On textbook availability for students (by materials of Tomsk newspapers and periodicals of the early 20th century)

Three higher education institutions in Tomsk in the early 20th century contributed to the formation of a new social and cultural environment in Siberia, in which students had their own niche with their readers' needs and interests. Availability of textbooks was a necessary condition for the educational process. State contributions to the creation of student libraries and charitable assistance of private companies and individuals could not fully satisfy the needs in textbooks. To solve this problem, students established their own libraries in community centres, students' scientific societies and clubs. But students' public libraries solved the problem of book provision only partially, in most cases students bought textbooks for personal use. Despite the abundance of bookstores and second-hand bookshops, to eliminate the shortage of this type of publications in Tomsk was not easy. It was not always possible to buy the required textbooks, or they were too expensive. In order to reduce the cost of textbooks bookstores were organized for student societies and clubs, where books were sold on preferential terms. Most successful were business activities of the Student Technical Workshop, which established the delivery of goods to their bookstore directly from the publishers. But for sales and middleman operations the student bookstore engaged in publishing lectures. The development of the printing industry allowed replicating lecture notes read in higher schools quickly and inexpensively. Lithography was most widely used for replication, an analogue of modern photocopying. Student libraries, book selling and publishing shops intertwined and complemented each other. Thus, we see that private and public initiatives of students played a decisive role in book provision for the educational process in higher education at the beginning of the 20th century. In order to be less dependent on someone's charity, students were more likely to use such forms as self-taxation, self-help and mutual aid. Tomsk students were a new social stratum, which not only shaped the new reader needs, but also attempted to satisfy them. Student libraries made Tomsk library life more diverse, complete, and universal. Students did not just found their niche in the Tomsk book publishing and book trade, but also partly influenced the creation of the local choice, significantly expanding its subjects, and contributed to the development of such a segment of the printing industry in Tomsk as lithography.

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