3 40-Richchia Zhovtnia Ave, 03039, Kyiv, Ukraine
Phone: (044) 525 8104; fax:
(044) 525 3398;
e-mail: nlu@csl.freenet.kiev.ua
http://www.nbuv.gov.ua
It is the principal library of the country and an integrated cultural centre of scholarly information and research. It was founded in 1918. The Library’s stock of 13.5 million items is a universal in its content and unique collection of information sources of all times. It carries out research into library, bibliography and book sciences; informatization; national bibliography and biography studies; documents and archival studies, scholarly description of manuscripts and old-print books; preservation, restoration and conservation of documents. The Library publishes works on the history of culture, national bibliography, manuscript and book heritage, book science, a series of indices, catalogues, collected academic works and such periodicals as «Bibliotechny Visnyk», «Ukraine: events, facts, commentaries», «Resonance». The Library has attained significant research results and has recognized schools in the following areas:
1) ‘Forming and Using Scholarly Information Resources. Library Informatization’: the projects are aimed at improving information resource formation and use, at library informatization and working out theoretical and applied fundamentals of transforming libraries into centres of global information and scholarly communications. A library information computer centre has been set up, integrating basic all-Ukraine document resources and providing their involvement into the world information space; a system for reviewing home academic literature has been developed, printed versions of the Ukrainian Abstract Review «Dzherelo» are issued quarterly, their electronic versions are presented in the Internet; electronic library resources are being formed.
2) ‘Creation of the National Bibliography. Ukrainian Biography Science’: An unprecedented National repertoire of printed materials is compiled; indices of the «National Bibliography of Ukraine» series are published; data banks of retrospective national bibliography and biography information are formed; works on editing and publishing biography materials of Ukrainian public figures, reference books, anthologies are carried out at present and those on issuing a many-volume Ukrainian Biographical Dictionary are planned for the future.
3) ‘New technologies in preservation, conservation and restoration of library stock’: Advanced technologies for conservation and restoration of books, manuscripts, sound materials are worked out; environmental and biological monitoring of library book-stock and documents is made; a book-copy fund is created.
4) ‘Studying, preserving and publishing the Ukrainian historic and cultural heritage’: Significant results have been obtained in developing theoretical basis of source-science studies, methods of archeographic description, in compiling archeographic registers of manuscript funds, library and historical collections. A series of academic reference books, catalogues, publications of manuscript and documentary heritage of luminaries of science and culture has been published.
The library proposes for cooperative upgrading:
models and technologies of creating an integrated (both conventional and software) information resource for preventing and alleviating the impacts of emergencies in libraries.