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

1. The Origin of Soviet Education for Librarianship: The Role of 3 Women Dr. John V. Richardson Jr. JELIS 41 (Spring 2000): 106-128

2. 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.

3. 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

4. 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

5. Early Krupskaya Photo

6. Krupskaya’s Life Work • Focus on popular education • Influenced by Pestalozzi’s intellectual-moral-physical education • Deputy in the Russian Ministry of Education • “On Organizing Librarianship” (1918) • Died on her birthday in 1939

7. Khavkina (1871-1949) • Born in Ukraine • Served as the Librarian of her hometown • Wrote 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

8. 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

9. Derman (1882-1954) • Born in Riga, later Latvia • Graduated 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

10. 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”

11. 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…”

12. 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

13. 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)

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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)

18. 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)

19. 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

20. An Ideal System • “A Library Seminary” (Krupskaya, 1918) • Two year program • First year: • read 20-30 books • attend evening courses • written exam on theoretical questions • Second year: • work in library • oral report

21. 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

22. 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)

23. 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

24. More Conclusions • Striking parallels between US and Russia • quality of instruction, social science method, and discussions of worthwhile research • Differences: • 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.

25. Even More Conclusions • Reading and its fundamental importance • quality of books read, open access to literature (Khavkina) and subject cataloging (Derman)

26. 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.