The History of Systematic Catalogue of the Russian Academy of Sciences Library. The Initial Stage of Creation, 1924—1929

Abstract

The article, based on the results of planned research carried out in the Department of scientific systematization of literature (DSSL) of the Russian Academy of Sciences Library (RASL), considers the poorly studied period in the history of the RASL systematic catalogue — the second half of the 1920s. The purpose of this article is to reconstruct the initial stage of creation of systematic card catalogue of RASL, basing on archival documents. The author presents the history of the first functional Department of the Library — Systematization Department of the II (Foreign) Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Library, organized to complete the systematic card catalogue. The article describes the circumstances of the formation of the Department: existence of two branches of the library (I — Russian and II — Foreign), domestic difficulties, acute shortage personnel, the presence of an array of items without shelf marks, the use of outdated classification. The author presents a number of persons who started to work in the Department in 1924—1925: S.S. Abramovich-Baranovsky, A.A. Arnoldi, N.A. Burov, G.G. Geld, A.A. Gizetti, V.S. Zolotilov, S.V. Melikova-Tolstaya, V.S. Serebrenikov, etc. The article considers the main functional responsibilities assigned to the Department: systematization of the book collections, organization of systematic card catalogue, foreign books acquisition, composing and reviewing of the rules and instructions, preparation of scientific conclusions on books, participation in the organization of exhibitions, compilation of bibliography. The author describes in detail the results of work in 1924—1925: the restored method of book systematization according to K.M. Baer system, preparation of the instructional and methodical apparatus, and compilation of the card catalogue of publications up to 1914. The article presents the brief observation of the proposals to improve the classification of K.M Baer. The improvement included expansion of the classification, destruction of completely outdated units, transfer of some units of the system in the relevant modern scientific classification departments and subsections, and updating of the scientific terminology. The author highlighted and marked the traditions established in the 1920s, which later became the basis for human, organizational and methodological policy of the RASL Department, existing now for 95 years: reflection in the systematic catalogue of all types of publications coming to the library, involvement in the Department of specialists of certain branches of knowledge and activities, assignment to specialists of the relevant sections of catalogue. The refusal of K.M. Baer classification in 1930 marked the entry of RASL into the next stage of the history, during which the restructuring of the entire library was carried out on the functional basis, and the development of its own classification schedules began.