ZAKI VALIDI NATIONAL LIBRARY

ZAKI VALIDI NATIONAL LIBRARY of the Republic of Bashkortostan. Located in Ufa. Its story began in 1836 from the opening of the first regional public library founded under the Nobility Assembly; in 1960, it was named after N.K.Krupskaya, in 1992 – A.A.Validov. Children’s and Youth Reading Centres are functioning there. In 2017, there were over 3.2 million units in more than 20 languages, including more than 1 million copies of special literature, the e‑catalogue contained more than 450 thousand records. There is a rich collection of rare editions (over 40 thousand copies): handwritten books of the 15–19 centuries, first editions of literary works by S.T.Aksakov, A.S.Pushkin, L.N.Tolstoy and other Russian writers; books with bookplates of N.K.Blokhin, the Dashkovs, A.F.Smirdin, handwritten literary works of Sh.Babich, S.Mardzhani, Navoi, Saadi, G.Sokroya, miniature editions and folios, etc. About 74 thousand readers are served annually. A Regional Centre for Access to Information Resources of the Yeltsin Presidential Library functions inside the library. For remote users, the site has e‑catalogues and an e‑library. Together with the Ministry of Culture, the RB organizes and conducts such republican contests as: Best Library of the Year, Best Librarian of the Year, Best Bashkir Book of the Year, and others. Since 2011, it has taken part in Library Night, the All‑Russia social and cultural event. The library building is an architectural artifact of the 2nd half of the 20th century.