We continue to open archives and restore the history of our library’s formation year after year. Today, 1948 is next in line.
The fourth year of post-war recovery. The State Scientific Medical Library (SSML) was open seven days a week, operating within the library of the Minsk Medical Institute, in a space of just 18 square meters.
The staff consisted of nine people. Despite such a small number and extremely cramped working conditions, the volume of work they accomplished is striking.
Their main efforts were still focused on restoring the collection, processing materials, and developing the library’s reference and catalog system. As a result, by the end of the year the collection exceeded 32,000 items — twice the pre-war level!
At the same time, active efforts were made to promote the collection: lists of new arrivals were posted twice a month, and 29 book exhibitions were organized over the year.
By the end of 1948, the library had 485 registered readers, 70% of whom were researchers and physicians. Over the course of the year, they were issued more than 3,500 books and journals.
The tireless work of the SSML staff was repeatedly recognized at party and trade union meetings.
A remarkable event of the year was the establishment of the Library Council at the Minsk Medical Institute, chaired by Professor I. L. Tamarin and including V. I. Akkerman, P. Ya. Gerke, M. N. Shapiro, and other respected scholars. The Council addressed important issues of library operations, including the acquisition and use of foreign literature.
But the greatest achievement of 1948 was the long-awaited expansion of space. In December, the SSML received a 100-square-meter hall in the restored Anatomy Building of the Minsk Medical Institute — the very premises it had occupied before the war.
“The library staff enthusiastically embarked on the 1949 plan, striving, with improved working conditions, to raise the library’s activities to the proper level.”
To be continued…