilled a threefold function. A part of them consisted of trophies in the stricter sense, for example the Gutenberg Bible now held in the Russian State Library (formerly the Lenin Library). Such books are not put to use for practical purposes: they are simply objects of beauty. Another part was ... [p. 17] |via=Internet Archive}} Ivan Fedorov's "Apostles" (1564) and first editions of works by Nicolaus Copernicus, Charles Darwin and Isaac Newton.{{Sfn|Horecky|1959|p=85}} United Nations documents number to over 250,000.{{Cite web |last=Fedorov |first=Victor Vasilievich |date=2002 |title=The changing role of the Dag Hammarskjöld Library: Bridging the Information Gap between the developed and developing countries |url=https://www.un.org/depts/dhl/dag/symposium_docs/fedorov.pdf |access-date=2 September 2022 |website=UN}} Holdings include maps, military literature, music and sound collections, oriental literature, newspapers and dissertations.{{Cite web |title=Collections |url=https://www.rsl.ru/en/funds/ |access-date=2022-09-02 |website=RSL official site}} In 2017 holdings crossed 47 million in 360 languages.

The Electronic Library department was created in the mid-1990s.{{Cite journal |last=Davydova |first=Nadezhda R. |date=2019-05-27 |title=Electronic Library of the RSL: Development Stages and Features of Formation of Digital Collections |url=https://bibliotekovedenie.rsl.ru/jour/article/view/1396 |journal=Bibliotekovedenie [Russian Journal of Library Science] |volume=68 |issue=2 |pages=144–154 |doi=10.25281/0869-608X-2019-68-2-144-154 |s2cid=190193566 |issn=2587-7372|doi-access=free }} Its first collection included 900,000 theses in Russian.{{Cite web |title=Digital library |url=http://elibrary.rsl.ru/?lang=en |access-date=2022-09-04 |website=elibrary.rsl.ru |publisher=Russian State Library}} The United Nations' Memory of the World Programme saw involvement with digitized items such as the Arkhangelsk Gospel (year 1092) and old Russian newspapers, maps, posters.{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/memoryofworldthe0000unse |title=Memory of the World |publisher=Collins. UNESCO |year=2012 |isbn=9789231042379 |via=Internet Archive}} Digitization of the initial collection of the Electronic Library was also expanded through projects with the Library of Congress, United States,{{Cite web |title=About this collection, Meeting of Frontiers |url=https://www.loc.gov/collections/meeting-of-frontiers/about-this-collection/ |access-date=2022-09-04 |newspaper=The Library of Congress}} and the European Union.{{Cite journal |date=2000 |editor-last=Hattery |editor-first=Maxine |title=Abazas to Yukagirs: Russia in a database, library and digital collection |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_information-retrieval-library-automation_2000-02_35_9 |journal=Information Retrieval and Library Automation |volume=35 |issue=9 |pages=1–3 |via=Internet Archive}} With regard to music, digitization of old printed music allows for its preservation and easier distribution and access to those interested including researchers; the digitization attempts to capture the artistic nature as well, including the art on covers and markings by owners and so on.{{Cite journal |last=Semenyuk |first=Alla |date=2007 |title=The digital collection of Russian music of the first half of the nineteenth century (from the Russian State Library stocks) |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23511890 |journal=Fontes Artis Musicae |volume=54 |issue=4 |pages=528–530 |issn=0015-6191 |jstor=23511890}} The Digital Dissertation Library was initiated in 2003. As its size grew with yearly additions, the number of virtual reading rooms of the Digital Dissertation Library also increased, including those in other countries.{{Cite journal |last=Avdeeva |first=Nina |date=June 2010 |title=Innovative services for libraries through the Virtual Reading Rooms of the Digital Dissertation Library, Russian State Library |url=https://www.ifla.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/assets/hq/publications/ifla-journal/ifla-journal-36-2_2010.pdf |journal=IFLA Journal |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=138–145 |doi=10.1177/0340035210369738 |s2cid=62193725 |issn=0340-0352 |eissn=1745-2651}}{{Cite web |date=8 December 2015 |title=Russian State Library's Reading Rooms Open in Hungary |url=https://russkiymir.ru/en/news/199703/ |access-date=2022-09-07 |website=Russikiy Mir}}{{Cite web |title=Virtual reading rooms |url=https://diss.rsl.ru/?menu=catalog&lang=en |access-date=7 September 2022 |website=Digital Dissertation Library |publisher=Russian State Library}}

The library is an institution of research in library science and related areas.{{Cite journal |last1=Samarin |first1=A. |last2=Tikunova |first2=I. |date=2019 |title=Scientific work of the Russian State Library: Its subjects and presentation of results |url=https://ntb.gpntb.ru/jour/article/view/466 |journal=Scientific and Technical Libraries |issue=8 |pages=5–19 |doi=10.33186/1027-3689-2019-8-5-19 |s2cid=242795840 |issn=1027-3689|doi-access=free }} The Lenin Library, including its Bureau of Library Guidance and Research, had a numerous publications{{En dash}} collections, manuals and catalogues, book promotions, bibliographic lists, works on socio-political topics, technical publications, and art related publications.{{Sfn|Horecky|1959|p=80-82, 220-225}} {{Interlanguage link|Bibliotekovedenie (Russian Journal of Library Science)|ru|Библиотековедение (журнал)}} was founded in 1952 and received its current name in 1993.{{Cite web |title=История журнала |trans-title=History of the Magazine |url=https://bibliotekovedenie.rsl.ru/jour/about/history |access-date=2022-08-28 |website=bibliotekovedenie.rsl.ru |publisher=Department of Periodicals , Russian State Library}}{{Cite conference |last=Shibaeva |first=Ekaterina A. |date=2018 |title=The Russian State Library International Cooperation and Communication Program for Library Professionals |url=http://library.ifla.org/id/eprint/2350/ |conference=IFLA WLIC 2018 – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Transform Libraries, Transform Societies}}{{Cite journal |last=Volodin |first=Boris |date=2001 |title=Foreign Libraries in the Mirror of Soviet Library Science during the Cold War |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25548903 |journal=Libraries & Culture |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=204–210 |doi=10.1353/lac.2001.0024 |jstor=25548903 |issn=0894-8631 |quote=The leading Russian professional journal, Bibliotekovedenie (Library Science), generally addresses domestic issues, with essays on foreign library theory and practices only published by way of a special exception.|url-access=subscription }} The journal {{Interlanguage link|Observatory of Culture|ru|Журнал-обозрение «Обсерватория культуры»|nobold=}} was founded in 2004.{{Cite web |title=Journals and magazines |url=https://www.rsl.ru/en/products/journals-n-magazines/ |access-date=2022-08-28 |website=www.rsl.ru |publisher=Russian State Library}} The journal Vostochnaya Kollektsiya (Oriental Collection) was published between 1999 and 2015, during this period 61 issues were published with over 1200 articles.{{Cite web |title=ПЯТНАДЦАТЬ ЛЕТ СРЕДИ БИБЛИОТЕКАРЕЙ И ВОСТОКОВЕДОВ |trans-title=Fifteen Years Among Librarians and Orientalists |url=http://orient.rsl.ru/ |access-date=28 August 2022 |website=orient.rsl.ru |publisher=Russian State Library}}{{Cite web |date=1 July 2015 |title=Журнал «Восточная коллекция» прекращает существование |trans-title=Oriental Collection magazine ceases to exist |url=https://koryo-saram.site/zhurnal-vostochnaya-kollektsiya-prekrashhaet-sushhestvovanie/ |access-date=28 August 2022 |website=koryo-saram.site}} Pashkov Dom Publishing was established in 1998 and functions as a publisher for the library.{{Cite web |title=Russian State Library 2022 |url=https://librarypublishing.org/directory/russian-state-library-2022/ |access-date=2022-08-28 |website=Library Publishing Coalition}}

Books about the library include S.V. Zhitomirskaia's Prosto zhizn and V. V. Fedorov's (ed.) Rossiiskaia gosudarstvennaia biblioteka.{{Cite journal |last1=Kasinec |first1=Edward |last2=Kogan |first2=Elena |date=2009 |title=Rossiiskaia gosudarstvennaia biblioteka [The Russian State Library]: V. V. Fedorov, ed. Moscow: Red.-izd. tsentr "Klassika," 2006. 573 pp., {{text|ISBN:}} 9785945250420. |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15228880902774370 |journal=Slavic & East European Information Resources |language=en |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=102–106 |doi=10.1080/15228880902774370 |issn=1522-8886|url-access=subscription }}

File:GBL-stample.jpg|Russian State Library stamp (Soviet times)

File:Michael I's wedding (18 c., RGB) by shakko.jpg|The wedding of tsar Michael I

File:Michael & xenia.jpg|Tver manuscript of George Hamartolus

• {{Interlanguage link|Russian Book Chamber|ru|Российская книжная палата}}
• National Library of Russia
• Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library

;Notes

{{Notelist}}

;Citations

{{Reflist|30em}}

;Works cited

• {{Cite journal |last=Briskman |first=Tatiana Ya. |date=2019 |title=The Rumyantsev Museum's History in Russian Memoir Sources |journal=Observatory of Culture |language=Russian |volume=16 |issue=5 |pages=504–517 |doi=10.25281/2072-3156-2019-16-5-504-517 |s2cid=214044426 |issn=2588-0047|doi-access=free }}
• {{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p8veCwAAQBAJ |title=Archives in Russia: A Directory and Bibliographic Guide to Holdings in Moscow and St.Petersburg |date=2015 |publisher=Routledge |others=Compiled by Patricia Kennedy Grimsted, Lada Vladimirovna Repulo and Irina Vladimirovna Tunkina |isbn=978-1-317-47654-2 |editor-last=Grimsted |editor-first=Patricia Kennedy |editor-link=Patricia Kennedy Grimsted |edition=English |pages=669 |orig-date=2000 |via=Google Books}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Stuart |first=Mary |date=1994 |title=Creating a National Library for the Workers' State: The Public Library in Petrograd and the Rumiantsev Library under Bolshevik Rule |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4211475 |journal=The Slavonic and East European Review |volume=72 |issue=2 |pages=233–258 |issn=0037-6795 |jstor=4211475}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Udovički-Selb |first=Danilo |date=2009 |title=Between Modernism and Socialist Realism: Soviet Architectural Culture under Stalin's Revolution from Above, 1928–1938 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/jsah.2009.68.4.467 |journal=Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians |volume=68 |issue=4 |pages=467–495 |doi=10.1525/jsah.2009.68.4.467 |jstor=10.1525/jsah.2009.68.4.467 |issn=0037-9808|url-access=subscription }}
• {{Cite journal |last1=Cheredina |first1=Irina |last2=Rybakova |first2=Ekaterina |date=2021 |title=Libraries in Soviet Architecture of the Late 1920s-1930s |url=http://www.znb.bud.pcz.pl/pdf-145219-70744?filename=Libraries%20in%20Soviet.pdf |journal=Zeszyty Naukowe Politechniki Częstochowskiej. Budownictwo |volume=177 |issue=27 |pages=18–23 |doi=10.17512/znb.2021.1.03|s2cid=245422441 }}
• {{Cite book |last1=Ruggles |first1=Melville J. |url=https://archive.org/details/sovietlibrariesa012940mbp |title=Soviet Libraries and Librarianship |last2=Swank |first2=Raynard C. |publisher=American Library Association |year=1962 |postscript=. Report of the Visit of the Delegation of U.S. Librarians to the Soviet Union, May-June, 1961, under the U.S.-Soviet Cultural Exchange Agreement |via=Internet Archive}}
• {{Cite book |last=Horecky |first=Paul L. |url=https://archive.org/details/librariesbibliog0000hore |title=Libraries and bibliographic centers in the Soviet Union |publisher=Indiana University Publications |year=1959 |series=Slavic and East European Series |volume=16 |via=Internet Archive}}

• {{Cite web |last=Gerden |first=Eugene |date=2018 |title=Russian State Libraries' Consolidation Program Moves Forward Amid Staff Shakeups |url=https://publishingperspectives.com/2018/09/russia-library-state-consolidation-program-staff-changes-medinsky/ |website=Publishing Perspectives}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Zaitsev |first=Vladimir |date=1996 |title=Problems of Russian Libraries in an Age of Social Change |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20027399 |journal=Daedalus |volume=125 |issue=4 |pages=293–306 |issn=0011-5266 |jstor=20027399}}
• {{Cite web |date=1 July 2022 |title=Libraries of Russia: The Russian State Library celebrates its 160th anniversary |url=https://www.prlib.ru/en/events/1343272 |access-date=2022-08-18 |website=Presidential Library Russia |language=en}}
• {{Cite web |title=10 years of cooperation between "RST-Invent" and the Russian State Library |url=http://www.rst-invent.com/10-years-of-cooperation-between-rst-invent-and-the-russian-state-library/ |access-date=2022-09-01 |website=RST-Invent|date=29 September 2020 }}
• {{Cite web |last=Johnston |first=Lindsay |title=The Current Situation of Libraries in Russia |url=https://sites.ualberta.ca/~lmalcolm/Russian_Libraries/libraries.html#rsl}}
• {{Cite book |last=Esdaile |first=Arundell |url= |title=National Libraries Of The World. Their History Administration And Public Services |publisher=Garden City Press. The Library Association |others=F. J. Hill |year=1957 |edition=2nd |via=Internet Archive}}
• {{Cite book |title=Russian Libraries in Transition. An Anthology of Glasnost Literature |publisher=McFarland & Company |year=1992 |editor-last=Kimmage |editor-first=Dennis |via=Internet Archive}}
• {{Cite book |last=Mazour |first=Anatole G. |title=Modem Russian Historiography |publisher=David Van Nostrand |year=1958 |edition=2nd |via=Internet Archive}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Reed |first=Ellen |date=1945 |title=The Libraries of Russia |journal=Wilson Library Bulletin |volume=19 |issue=8 |pages=554–557 |via=Internet Archive}}

;Collections

• {{Cite web |date=28 May 2018 |title=Russian library hosts largest Ottoman-era collection |url=https://www.trtworld.com/art-culture/russian-library-hosts-largest-ottoman-era-collection-17794 |website=TRT World}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Marandjian |first=Karine |date=2001 |title=Review of Catalogue of the Early Japanese Books in the Russian State Library |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2668422 |journal=Monumenta Nipponica |volume=56 |issue=2 |pages=290–292 |doi=10.2307/2668422 |jstor=2668422 |issn=0027-0741|url-access=subscription }}
• {{Cite web |last=Masis |first=Julie |date=27 June 2017 |title=Look, but don't touch: Moscow's Schneerson Collection goes online |url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/look-but-dont-touch-moscows-schneerson-collection-goes-online/ |website=Times of Israel}}

;Architecture

• {{Cite journal |last=Khmelnitsky |first=Dmitry |date=2019 |title=A. V. Shchusev and the Competition for V. I. Lenin Library |url=http://www.projectbaikal.com/index.php/pb/article/view/1435 |journal=Project Baikal |issue=59 |language=en |pages=76–81 Pages |doi=10.7480/projectbaikal.59.1435|doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 }}
• {{Cite web |last=Sudjic |first=Deyan |author-link=Deyan Sudjic |date=2022-08-04 |title=Stalin's Architect: The Remarkable Life of Boris Iofan |url=https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/stalins-architect-the-remarkable-life-of-boris-iofan/ |website=The MIT Press Reader}}
• {{Cite web |last=Jargin |first=Sergei |date=23 May 2010 |title=Moscow libraries: architectural and technical aspects |url=https://www.domusweb.it/en/news/2010/05/23/moscow-libraries-architectural-and-technical-aspects.preview.html |website=domusweb.it |publisher=Domus}}
• {{Cite web |title=Библиотека имени Ленина |trans-title=Lenin's Library |url=http://arx.novosibdom.ru/node/2424 |website=arx.novosibdom.ru Architecture and Design, Directory |language=Russian}}
• {{Cite book |last=Cooke |first=Catherine |url=https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_2105_300062983.pdf |title=Architectural drawings of the Russian avant-garde |publisher=The Museum of Modern Art: Distributed by H.N. Abrams |year=1990 |isbn=0870705563}}
• {{Cite book |last=Cook |first=Catherine |title=The Great Utopia: The Russian and Soviet Avant-Garde, 1915–1932 |publisher=Guggenheim Museum, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, & Amsterdam Stedelijk Museum |year=1992 |editor-last=Solomon |editor-first=R. |chapter=Mediating Creativity and Politics: Sixty Years of Architectural Competitions in Russia}}

;Scientific and Technical Libraries journal (Russian National Public Library for Science and Technology)

• {{Cite journal |last1=Avdeeva |first1=Nina |last2=Sus |first2=Irina |date=2017 |title=Digital library of dissertations and authors' abstracts as a core of RSL Digital Library |url=https://ntb.gpntb.ru/jour/article/view/153 |journal=Scientific and Technical Libraries |issue=2 |pages=14–21 |doi=10.33186/1027-3689-2017-2-14-21 |issn=1027-3689|doi-access=free }}
• {{Cite journal |last=Guseva |first=E. N. |date=2019 |title=Strategic documents to define the role of the libraries |url=https://ntb.gpntb.ru/jour/article/view/407 |journal=Scientific and Technical Libraries |issue=3 |pages=21–30 |doi=10.33186/1027-3689-2019-3-21-30 |s2cid=188588831 |issn=1027-3689|doi-access=free }}

;Bibliotekovedenie (Russian Journal of Library Science)

• {{Cite journal |last=Levin |first=Grigoriy L. |date=2020 |title=Bibliography Studies of the Russian State Library: History and Present Situation |url=https://bibliotekovedenie.rsl.ru/jour/article/view/1944 |journal=Bibliotekovedenie |volume=69 |issue=3 |pages=305–324 |doi=10.25281/0869-608X-2020-69-3-305-324 |s2cid=241120868 |issn=2587-7372|doi-access=free }}
• {{Cite journal |date=2011 |title=From the Collections of the Russian State Library 79 |url=https://bibliotekovedenie.rsl.ru/jour/article/view/1304 |journal=Bibliotekovedenie |issue=3 |pages=79–80 |doi=10.25281/0869-608X-2011-0-3-79-80 |issn=2587-7372 |quote=Архив В.Г. Белинского|last1= Editorial|first1= Article|doi-access=free }}
• {{Cite journal |last1=Ivanova |first1=E. A. |last2=Ermakova |first2=M. E. |date=2017 |title=Ivanovsky Hall in the History of the Rumyantsev Museum and the Russian State Library |url=http://bibliotekovedenie.rsl.ru/jour/article/view/535 |journal=Bibliotekovedenie |volume=66 |issue=5 |pages=567–576 |doi=10.25281/0869-608X-2017-66-5-567-576 |issn=0869-608X|doi-access=free }}
• {{Cite journal |last=Dolgodrova |first=T. A. |date=2014 |title=The Early Illustrated Editions of W. Shakespeare in the Holdings of the Russian State Library |url=http://bibliotekovedenie.rsl.ru/jour/article/view/31 |journal=Bibliotekovedenie |issue=2 |pages=54–59 |doi=10.25281/0869-608X-2014-0-2-54-59 |issn=2587-7372|doi-access=free }}
• {{Cite journal |last=Dvorkina |first=M. Y. |date=2020 |title=Historian of the Russian State Library. In Memory of L.M. Koval (1933—2020) |url=https://bibliotekovedenie.rsl.ru/jour/article/view/1984 |journal=Bibliotekovedenie |volume=69 |issue=2 |pages=167–172 |doi=10.25281/0869-608X-2020-69-2-167-172 |s2cid=225533125 |issn=2587-7372|doi-access=free }}
• {{Cite journal |last=Kutcherkova |first=O. A. |date=2014 |title=Acquisition of the Library of the Rumyantsev Museum in 1909-1917 |url=http://bibliotekovedenie.rsl.ru/jour/article/view/86 |journal=Bibliotekovedenie |issue=4 |pages=108–114 |doi=10.25281/0869-608X-2014-0-4-108-114 |issn=2587-7372|doi-access=free }}

{{Commons category|Russian State Library}}

{{Wikidata property|P947|P1815|P1973}}

• {{Official website}}
• [https://maps.google.com/maps?q=moscow&ll=55.751819,37.609645&spn=0.001159,0.003404&t=k&hl=en Satellite image of the Russian State Library], centered on the main entrance
• [http://www.madeinrussia.ru/en/catalog/2630/ Made in Russia: Russian State Library]
• [https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/5f8a8c79da90ab9f64c2f89b48c558b8/Russian-State-Library?hl=en Russian State Library] 3D model in SketchUp
• {{url|https://tour.rsl.ru/tour_eng.html|Virtual tour}}
• [https://opendata.mkrf.ru/opendata/7705851331-egrkn Unified State Register of Cultural Heritage Objects entry]. See Russian cultural heritage register.

{{Museums and galleries in Moscow}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1862 establishments in the Russian Empire

Category:Buildings and structures in Moscow

Category:Culture in Moscow

Category:Education in Moscow

Category:Libraries in Moscow

Category:Museums in Moscow

Category:National libraries in Russia

Category:World Digital Library partners

Category:Libraries established in 1862

Category:Deposit libraries

Category:Arbat District

Category:Library buildings completed in 1941

Category:Library buildings completed in 1945

Category:Library buildings completed in 1960

Category:Library buildings completed in 1975

Category:Cultural heritage monuments of regional significance in Moscow