Reading room of architect V. I. Sobolshchikov of the Imperial Public Library

In November 1862, a great event took place in the Library - the fi rst in its history a special reading room for 250 seats was opened, built according to the project of V. I. Sobolshchikov and his assistant I. I. Gornostaev, laid down under the director M. A. Korf , but completed already in the directorship of I. D. Delyanov. The appearance in the Public Library of a new, spacious and comfortable hall for receiving visitors with a special study for artists and a room for ladies ushered in a new era. In the hall itself, a reference library of several thousand books was organized, and the supply of books from departments to the reading room was accelerated. In the reading room, instead of one general catalog for a subsidiary fund, there were seven printed systematic catalogs. The article recreates the history of the reading room in the pre-revolutionary period, provides information about its managers, gives a description of the organization of services for readers in it.