Russian and foreign classical literature in a Siberian village (based on survey of rural public libraries in Tomsk Province at the beginning of the 20th century)

Dissemination and existence of books in Siberia was significantly different from the experience in the European part of Russia, and in many ways dependent on public and private initiatives. For the promotion of books in the countryside known Siberian enlightener and bookseller P.I. Makushin established the Society to Promote the Rural Free Library Reading Rooms in Tomsk Province which opened about 600 free libraries in 1902-1919 and assumed responsibility for the formation of the reader demand in rural areas. Shaping the future of library funds and adding to the already open, the members of the society for the study of readers' needs frequently used questionnaires. The information on the most popular and unpopular books in the library profiles is best known for 1912 and 1915. Based on the questionnaire data, the regional specificity of the repertoire was determined: the lack of cheap popular literature and little demand for the literature of spiritual content in the public libraries of Tomsk Province. Questionnaires also indicated great interest of peasants to the classics. The writings by A.S. Pushkin, N.V. Gogol, I.S. Turgenev as well as stories and novels by L.N. Tolstoy and F.M. Dostoevsky were very popular. This explained the later opening of the libraries themselves, which occurred at the beginning of the 20th century. By this time, there had accumulated experience in publishing and distributing books for people. Major Russian publishers turned from popular cheap print (lubok-book) to better-quality literature. The book became available, cheap and varied. Increased interest in classical literature promoted the widespread development of school education. Readers of Siberian public libraries were mainly students mostly focused on secular books. Russian and foreign classics reading indicates awakening spiritual interests among peasants; rural readers were concerned about issues of not only practical, but also ideological character.

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