The value of the library for modern society

The library is one of the most ancient cultural institutions. Throughout human history, its basic functions have undergone tremendous changes. The main purpose of the first libraries was the storage of documents. From the time of its appearance to the present, the library has passed its first stage of development. The modern library is a social institution that includes informational and cultural components. In addition, she is engaged in ensuring sustainable ties and relationships within the whole society.

The main goal of libraries today is increasingly developing as the provision of free and permanent access to a wide variety of information and the preservation of its sources. A librarian today is called not just a keeper of books, but an information specialist in the field of a huge amount of the most diverse information.

The modern library is not just a book depository, but also a kind of electronic archive. In addition, the library is the only place on earth that provides access to information both in traditional media and in electronic form. Online service to library users who are located remotely, as well as providing information from remote sources, is the norm in Western libraries today.

Library as a social institution

The concept of a social institution today has two meanings:

• According to a more detailed meaning, a social institution is a historically established, as well as a stable form of organizing the joint activities of people.
• In a narrower sense, a social institution is an organized system of social ties and norms, which is aimed at meeting the main needs of society, social groups, and the personality of each person.

Modern social institutions are engaged in ensuring such cultural and educational work, the results of which will eventually reveal completely new models of social action.

Due to the fact that the library is a very permanent form of organizing social life, it is concerned with ensuring the constancy of ties and relationships within society. Based on this, the library, of course, is a social institution.

Today it is impossible to imagine any structure of society that could function without relying on the library. This can explain the rather large variety of types of libraries that serve all social and demographic strata of society, without exception, from preschoolers to pensioners.

As practice shows, the modern task of libraries is due to the increasing role of information and knowledge, which are at the heart of social development.

So, the library as a social institution is engaged in the implementation of such tasks as:

1. Facilitating the circulation and formation of the knowledge accumulated by mankind by providing free and permanent access.
2. Preservation of documented knowledge that is in the public domain.

The tasks of the library are carried out in certain social functions. The functions of the library are a generalized list of the library's obligations to society, which are dictated by it, necessary for it, and also have a certain impact on it.

Remark 1

The functions of the library are a kind of response of the library to the needs of society, as well as a certain way of interacting with the external environment. They contribute to the resolution of contradictions with the environment, and are also a method of adaptation to it.

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The origin of the library

Man is a social being. He lives in society and implements not only the genetic program received from his parents, but also the social program that society has shaped. In the structure of an individual's needs, natural and social are inextricably linked, because a person is not only a representative of one of the biological species, but also a member of society.

Each individual is a biological organism, and this is what determines his initial requirements for the presence of certain conditions of the external environment, which provides him with water, food, heat.

Satisfaction of biological needs creates the prerequisites for the development of more complex - social. They depend on the state of the economy and the culture of society, as well as on the specific features of the individual's activities.

The history of mankind is the history of the development of the needs of the individual, the creation of material means and ways to satisfy them. At first, only biological needs were met. Further, qualitatively new needs arise - social ones. The ability to expand the range of needs and to generate new ones acts as the basis for the development of civilization.

Along with the evolution of society, the forms of joint labor and joint protection of interests become more complex and enriched. Human needs become social not only in the sense that they are satisfied with the help of means created by the efforts of many people, but also in the sense that the very process of satisfying them is possible only in the conditions of human community. On this basis, social needs develop in communication, recognition, self-respect, in the organization of joint actions.

The nature of needs and ways of satisfying them are historical phenomena and depend on the level of culture of society. The source of the development of the needs of the individual is the interdependence between the production and consumption of material and spiritual goods. Material needs include those related to the biological functions of the body. Spiritual needs are, first of all, the desire to become familiar with science, art, and philosophy.

In the circle of interests of the individual, there is necessarily an information component, because All living things need information. A significant part of scientists associate the information need primarily with the need to obtain scientific or other special information.

Information is necessary for a person to use it in further activities. Satisfaction of even the simplest needs both at the initial stages of human development and in modern society is always associated with information.

The most ancient and basic way of obtaining information is to observe the surrounding world. The information obtained in this way may be sufficient to carry out activities to satisfy the need. However, if it is not enough or obtaining information is difficult for some reason, then the subject may refuse to achieve the goal, or continue the search in another way, for example, by communicating with other individuals.

Personal communication is the oldest and most common way of transmitting information. If the information received is sufficient, then the subject will begin to carry out activities to satisfy the need. With its lack, the subject can turn to artificially created information systems. The emergence and development of information systems is directly related to the improvement of pre-existing and the emergence of new activities. The growing information needs served as the basis for the emergence of a new type of activity - information, one of the components of which is the library. Mankind has long created public institutions that collected, stored and distributed various types of documents.

Libraries collect, store and make available to users documents that store information. This information is the basis for the development of education, science, culture, and industrial production. The creation of libraries is caused by the constant increase in the amount of information in society that a person needs for various activities.

The reason for the creation of the library as a social institution was the need for information for the implementation of various activities.

The essence of the library

Despite numerous studies, library scientists have not come to a general conclusion about the essence of the library. As a result, the number of definitions of the term "library" in the late XX - early XXI century. Not only did it not decrease, but, on the contrary, it increased.

Initially, when defining a library, the emphasis was on the architectural aspect, on the idea of ​​preserving books, because the word "library" in Greek means a book depository. The definition of a library as a book depository remained until the 1930s, and in some cases until the 1950s.

Since the end of the 18th century, a library has also been understood as a collection of books. For the first time in Russian library science, this understanding of the library was recorded in 1785. The understanding of the library as an ordered, systematized collection of books has survived to this day and is reflected in a number of international and national documents.

Starting from the middle of the 20th century, in the professional consciousness, the idea of ​​the library as an architectural structure and collection of books began to be replaced by the idea of ​​the library as an institution. This understanding of the library is reflected in professional, educational and reference publications. However, the type of institution and the direction of its activities were not unambiguously determined by specialists. Most often, the library was called an educational, cultural, educational, ideological institution. The authors of the terminological standard defined the library as an ideological, cultural, educational and information institution. This definition of a library became widespread and was legally fixed in a more precise form in the regulation "On librarianship in the USSR" and the terminological dictionary, where the library was defined as "an ideological, cultural, educational and scientific information institution" (Regulations on librarianship in the USSR: Approved by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the USSR on March 13, 1984 // Guiding materials on library science: Reference - M., 1988. - P.9 - 20.). In the first half of the 80s, the library was classified as a cultural institution, performing ideological, educational, informational, educational and other functions. In the mid-1990s, the library was already defined as an information institution. This understanding of the library received official status and was recorded in a number of legal documents.

However, the definition of a library only as an institution does not fully cover the diversity of this phenomenon, because the library is also called the structural divisions of institutions, enterprises and organizations, personal collections of citizens. At the end of the 20th century, there were statements by experts that the library as an institution is a special case of the library, and quantitatively this part is the smallest. After all, a library is not only a separate institution, but also a complex of such institutions, and part of it, and a personal collection of documents, and a structural subdivision of organizations, enterprises, institutions.

Library - social institution

In the last decades of the twentieth century, a number of researchers (M. I. Akilina, N. V. Zhadko, S. V. Krasovsky, V. P. Leonov, R. S. Motulsky, E. T. Seliverstova, A. V. Sokolov, Yu. N. Stolyarov, V. R. Firsov and others) began to consider the library as a social institution. The library, being a relatively stable form of organizing social life, ensuring the stability of ties and relationships within society, can rightfully be defined as a social institution. The concept of "library - social institution" does not mean a separate library, but a set of provisions implemented in a variety of libraries of different types and types, functioning in different countries and at different times, including both as separate institutions and structural divisions of enterprises, organizations and institutions or private collections.

As a social institution, the library creates opportunities for members of society to satisfy their information needs through a set of documents accumulated in the funds, and also to use the information resources of other libraries and institutions for these purposes. At the same time, the information needs of users can be of the most diverse nature and relate to both different areas of professional activity and everyday life.

Providing its users with the information necessary for the implementation of various activities, the library thereby contributes to the development of industrial production, the growth of the material well-being of society. The information resources of libraries contribute to the development of philosophical, ideological, religious, and political currents; with their help, various trends in culture and art are formed and developed. By providing a variety of information to its users, the library regulates the actions of members of society within the framework of established social relations.

Accumulating information about all the achievements of society in its funds, the library ensures the progressive development of society, is the insurance belt that, during man-made accidents and social upheavals, allows society to maintain the necessary margin of safety and, after a certain time, restore production, social relations and reach a new level of social development. Thus, the library ensures the sustainability of public life.

The concentration in the library of information resources in various areas and types of activity makes it possible for a person to access its services throughout life - while studying at school and other educational institutions, in the process of professional activity, improving one's qualifications, raising and educating children, everyday activities, in the development and improvement of their hobbies, recreation and free time. By facilitating these activities, the library ensures the integration of the aspirations, actions and interests of individuals.

Having information resources of different orientations, the library among them contains documents that store the standards of the values ​​of society, formed at certain stages of its development. Based on the information recorded in such documents, the system of values ​​of society as a whole and the individual in particular is formed, and social control is exercised.

Consequently, the library has the main functions that a social institution performs:

creating opportunities for members of society to meet their needs and interests;

regulation of the actions of members of society within the framework of social relations;

ensuring the sustainability of public life;

promoting the integration of aspirations, actions and interests of individuals;

exercising social control.

The activity of any social institution is determined by a set of legal and social norms formed into a certain system. The library is one of the elements of society and is organically integrated into its socio-political, ideological and value structures. As a result of the centuries-old interaction between society and the library, the moral and legal foundations of its activities have been legitimized and formed into a sanctioned system. In each country, such a system is formed depending on the characteristics of the political system, national traditions and norms, and a number of other factors.

The basis of the system of legal and social norms regulating the activities of libraries in Belarus is the law of the Republic of Belarus "On librarianship", as well as the laws "On culture", "On the protection of historical and cultural heritage", "On informatization" and others. a system of by-laws, the most significant of which are collected in special collections. The system of national standards in the field of librarianship also began to take shape in the republic.

The library has legal and social norms, which gives grounds to assert that the library is a social institution. However, scientists have not come to a consensus on what kind of social institution it is.

At present, two approaches to considering the essence of the library as a social institution have been established: informational and cultural.

The library is one of the elements of the system for creating and disseminating information in society, and as a custodian and distributor of documents, an intermediary between the document and the consumer is directly involved in the process of meeting information needs and creating new information by the individual. The library also acts as a collective author, creating bibliographic, analytical, abstract and other types of information, which are subsequently drawn up in such types of documents as catalogues, file cabinets, electronic databases, independent publications - journals, collections, monographs, which makes it possible with good reason to classify the library as an informational social institution.

If culture is understood as the totality of mankind's achievements, i.e. everything that is created by mankind, the information stored in the library and reflecting all the activities of mankind is a reflection of its culture. Therefore, the library, as a result of human activity and as a keeper of information about the results of his activity, acts as a cultural social institution.

With this approach, in relation to the library, the concepts of "culture" and "information" seem to be synonymous: culture is everything that is created by man, and information is a reflection of everything that is created by man. In this regard, the discussion is about what kind of social institution the library is - cultural or informational. Loses its meaning. Considering this fact, as well as based on the fact that the library is included in different subsystems of society, it must be considered as an integrative social institution, including informational and cultural components.

Information carriers

The main purpose of the library is to meet the information needs of users. This goal of the activity is achieved through the collection and distribution of documents in space and time. The content of information to be disseminated, which humanity needs through documents, is universal in nature and relates to different fields of activity. Material carriers on which information is recorded have different forms, which are constantly changing and improving. However, neither the type of information nor the form of the document is considered as a limitation for inclusion in the library collection. this allows the library as a social institution since ancient times to collect documents of different form and content and, on their basis, satisfy the information needs associated with the development of science, education, industry, culture, enrichment of the spiritual and aesthetic values ​​of the individual and society.

Since any of the documents potentially today or in the future can be claimed by someone of their users, the library, as a global social institution, must store at least one copy of all documents, regardless of the place and time of their production. Therefore, its main tasks are the most complete collection and the longest storage of documents, regardless of their content and form, and ensuring free access for users to available documentary resources to meet their information needs. Due to the large and growing number of documents, it is still not possible to collect them within one institution. With the advent of new technical means that allow creating electronic documents and converting previously created documents on other media into electronic form and using electronic networks to combine the electronic potential of many libraries, while creating unhindered access to them by users from different points in space, the problem of a global global library has ceased. seem so fantastic.

The main criterion for selecting documents for the library fund is their social significance, which is determined by both the content and the form of the document. The significance of the same information can be assessed differently by the author and the user, since the information recorded in the document reflects the point of view of the author as an individual with certain ideological, moral and other views on life. Even during the creation of a document, the information recorded in it may no longer be of interest to the majority of the intended users of the author, or, conversely, meet the needs of a significant part of society. Over time, its importance may decrease or increase. Since a person is able to assess the significance of information from the point of view of one individual, group or society as a whole, it may be useful for other users who are in other conditions, another society or another time dimension.

The library treats the form of documents very pragmatically. However, in individual documents, especially in printed works of art, rare and early printed books and manuscripts, the form can act as a defining one and contain more important information than the content. In this case, the significance criterion is the material carrier from which the document is made, its circulation, format, printing design (font, chemical composition of paints, etc.).

Thus, the library allows concentrating at one point in space information recorded on various types of diachronic documents created in different places, at different times and by different authors, which greatly increased the potential of mankind to transmit information not only to contemporaries, but also to descendants.

New titles

In the 20th century, proposals appeared instead of the term "library" or, in parallel with it, to introduce such terms as "document library", "media library", "information library", "virtual library" into professional vocabulary. The terms "record library", "video library", "art library", "graph library" have become widespread. Their appearance is associated with the activation of the use of certain types of documents, technical means, or the clarification of the tasks of libraries.

In the foreign theory and practice of the last decades, the term "media library" has become widespread. An analysis of the publications of the creators of media libraries, specialists who have studied their activities, and a study of the functioning of some media libraries allow us to conclude that they do not carry out any type of activity that is not typical for libraries. And they have no fundamental differences from them. The composition of their funds and areas of activity allow us to assert that the best modern libraries, which collect documents of various forms and present them to users at a higher service level, are called the media library for advertising or other marketing reasons.

Music library, video library, art library - institutions specializing in the collection, storage and use, respectively, of audio and video documents, works of fine art. As a rule, they are structural subdivisions of libraries or other institutions, and they should be considered as one of the types of libraries.

In the specialized literature of recent years, the terms "digital library", "electronic library", "computer library", "hybrid library" are discussed. The term "virtual library" has received the greatest distribution. An analysis of publications on virtual libraries shows that most authors, speaking about a virtual document, virtual resources, most often associate these concepts with the use of geographically dispersed information resources in remote access mode using computer networks. Documents in the electronic library, as well as traditional documents, have their own specific location (servers that are material and located at a specific address).

Despite the difference in approaches, supporters of digital libraries do not separate them from traditional ones. Most specialists tend to consider digital libraries as part of libraries that currently exist and make them responsible for solving the tasks of selecting full texts of books from the Internet, rewriting them on their servers, organizing eternal storage and providing access to readers, insisting that the situation cannot be allowed when an organization outside the library world does it.

A hybrid library is a library that has in its collection documents on various media located in different places.

But regardless of what the library will be called and on what documents the information will be stored, the library will exist until humanity no longer needs to store and transmit information.

In the modern social structure, there is a growing need for the institutionalization of communicative activity, which can induce, on the one hand, to personal self-determination (individual attitude to state and humanistic educational problems), on the other hand, to the formation of public opinion, cultural policy aimed at identifying true interests and human needs. Modern society needs to develop and use ways of non-technical realization of the creative abilities of people, their spiritual potential, the implementation of "collective interests" and "collective ideas" about enduring human values: freedom, democracy, civil and political rights, social contract, justice of the social order, etc. .d.

Social institutions must ensure the development of such cultural and educational work, the results of which will ultimately determine new models of social action.

The library, being a relatively stable form of organizing social life, ensuring the stability of ties and relationships within society, can rightfully be defined as a social institution.

It is difficult to imagine any structure of society that could function without relying on the library. This explains the exceptionally wide variety of types of libraries that serve all socio-demographic strata of society without exception - from preschoolers to pensioners, representatives of all professions and occupations.

The term "library" comes from the Greek word "biblioth3kz", where "biblion" means "book" and "th3kz" ? "storage". Its content was interpreted by representatives of different schools and epochs far from unambiguously and changed along with the change in ideas about the place and role of the library in the life of society. In different languages, this word means the same thing: a book house, a book warehouse, a book depository, a house for books, etc., and reflects the most ancient idea of ​​the essence and social purpose of a library: the preservation of books.

The purpose of the first libraries and their first mission was to store documented knowledge. The first libraries were treasury repositories for the most part of a closed type, since the collections of books that existed in them had a material and valuable value. Since the 19th century, its mission has been replenished with a new purpose - the enlightenment of the people. As human society developed, the process of institutionalization of the library took place: by the middle of the 20th century, it had turned into an integrative social institution, including informational and cultural components. Scientific, technical, environmental, cultural changes, global crisis phenomena of the XX century led to the further evolution of the library.

The application of the phenomenological approach makes it possible to identify the socio-cultural changes taking place with the library in the context of building a knowledge society. In the most general sense, this approach is a methodological position, a descriptive method that allows you to draw an object through direct knowledge, “direct perception of the truth in the values ​​of a “concrete life”.

An analysis of practice leads to the conclusion that the modern mission of libraries is dictated by the increasing importance of information and knowledge as a catalyst for social development.1 It has several aspects:

promoting the circulation and development of the knowledge accumulated by mankind by providing free access to it;

preservation of documented knowledge as a public domain.

The mission of the library is implemented in specific social functions, so its transformation has led to a change in the social functions of the library. The social functions of the library are a generalized list of the library's obligations to society, which are dictated by it, necessary for it, directly or indirectly affect it and correspond to the essence of the library as a social institution.2

Social (external) functions, which are the library's response to the needs of society, a way of interacting with the external environment, are considered as a means of adapting an element to a higher order system. “They contribute to the resolution of contradictions with the environment, serve as a means of adaptation to it. In the course of this resolution, any social system not only reproduces itself as a whole, but also constantly develops, and this is precisely the essence of the functioning of the library as a social institution.”3

The social functions of a modern library are determined by its essential features as a cultural institution, which are manifested in the preservation and transmission of documented knowledge that ensures sustainable social development, including social norms and cultural values ​​that stabilize society. However, they are dynamic in nature: the degree of their development and filling with specific content, the priority of individual of them in specific historical periods of time are different. Without changing the name, the functions change their content depending on what social role society assigns to them. These functions are memorial, communication, information, educational, socializing and cultural.

The memorial function is a generic library function. The collection and storage of documents that record the knowledge accumulated by mankind, samples and values ​​of world, national and local culture has been and remains the social purpose of the library. The library stores public knowledge, objectified in specific documents as the primary elements of information and knowledge resources, which, in turn, are elements of the modern information space.

In the funds of many modern libraries, in addition to books, works of art are stored: paintings and engravings, posters and postcards, gramophone records, cassettes and disks with recordings of works of literature, music and cinema. Rare and valuable handwritten and printed books, which are the pride of library collections - book monuments are objects of cultural heritage. The unique collections of regional and national libraries around the world are also among the objects of cultural heritage.

Collecting and preserving documentary sources that recorded the spiritual achievements of human civilization, examples of social practices, the library is the embodiment of the "memory of mankind". Providing continuous quantitative accumulation of information, the library serves as a guarantor of the emergence of new qualities of social memory.

The library allows society to maintain the necessary margin of safety during man-made accidents and social upheavals in order to restore production, social relations and reach a new level of social development after a certain time. Thus, the library ensures the sustainability of public life.

At the same time, the library does not turn into an archive or a warehouse of disparate information. Carrying out the systematization, storage and dissemination of cultural heritage, it organizes navigation in the world of culture, in the world of information and knowledge.4

The peculiarity of the implementation of the memorial function is that the library preserves knowledge and culture in the most convenient form for perception, distribution and use. Any library not only takes care of the safety of documents, but also provides access to them. The modern library solves this contradictory task by creating metadata, exposing its collections, transferring the stored documented knowledge to other formats and media.

As part of the memorial function, the modern library collects and stores electronic documents. In a situation of uncontrolled and uncontrolled flow of unsystematized information, especially electronic information, it acts as an institution that ensures the preservation and circulation of knowledge, guaranteeing compliance with long-term standards of electronic publications and maintaining the stability of the electronic environment. The library becomes the basic structural component of the virtual environment, which has stability, unambiguous identification, provides legal regulation regarding the access to information resources.

The implementation of the memorial function is subordinated to the implementation of the communicative function by the library. As part of the communication function, the library organizes the interaction of a person with the social memory of all mankind, transferring to him for use all the public cultural heritage accumulated by civilization. The library is included in a complex system of social communication, "ensuring the creation, processing, storage and distribution of documented texts for public use."

A modern library creates opportunities for members of society to satisfy their information and knowledge needs through a set of documents accumulated in the funds, as well as to use the information resources of other libraries and institutions for these purposes. At the same time, it should be noted that the information needs of users can be of the most diverse nature and relate to both different areas of professional activity and everyday life.

By organizing access to the knowledge necessary for various activities, the library thereby contributes to the growth of the material well-being of society. The information and knowledge resources of libraries are the basis for the development of philosophical, ideological, religious, political currents; with their help, various trends in culture and art are formed and developed. By providing a variety of information to its users, the library helps to regulate the actions of members of society within the framework of established social relations. By facilitating a variety of human activities, the library ensures the integration of human aspirations, actions and interests.

Organizing access to documents that store the standards of human values ​​that ensure the sustainable development of society, its humanistic nature, the library contributes to the formation of the value system of society in general and the individual in particular.

The desire of a modern library to provide equal and free access to socially significant information and knowledge contributes to the establishment of social justice, reducing social tension in society. consumption of information by different categories of the population.

The modern library aims to satisfy the real problems and requests of its users. Modern library services are focused on the individual, his dynamically changing needs, based on equal cooperation between a library specialist and a user.

Modern library practice has accumulated a rich arsenal of forms and methods of individual work with users and satisfaction of their needs. Being a specific social institution, the library focuses on the values ​​of each of its real and potential users, becomes a translator of these values ​​for other individuals, social groups and humanity as a whole.

The modern library emphasizes the principle of equality for all users. Especially important in this regard is the activity of public libraries that preserve and transmit cultural heritage to everyone, regardless of age, social status, race, nationality, religion, place of residence, gender, language and other differentiating features. It contributes not to the division, but to the consolidation of society, provides users with a starting minimum of information so that they can navigate in society and adapt to it. Thus, it softens social conflicts, contributes to the comprehensive development of users.

The library plays an important role as a public "place". It not only allows people to enter into informal contacts, provides an opportunity for comfortable communication with other people, but also becomes a “recreation corner” where you can hide from the pressure of the technological world. In this case, the library performs the social function of the “third place”, i.e. a place where a person feels protected (it is assumed that the first two such places are home and work).

The modern library is an institution for the consolidation of society. By providing opportunities for public meetings, organizing access to existing information networks, allowing each citizen to interact with the media, local and federal authorities, social services, state and private enterprises, the library creates conditions for virtual and real collective communications. The library becomes the center of social life, "a meaningful element of the socio-cultural infrastructure."

The communication function is closely intertwined with the information function, which involves the very process of transmitting information, i.e., the process of communication. At the same time, the concept of "communication" in the context of considering the institutional qualities of the library serves to a greater extent to determine the principles of social interaction, rather than the ways of its organization. At the same time, the information function accompanies all processes related to accessing the content of a document, permeates all elements of library work, since any action that includes working with documents at the level of its content, semantics, involves highlighting its meaning, creating transformed information, metaknowledge.

Technical and technological modernization ensured the strengthening of the information function of the modern library. The library becomes a full-fledged subject of the information space. It collects and stores documented information and knowledge, participates in the formation of the documentary flow and conducts its analytical and synthetic processing, systematizes and evaluates information and knowledge resources. Carrying out the systematization and cataloging of documents, reference and bibliographic services, the library creates the basis for many modern information and knowledge processes.

The peculiarity of the information function of a modern library is that it is implemented in close cooperation with other subjects of the information process, using various channels for disseminating information. The library is actively involved in the evaluation, interpretation and filtering of information, in establishing certain links between information arrays in order to provide users with access to a wide range of sources of knowledge and socially significant information.

Until recently, the library was determined by the physical space it occupies, the documentary funds it has, and the circle of people involved in it. The document collections were organized in the library space in such a way that the user could easily locate a particular storage unit, although this gave rise to certain inconveniences associated with thematic or other principles of storage organization. The researcher had to know the library well, "get used to it" in order to take full advantage of its complex hierarchical structure.

The modern paradigm of library services is based not only on the use of the collection of documents of a particular library, it involves the use of fundamentally new opportunities for accessing information, regardless of the time and location of both the document and the user. To meet the information, educational, cultural needs of its users, the library makes available documented knowledge and information not only stored in its collection or on the hard drives of its servers.

The modern library destroys its physical boundaries, moves from the real space to the virtual one. On the one hand, it offers access to information resources belonging to other subjects of the information space, including those presented on the Internet. On the other hand, it creates electronic information resources (databases, collections of digitized documents, websites and web portals) available outside its physical walls. Finally, the library provides virtual services for finding information and necessary knowledge.

Library virtualization occurs with the active development of network interaction between libraries. The history of the creation of library networks spans decades. In Russia, the first networks of libraries appeared at the beginning of the 20th century. The most striking examples of library networks are centralized library networks, formed in the late 70s of the twentieth century on the principles of administrative command management, and the interlibrary loan system. The system of methodological guidance and intrasystem book exchange was based on the principles of network interaction, the activities of territorial library associations, interdepartmental library commissions were carried out.

One of the classics of the theory of library network interaction J. Becker gave the following definition of a library network. It is a formal association "...two or more libraries for the exchange of information based on common standards and using communication tools, while pursuing functionally interrelated goals."7

Today, in the changed socio-economic conditions, a huge number of library networks are being created and operate, built on the principles of voluntary and active participation, the establishment of mutually beneficial and partnership relations. The goals of library interaction are the creation, accumulation and use of documented knowledge and socially significant information.

In the context of the growing intensity of the information and knowledge flow, the expansion of the availability of its constituent resources, the implementation of communication and information functions is impossible without the development of the cognitive activity of a modern library, which previously had an auxiliary character. The library is no longer a passive information intermediary, it is turning into one of the most productive and massive knowledge management systems.

It has such attributes of the sphere of knowledge as constant structuring, changing contexts, filtering and targeted thematization, translation and processing. The library provides ample opportunities for accessing the collective memory, removing the opposition of external and internal knowledge. The library creates special "meta-tools" with the help of which it manages knowledge arrays. Among them are systems of cataloging and classification, bibliography, methods of monitoring the knowledge needs of individual users, social groups, and society as a whole. By systematizing knowledge, highlighting its fragmentary and global levels, the library provides objectivity and depth of knowledge of the surrounding world. The development of the cognitive function of the library is the key to the demand for the social institution of the library in the knowledge society.

The modern library overcomes the boundaries of information and communication functions and takes on the role of another communication institution - the institution of education. The educational function of the library includes a set of activities aimed at ensuring the spiritual reproduction of society. The modern library participates in the process of education both in a broad sense (transmitting cultural norms and values ​​to current and future generations) and in a narrow sense (providing information support for an individual's education). Providing the unity of general (general cultural) and special (professional) education, the library contributes to the formation of a socially competent person. “Such a person adequately perceives the intended purpose of social institutions and trends in their development. It is capable of mastering developing technologies in the system of organization and management, i.e. able to be a conscious subject of social processes”8.

Performing an educational function, the library has always been one of the universal ways of learning. Universality is expressed in the stratification of social needs and levels of cognitive tasks solved by the library, for example: the initial elimination of illiteracy in general or in some particular field of knowledge, self-education or research work, etc.

Without referring to already known texts, knowledge in general in any science, art, religion is practically impossible. After all, it is only by identifying the corresponding differences that it is possible to separate the elements of new knowledge from the old, known. The library mediates the appeal of the cognizing reader to the texts of another culture, language, history, society.

In addition, the library is associated with the knowledge of the production of a new text, discourse. From this point of view, it becomes an instrument of "cultural creativity": it teaches the search for and creation of new meanings. In this situation, the text is "a methodological field ... existing in the movement of discourse", crossing other works, a field permeated with quotations, references, echoes, the language of culture."

The library provides compensation for the gap in people's knowledge, constantly feeding them with information about the latest achievements of science, technology, and culture. That is why it is customary to consider libraries as the main base for continuous education and self-education.

The modern library makes an important contribution to the dissemination and enhancement of information culture, which, along with computer literacy, is becoming one of the most important conditions for human activity as a full-fledged member of modern and future society. The productivity of cognition largely depends on the skills of subject differentiation and concretization of knowledge by library means, including systematization. With the introduction of modern information technologies, the task of teaching users to understand and apply knowledge management methods, “filter” information, make their own individual critical choices becomes even more relevant, since most of them are not ready to work independently in an electronic information environment.

Activities aimed at the free spiritual development of readers, familiarization with the values ​​of national and world culture, creating conditions for cultural (reproductive and productive) activities constitute the cultural function of the library.

Being an integral and organic part of culture, acting as the greatest value of human culture, the library at the same time is one of the most important factors in cultural development, distribution, renewal and increment of the cultural heritage of countries and peoples. The role of the library is especially great in the cultural and reproductive activity of a person, ensuring the continuity of the world cultural heritage.

As a powerful and at the same time sensitive instrument of people's cultural and reproductive activities, the library contributes to the development of a common culture of users, introduces them to the most important achievements of national and world culture, introduces norms, traditions, cultural achievements into their consciousness, life, way of life.

The cultural function traditionally inherent in libraries in modern society is enhanced due to the greater (in the context of universal globalization) desire of each person and each community to self-identify and promote their own culture.

The library, through reading, contributes to the formation of a person as a cultural, educated personality, since it has the unique properties of creating an atmosphere of intellectual, moral, aesthetic quests and experiences under the influence of reading.

The library contributes to “the inclusion of a particular person in culture, acting as its repeater (through spiritual values ​​recorded in information sources).”9 This expresses its socializing function.

It should be noted that the library has a number of tangible advantages over some other social institutions involved in the process of socialization: its participation in this process has no restrictions on time and accessibility. The individual, realizing it or not realizing it, remains the object of socialization during the entire period while he visits libraries.

The term “library” comes from Gr., where “biblion” means book and “thēkē” means storage. It is known that bibs arose in ancient times. Initially, bib-koy was understood only as a room for storing books. The definition of bib-ki as a book depository survived until the 30s, and in some cases the 50s of the last century. Alexandrievskaya bib-ka was known. The transformation of the role of the library from a repository to an educational institution has been carried out throughout the centuries-old history of mankind. The educational or enlightening role of the bib-ka was due to the fact that for a long time, for many centuries, the bib-ka existed in organic unity with the educational institution. In the early Middle Ages, the bib-tech was located mainly in the institutions of the church. By the 12th-16th centuries, the volume of secular books increased in European bibs. With the change in the spiritual interests of society, the circle of readers of the library is expanding. These are already teachers and students, students. During the Renaissance in the 15th-17th centuries. with the development of bourgeois ideology, the educational role of the bib-ki intensifies. since the middle of the twentieth century. in the professional mind, the notion of the library as an architectural structure and collection of books began to be replaced by the idea of ​​the library as an institution. This understanding of the library is reflected in reference, educational and official publications. In the late 1960s, Yu.N. Stolyarov came to the conclusion that the library is a system consisting of four interrelated elements: the library fund, the contingent of subscribers, library staff and the material and technical base. The role of the library is changing, it is now does not just store many different documents - its main task is to help the reader find the answer to any question of interest with the help of literature. Thus, bib-ka arose due to the appearance of the document, and for a long time was its collector and custodian. With the development of human society, others have been added to this function, the library is turning into a social institution for organizing the public use of book wealth. As a social institution, the library creates opportunities for members of the society to satisfy their information needs through a set of documents accumulated in the funds, and also to use the information resources of other libraries and institutions for these purposes. Consequently, the bib-ke is inherent in the main functions that a social institution performs: − creation of opportunities to satisfy one's needs and interests; − regulation of actions within the framework of social relations; − ensuring the sustainability of public life; - promoting the integration of aspirations, actions and interests of individuals; - exercising social control. The activity of any social institution is determined by a set of legal and social norms. The library has all the attributes of a social institution. The specificity of the library in comparison with other cultural institutions lies in the fact that familiarization with culture occurs through documents that reflect and consolidate the elements of cultural reality. Bib-th model of culture - dock-th model. It is logical to single out the following four essential functions of a library as a social institution: 1. cumulation - collecting and storing documents and information about them; 2. classification - "folding" the documents into a fund, acting as a model of culture; 3. broadcast - providing subscribers with classified (that is, acting as certain parts of the culture model) documents and information about documents; 4. value orientation - hierarchization of model elements, highlighting values ​​and recommending them to subscribers Thus, it was the need for information for the implementation of various types of activities that served as the root cause of the creation of the library as a social institution, and the satisfaction of constantly growing and changing information needs became the main goal of its functioning.

The modern concept of the development of the library is reduced to the following functions: information is a set of its activities for information support of material and spiritual production. The implementation of the function is expressed through the satisfaction of the information needs of readers by offsetting the array of information accumulated in it. The non-historical derivative functions of the library include memorial, cumulative, utilitarian, communicative. The cumulative function is manifested in the fact that from the moment the library appeared, documentary sources of information have been collected, in each library work has been carried out on cumulation, i. collection of information. Memorial manifests itself in the fact that libraries keep the memory of mankind.