State regulation of public libraries activities in Russia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries

The article examines the evolution of state regulation of public libraries in the Russian Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The research corpus comprises legislative acts of the Russian Empire, departmental regulations governing public library operations, and office correspondence from central and regional government bodies. These documents are preserved in the Russian State Historical Archive, the State Archive of the Russian Federation, and the state archives of Irkutsk, Tomsk, and Krasnoyarsk regions. The source base is further supplemented by statutes of public libraries and periodicals.
Methodologically, the research relies on the problem-chronological approach, enabling the identification of consistent patterns in the evolution of library law with due regard for shifts in the sociopolitical environment across different periods of the Russian Empire's history. Additionally, the application of the historicalgenetic method facilitated the establishment of causal links and traced the transformation of state policy regarding public libraries during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The article demonstrates that the legal framework within which public libraries operated combined elements of governmental encouragement of civic activity with mechanisms of censorship and police oversight.
Granting public libraries the status of a legal entity and simplifying their opening procedures facilitated the expansion of these institutions' organizational autonomy and their integration into Russia's cultural and educational space. At the same time, the abolition of preliminary censorship during the years of the First Russian Revolution did not lead to a real weakening of administrative-police supervision: law enforcement practice on the ground relied primarily on departmental directives rather than formal-legal norms. This led to systematic restrictions on readers’ access to legally published books and periodicals. The repressive and protective component of the authorities’ library policy significantly limited the substantive diversity of mass reading and, consequently, the educational function of libraries.

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