History of the library of Kuban State Medical University

KubSMU library's foundation dates back to 1920, when on September 5, the grand opening of Kuban State University, which included the medical faculty, took place at the Lunacharsky Theater (now the Philharmonic Hall).

As A.V. Lunacharsky noted in an interview with one of the founders of the medical faculty, Professor A.A. Gerke, a future Honored Scientist of the RSFSR, "there cannot be a university until there is a sufficient scientific and pedagogical library." At the same time, he referred to the experience of foundation of Tomsk University, the opening of which was delayed by the tsarist government due to the lack of a library.

In agreement with the Academic Center, it was allowed to select up to 2,000 titles from the book chamber for the library. Therefore, the selection of books was very careful and prudent. For example, medical journals for the last 15-25 years were selected, but the name was the same.

Thus, 2,137 titles were selected and exported, which amounted to about 43,000 books.

Library Development

Dr. N. I. Fursov was appointed head of the library (top row in the photo), with Sofya Georgievna Ter-Ohanyan as his assistant.

By the decision of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, the library of the Medical Institute was included in the number of libraries receiving a mandatory copy on medicine and frontier sciences. Regular publications of the proceedings of the Kuban Medical Institute provided an opportunity to develop the library's book exchange network. In exchange for the institute's publications from the largest medical institutions in the world (England, France, Japan, China, etc.), the library received books and magazines.

The history of the library during the war years

A special page in the history of the library is the years of the Great Patriotic War. The library was under constant German control. By order, the director of the institute, A.N. Motnenko, ordered the head of the library, S.G. Ter-Ohanyan, not to evacuate, but to remain in Krasnodar for the duration of the occupation as the library's keeper.

The occupiers issued an order: death for taking out books; keep only medical literature, and destroy socio–political literature. Sofya Georgievna did her best: she hid the most valuable publications, removed cards from catalogs. But besides the institute library, she was concerned about the fate of the personal libraries of the institute's scientists and teachers who were being evacuated. This small, fragile woman saved from death special medical literature, diaries, scientific works of professors.

The library quickly rebuilt its work after the occupation, starting a broad bibliographic development of relevant topics on military medicine. Translations and abstracts from foreign journals were urgently made. Bibliographic lists were compiled at the request of researchers and military doctors of the city, and literature was selected for their reports and works. Many doctors of local evacuation hospitals were regular readers of the library.

The modern role of books and libraries

Today, in the age of computerization, the book still remains a source of wisdom, knowledge, experience and the foundation of education. The book is an integral part of our lifestyle. It helps to master knowledge, acquire a profession, get to know people and the world around them, and join the beautiful. And a library is not just a repository of books, but an information center, a friend and helper of the entire educational process and educational work.

Therefore, all the work of the library is based on the fund, including its full-fledged formation, prompt display and comprehensive disclosure in the search engine, the proper organization of the fund, as well as the arrangement, preservation and use. To date, the library's collection is more than 450,000 thousand pieces.

For independent work of readers, the library has a large reading room with 80 seats, computers with Internet access. Students have the opportunity to work independently, use electronic learning materials and Internet resources, and readers have access to the library's electronic catalog, which contains more than 60,000 bibliographic entries.

A multi-component library system

It is safe to say that the work of the library is a complex, multicomponent system that combines such important activities as educational, self-educational, informational, communicative, organizational, interactive, creative, research. It has become a necessary condition for students in their professional education, harmonious development, and personal development.

The introduction of computer and other modern technologies makes it possible to better meet the information needs of readers, improve their library and information services, and ensure proper access to information resources. Therefore, the library's motto is filled with even more specific content: "We work for you and together with you for your success."