Libraries of secular and theological educational institutions of Pereyaslav County, Poltava Governance in second half of 19th – beginning of 20th centuries (according to materials of resolutions and reports of the Zemstvo Assembly of Pereyaslav County and the Zemstvo Administration of Pereyaslav County)

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to research comprehensively activities of the libraries of educational institutions of the Pereyaslav County of the Poltava Governance in the second half of the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries, aimed at the development of public education and solving the problem of providing educational institutions with literature for study and extracurricular reading, which was one of the important aspects of school affairs on the basis of the analysis and theoretical generalization of the official documentation of the Pereyaslav Zemstvo. The methodological basis of the work is a systematic approach, the principles of a critical and structural-systemic approach to the source base. The work uses historicalcomparative, chronological and concrete-historical methods in their totality, as well  as special methods of source analysis of documents and materials. The scientific novelty of this work is defined by carrying out a complex scientific historical and library analysis of the activities of libraries at secular and theological educational institutions of the Pereyaslav County of the Poltava Governance in the second half of the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries. Conclusions. The analysis of resolutions, reports and some reference publications made it possible to establish that a wide network of libraries at secular and theological educational institutions functioned in the second half of the 19th –beginning of the 20th centuries. The number of student libraries grew in tandem with the development of the educational system, and they were created on the basis of the existing network of educational institutions. It is proved that innovations in the library system were initiated by the Zemstvo bodies during the reporting period of history, as well as other quantitative and qualitative changes in the school system. Educational institutions’ libraries were the most common ones compared to other types of libraries in the cultural and educational space of the region. Despite a number of disadvantages (inadequate funding, insufficient book fonds, limited with a catalog of permitted literature, organizational problems) libraries became a significant social and cultural phenomenon of public life in the county, and their activities had a positive effect on raising the educational and cultural level of the population.