The Ushinsky State Scientific Pedagogical Library is the largest pedagogical library in Russia. It was organized in 1925 as the reference library of the information department of Narodny Komissariat Prosveshenya of RSFSR.
The Library received the legal status of the State Pedagogical library in 1939. Since 1942 it has the address: Bolshoj Tolmatchevsky per., 3.
The buildings of the Library are the architectural monument: urban building (the end of XVIII
— the beginning of XIX centuries), style of classicism. The architect
— Kazakov M.

Since 1944 the Library is the department of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of RSFSR, and then of the USSR. Since 1945 it has the name of Ushinsky, the great Russian teacher.
The Library is the repository of pedagogical literature, information and bibliographical centre for the libraries of educational institutions, initial professional and in-service teacher education.
Scientific-research activity of the Library is the component of the researchers of Russian Academy of Education. The Library has the constant contact with the scientists, pedagogical staffs of different pedagogical universities. It gives the opportunity to see their informational needs, to develop the activity of the Library taking into account the level of pedagogical science and practice, and new informational technologies.
The readers of the Library are teachers and tutors, students and post-graduate students, teachers of the system of higher education, scientists. All of them are more then 35000. At their disposal there are the constant exhibition of new books, subject expositions, the repository of the pedagogical literature, reference-bibliographical means, reading rooms for 160 places, personal and interlibrary loan.
The stock of the Library contains more then 1,5 million documents in Russian and in foreign languages. There are monographs, encyclopedias, dictionaries, reference books, author’s abstracts of education, text books and programs of all the types of pedagogical institutions of pre-revolutionary and contemporary Russia, the issues of the Russian Academy of Education, works and proceedings of the pedagogical universities of different regions of Russia, domestic and foreign journals and newspapers.
Our collection of pre-revolutionary and contemporary Russian textbooks is unique.
We have also rare domestic and foreign books (more then 7 thousands).
Among the Russian pre-revolutionary, Soviet and contemporary periodical issues are: more then 300 issues of pre-revolutionary journals and more then 1000 issues of the following years, such as the full set of “Pedagogitchesky vestnik” (1864—1917), “Russian school” (1890—1918), “Vestnik vospitanya” (1890—1917), “Zurnal Ministerstva narodnogo prosveshenya” (1834—1917),
Utchitel” (Teacher) (1861—1917), “Pedagogitchesky Listock” (1871—1917) and others.
Every year the library stock is increased for about 10 thousand books and 200 journals.
There are rich information-reference stock at the Library. It consists of pre-revolutionary, soviet period and modern issues. Here we can find such authors as: Anziferov S.I., Derunov K.N., Lebedev A., Mezov V.I., Rubakin N.A. e.a.
The Library publishes the following bibliographical indexes: “Pedagogitcheskaya bibliographiya” (Pedagogical bibliography) (1924—1949), “Literatura po pedagogitcheskim naukam i narodnomu obrazovanju”
— the special current bibliographical index; “Inostrannaya literatura po pedagogitcheskim naukam i narodnomu obrazovanju” (since 1954 till nowadays). These indexes are in electronic form since 1996.
Ushinsky Library has long international connections, it’s the deposit repository of UNESCO issues of pedagogy and education. It carries out book international exchange with many countries: UK, USA, Germany, France, Bulgaria, Poland e.a.
The Library is the centre of methodical leadership for the pedagogical libraries.
Since 1994 Library forms the electronic data base. Now it has more then 160 thousand documents. There has been created the local computer net for the automation of the main librarian processes and search system.
In 1997 the Internet-class was opened at the Library with the help of USIA and IREX (American organizations). Now this class is guided by the American organization “Project Harmony”.
The Internet-class helps our readers to access to international resources, to use e-mail in their work.
Ushinsky Library is the member of the Association of users of CDS/ISIS (EBNIT), it participates in the program “Forming of the all-Russian information-librarian computer net” (LIBN). |