The article is devoted to the contribution of the famous Russian specialist in library science K. I. Abramov to the methodology of library history, the author of almost 340 publications, of which two-thirds are devoted to history. The importance of his contribution to the development of source studies, historiography, archeography, and library history is emphasized. Based on the principle of historicism and methods of structural analysis, the historical reconstruction of the formation and development of his methodological views was carried out. The external conditions of his formation as a historian are analyzed. It is noted that the formation took place in difficult socio-political conditions. The main conclusions are as follows. The methodological views of K. I. Abramov were based on the relying on archival material, striving to improve the scientific character of historical research, overcoming the desire to reduce research to a superficial presentation and commentary on certain Leninist positions. With his participation, Lenin and Krupskaya’s works on library science were collected and published. At the same time, his worldview was characterized by a dogmatic attitude to Marxism and its methodology, an unconditional adherence to the leading quote, and a non-critical attitude to the statements of the classics of Marxism-Leninism. The Marxist-Leninist doctrine of culture and the library heritage of Lenin and Krupskaya served as a theory in Abramov’s works; the dominance of historical and pedagogical research, which is characterized by following the official interpretation of certain events, simplified presentation of historical processes and events, unambiguity of author’s judgments and assessments, avoiding halftones, exalting achievements while concealing mistakes and failures.

The analysis also showed that in the 1990s, under the influence of socio-political changes and rejection of Marxism-Leninism, Abramov revised his attitude to the history of Soviet library construction. He began to focus on the theory of democracy, in the context of which libraries were seen as a vehicle for democracy, and the leading role in library construction was given to the public library movement. He puts forward the concept of democratic library science, which was formed in the period between the February and October revolutions and was rejected by the Bolsheviks.

The significance of this study is associated with the generalization of Abramov’s methodological heritage aimed at developing the positive aspects of his methodology, as well as overcoming methodologically incorrect judgments about the history of Soviet library construction.

The article discusses the use of digital platforms, consortiums, collaborative online catalogues that have substantially transformed the Indian agricultural libraries and are playing a significant role in research support in digital environment. It describes the use of CeRA (Consortium for e-Resources in Agriculture) online platform in Pantvarsity for the five years. It is shown that the use of these e-resources by the academic community of the university has a declining trend. The analysis has revealed that while research information available through the platform is highly valued in the university system, many patrons including students and faculties both are not largely dependent only on the consortium resources, and are likely be comfortable with other easily available open access research materials over the web, repositories or print journals and digital repositories. The author suggests that librarians should create greater awareness about the consortium resources, identify barriers, faced by the academic community in accessing these resources for fruitful utilization of this platform.

The key task of each library is to ensure its high performance. Under the conditions of limited economic resources, the rational use, first of all, of labor resources, is of particular importance. The study of the working time of library specialists allows the solvation of a set of issues related to the organization and rationing of their work. However, this type of research is conducted in libraries rather rarely. Problems of studying the working hours of specialists and employees remain without due attention. The existing methods have been developed and are intended primarily for industrial production and the study of workers’ labor. Libraries have to adapt them basing on their goals, tasks, and capabilities. The purpose of the article is to present the results of the development and testing of an original methodology to study the expenditures of working time of specialists in order to normalize labor in the Far Eastern state research library (DVGNB).

The author compares the methods of data obtaining, evaluates the possibility of using different types of observation in library, and justifies the choice of the photo-timing method. The main attention is paid to the technology of observation. The main points of the preparatory stage are described in detail and that of processing the obtained data. As a result, the methodology to study the expenditures of working time and labor processes is tested, and it can be used in library practice to determine the structure of production activities and time for their implementation, to rationalize techniques and methods of work, to identify reasons for non-compliance of targets, unsustainable expenditures and loss of working time, to determine quantitative characteristics of personnel potential, etc.

An ex-libris (a bookplate) is a valuable historical and cultural information resource. It helps to determine the ownership of a book in a particular collection, allows the understanding the history of existence of a copy that had several owners, and clarification the degree of its uniqueness. The purpose of the article is to analyze the bookplates available on the book rarities of the first quarter of the XIX century from the collection of the research library of Ulyanovsk State Pedagogical University named after I. N. Ulyanov. By means of the identification of book signs, the belonging of rare publications to private collections and the peculiarities of existence of each particular copy in the history of national culture are established. In particular, one of the books belonging to the lost Usolskaya library of count V. P. Orlov-Davydov, dispersed among the libraries of the country and reconstructed by specialists, was identified. Two other books were the part of private libraries of historical figures who were in fairly close relations with prominent figures of Russian literature (the poet M. Yu. Lermontov) and science (the inventor of radio A. S. Popov). The results of the research can expand the understanding of the uniqueness of rare copies of Russian and foreign publications from the Fund of the research library of the Ulyanovsk State Pedagogical University, such as” Selected spiritual works of Fenelon, Archbishop of Cambrai” (1820–1821), “Nouveau dictionnaire géographique universel” (New dictionary of geographical names) by Jacques McCarthy (1824) and «Histoire de France» (History of France) by Louis-Philippe Segur.

Russian scientific organizations rating system introduction at the state level makes the use of scientometric indicators necessary. This article is devoted to the problems of analysis and improving the scientific activities effectiveness of the organization. The aim of this work is to present the bibliometric analysis results of the research activities of the Fiber Optics Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences (FORC RAS). The assessment of the contribution of the FORC RAS to the development of fiber optics as a scientific field is given. The main scientometric indicators were studied: publication activity, the total number of scientific papers citations and normalized citation, the number of the most highly cited articles, Hirsch indices. The comparison of bibliometric indicators of the FORC RAS with other Russian scientific organizations working in the fiber optics field was carried out. The performed analysis is relevant both to characterize the FORC RAS activities and to choose the library activity direction. The methodological approach is based on the application of mathematical, bibliographic and bibliometric research methods. The analysis was carried out using the Russian Science Citation Index (RSCI), scientometric databases Web of Science and Scopus, as well as the InCites analytical tool. The relationship between meeting the needs for scientific information of scientists and increasing the efficiency and success of research activities of a scientific organization is shown. The main source of information at the present stage is the access of research organizations to the scientific electronic resources of leading world publishers. In this work, the authors conclude that new forms of library work, consisting in creating your own information resource “Fiber Optics Information System”, which contains both an electronic library of publications in this subject area, and complete information about the work of employees, are very promising.

The article analyzes the changes in the bibliometric characteristics of the array of Russian publications reflected in the Web of Science Core Collection (WoS CC database) in the field of physics in 2018, compared to the same characteristics in 2010. The main parameter to assess the quality (research level) of arrays with bibliometric point of view was “Comprehensive index of quality” (CIQ) for the array of publications, calculated on the basis of one of the parameters in “Method for calculating the qualitative indicator of the state task “the Comprehensive performance score publication”...”, used by the Ministry of science and higher education of the Russian Federation. It was found that with an almost twofold increase in the volume of the array, there was a slight decrease in its quality in terms of CIQ in 2018 in comparison with 2010. The author also compared the characteristics of the array of Russian publications in 2018 with similar ones of the arrays on physical publications in Germany, India and Great Britain, located close to Russia in the ranking by the number of publications included in the WoS array (in this ranking, Russia was on the fourth place in 2018). In the ranking based on the CIQ indicator, the arrays of these countries are significantly ahead of the Russian one, and our country is only on the sixth place. The main reasons for this lag in the Russian publications array are identified. They are: a lower percentage of Russian publications in high-quartile journals and a greater number of publications from conference proceedings. The conclusion is made about the applicability of bibliometric analysis to identify trends in publishing activities in the scientific field.

The main theme of the 85th IFLA World Congress – the International Federation of Library Organizations and Institutions, which was held in Athens, Greece in 2019, was "Libraries: A Dialogue for Change". Once again, the congress brought together professionals from many countries of the world to solve the problems facing libraries of various forms. Their solution is achieved by developing common approaches to challenges at the global level (projects “Global Vision”, “Library Map of the World”, etc.), sharing best practices and methods, innovative forms of user service and resources generating. The purpose of this review is to present keynote reports delivered at the IFLA World Congress in 2019 on global trends in the development of research libraries. The selection of the reports was carried out by expert evaluation by the author, as well as some materials published on the Congress website. As a result, it was determined that libraries choose various ways and new methods of work to support researchers: by analyzing user needs; integrating librarians into the research life cycle; implementing the principles of open science and open access; developing discovery services and expanding the functionality of information resources; using artificial intelligence technologies, augmented and virtual reality, etc. This allows the creation of popular research support services, improving the quality of services, expanding the repertoire of information resources / products and services provided, modernize traditional forms and methods of work, and fully satisfy the information needs of users.

The problem that patrons frequently encounter with searching via a discovery layer linked to a knowledgebase is the overwhelming number of hits. Few if any research or discussion compares how libraries resolve this difficulty. To begin a discussion, the author disseminated an open invitation for academic libraries to participate on three panels from October 2018 to June 2019 to discuss their implementation processes and decisions. Five academic libraries accepted the invitation. This paper reviews the approaches of the five American academic library systems with the intent to encourage further examination of the issues of design, implementation, and maintenance of discovery layers. The conclusions reached point to the evolving nature of discovery layer interfaces and the struggle for libraries to adapt their needs to this still changing product type. Within this group, the larger institutions with more financial and staff resources have designed a ‘’bento box’’ interface with open source software, while the other institutions with lesser means have chosen to create different instances of their subscribed proprietary discovery layers to meet their specific institutional demands and the specific needs of their patrons. A statistically relevant examination with rigorous comparison of usability testing would have to be done to see how these and other factors play out in the wider field.

The mobile technology gained widespread use and became an essential part of all advanced industries over the past decade. Libraries also cannot ignore them, so mobile library applications have become one of the most relevant technological innovations in library activities. Now more and more libraries offer their websites in the mobile version. However, the capabilities of library mobile applications are not limited to providing access to basic services on the library website. The aim of the article is to analyse the functionality of specially developed applications of the Bavarian State Library (FRG), which are aimed at solving specific tasks. On the basis of a wide range of domestic and mainly German sources (articles, monographs, web resources), the author analyses the aspects of using the four mobile applications in the practice of one of the largest German libraries. It is shown that mobile applications can help to reveal unique publications stored in special collections of the library. It is noted that mobile application can be a navigator in a multi-storey library building with a developed infrastructure. The author stresses that the above tasks are achieved due to the extended functionality of the applications: user geolocation, augmented reality, effective reading modes as well as Bluetooth data transfer technology. For the first time, the author considers the mobile applications used in German library practice, which are aimed at meeting special needs of users (study of topography of the region, acquaintance with works of cultural and artistic value, navigation inside the library building). The analysed tendencies of use of the mobile applications can be of interest also for domestic libraries which strive to increase efficiency of work through implementation of mobile technology.