At the origins

From the materials of the State Archive of the Tomsk region (fund P561, which contains various documents about the past of our university), the document “On the STRUCTURE of the TOMSK MEDICAL INSTITUTE ON 12/25/1935” states:
“8). The library of the Medical Institute is in the period of organization, the scientific consultant is Professor P.V. Kozhevnikov.”

In the staffing table of the TMI for 1935, the head of the library and 7 librarians of various qualifications are listed according to the positions of the educational and support staff.

The university’s 1936 report has already devoted 3 pages to the library’s work.

“… The scientific and educational library of TMI was organized at the end of 1935 (October 13) in the basement of the faculty clinics, where she worked during the spring semester of 1936. The room was extremely cramped and unsuitable. In September 1936, the library was moved to a new building on Leninsky Prospekt with good natural light, and in the evenings with artificial lighting and central heating. The entire second floor consists of 10 rooms, with an area of 500 sq. m. metre. I am currently busy with the library, but the rapid natural growth of the library makes this room insufficient and cramped…”

The library’s fund is based on books submitted by the departments of TMI, which received them in 1934 when they left TSU.

Thus, at the end of 1936, the library had 30,000 volumes, of which:
19626 – textbooks, 988 – fiction, 4350 – dissertations and monographs, the rest of the fund was journal and exchange (the library consisted in the exchange of books with many medical universities of the USSR).

The data from the report shows how the work has intensified:

“… during the fall semester of 1936, the library was visited by: subscription — 13,825 people (i.e., an average of 115 people per 1 day), reading room – 13,200 (an average of 110 people per 1 day).

“…Over the past year, the library has done a lot of work and is probably on the right track, being one of the main educational and support institutions with great prospects for further growth…”

The reports of the war years reflect the problems of the war years.
So in the report for 41-42 years in the section “Library personnel” it is written:

“…According to the staff, the library should have 10 employees… in fact, only 5 people work.
Salary of employees:
Junior librarian – 170 rubles.
Senior librarian – 250 rubles.
Bibliographer – 300 rubles. (data before the monetary reform of 1961).
In addition to salaries, employees are given 400 grams of bread and lunch.”

Nevertheless, the library in 1944 already has 130,000 printed units.

In the report for 1946-47, we read: “… the school year turned out to be very difficult. The winter was harsh and the temperature in the rooms fell to +2.0 C, the staff was freezing and sick, readers’ conferences and other events were not held…”, despite everything from the report it follows: 36714 people visited, 56446 books and magazines were issued.

You can see photos of these years here:

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