The Origin of Soviet Education for Librarianship: The Role of 3 Women

Dr. John V. Richardson Jr.JELIS 41 (Spring 2000): 106-128

Background

ALISE Teaching Fellow, 1996 (funding from IREX and H.W. Wilson Foundation); UCLA ASCOR Grant, 1997 & ALISE Research Grant, 1998 to Moscow and St. Petersburg

“Education for Library and Information Science in Russia: A Case Study of the St. Petersburg State Academy of Culture,” Journal of Education for Library and Information Science 39 (Winter 1998): 14-27.

Source Materials

US: (UCLA and Simmons College archives)RUSSIA: (SPSAC, National Library of Russia,

and MGIK) Biographical Dictionaries and Encyclopedias Scholarly Monographs in English Russian Professional Journals Russian Conference Proceedings and Theses Local Russian Newspapers

Krupskaya (1869-1939)

Born in St. Petersburg; wanted to be a school teacher

Met “Lenin” in 1894 at St. Petersburg Union for the Emancipation of the Working Class

Arrested in 1896; exiled in 1898 to Ufa

Lived abroad until 1917

Early Krupskaya Photo

Krupskaya’s Life Work

Focus on popular educationInfluenced by Pestalozzi’s

intellectual-moral-physical educationDeputy in the Russian Ministry of

Education“On Organizing Librarianship” (1918)Died on her birthday in 1939

Khavkina (1871-1949)

Born in UkraineServed as the Librarian of her hometownWrote extensively on librarianship

including a work entitled “The Book and the Library” and a polyglot dictionary

Initiated library courses in Shanyavskiy People’s University in Moscow

Khavkina’s Lifework

Traveled widely, arguing for open access to libraries; taught classification, methods of work with readers, subject cataloging

Headed the Office of Librarianship in Moscow, then the Institute of Librarianship; hired and rehired--Kadet tendencies

Died in 1949 in Moscow

Derman (1882-1954)

Born in Riga, later LatviaGraduated with honors, moved to

Moscow to avoid being arrested; married there

Arrested for revolutionary activities, expelled; studied at Simmons College, 1916-1917

Headed the two foremost libraries upon her return

Derman’s Lifework

Organized the first all-Russian Library Congress, talked on the role of centralized cataloging; headed the Moscow Library Institute

Imprisoned in 1939 for counter revolutionary activities in Vorkuta

Died in 1955; later she was “rehabilitated”

Ideological Assumptions

Need to educate the masses fairy tales, semi-literate, superstitions

Lenin’s “Cultural Revolution” public education, socialist literature,

supporting and popularizing science, re-education, strengthening the atheistic world view, and reconstructing mores

“Give every village important books…”

Ideological Assumptions II

"Without a book, without a library, with-out the skillful use of books there can be no cultural revolution for the reader.”

-- N. K. Krupskaya

State of Public Education

73% of population was illiterate (1897 Census)

Location: only 25% literate in rural areas; 75% in urban areas (Rashin)

Gender: Women were illiterate (14 of the 17 million population)

Systemic Solution

Preparatory system of residential homes and kindergartens

free, equal, compulsory, unified education from 7 to 17 years old

development of technicums for young adults after age 17

Literacy and Reading

In 1919, “all of Russia was learning to read” (Reed)

1926 Odessa survey: fiction, history, political and economic topics, hygiene, geography and art

American literature (Jack London and Sinclair Lewis), British authors, then French, and own indigenous literature

Role of Librarians

In 1909, 368 librarians responded: typical library of 200-400 volumes some government assistance most had no new books since 1907 average hours: 6 to 12 per day 38% of the librarians worked for free

Soviet Libraries

In comparative survey in 1924-25: fewer libraries in villages numbers increased in towns libraries became part of the political

process “proper books and literature;” no objective

book selection role of children’s librarian laboratory in every library (goal)

Higher Education

Proto-education professional societies, learned journals,

and a series of informal courses Russian Bibliological Society’s library

section became the Society of Librarianship (1908)

Bibliotekar’ (1910) First All-Russian Library Congress (1911)

St. Petersburg & Moscow

St. Petersburg Pedagogical Institute offered optional book and library science courses (called theoretical librarianship), 1912 A.M. Belov (Rules for Systematic

Cataloging)Shanyavskiy People’s University offered

short-term librarianship courses, 1912 Khavkina and 8 other faculty members

An Ideal System

“A Library Seminary” (Krupskaya, 1918) Two year program First year:

read 20-30 booksattend evening courseswritten exam on theoretical questions

Second year:work in libraryoral report

Leningrad Institute of Culture

Institute of Extra-Scholastic Education (1918) wanted to recruit working class students but these students could not afford the time

Goal: instructors and specialists solve problems inform workers about self-education

Criticisms of Education

“Not organized in the way it should be”“Need to be a propagandist…be a

politically conscious Marxist” (Krupskaya)

Too many courses on bibliography and inadequate textbooks (Anonymous author)

Conclusions

Three women with extraordinary vision and influence due to their travels abroad and experience with other systems

Literacy rapidly increased, especially among women: fiction, popular

Synchronicity Local thinking vs. global perspective

More Conclusions

Striking parallels between US and Russia quality of instruction, social science method,

and discussions of worthwhile researchDifferences:

Open to the working class, role of the public librarian, especially the children’s librarian as pivotal in the political process. Urban libraries developed at the expense of rural ones.

Even More Conclusions

Reading and its fundamental importance quality of books read, open access to

literature (Khavkina) and subject cataloging (Derman)

Want to Know More?

"The Origin of Soviet Education for Librarianship: The Role of Nadezhda Krupskaya (1869-1939), Lyubov’ Borisovna Khavkina-Hamburger (1871-1949) and Genrietta K. Abele-Derman (1882-1954)." Journal of Education for Library and Information Science 41 (Spring 2000): 106-128.