Odessa National Scientific Library invited ONMedU students to the Doors Open Day

September 30 marks the All-Ukrainian Day of Libraries. Odessa National Scientific Library has hospitably invited us to the Doors Open Day “Library is your fulcrum”, which will last from September 26 to 30, 2021.

Students of the 3rd group of the 2nd year medical faculty took advantage of the invitation and visited the library. It is worth noting that the first public library in Ukraine is not only the oldest, but also very progressive, aimed at the needs and interests of a modern person, including students. Students and teachers of the Department of Social Sciences of ONMedU were warmly welcomed and each was presented with a reader’s ticket. We had an interesting tour of the library.

The history of the library began in 1829, when the young promising city of Odessa celebrated its 35th anniversary. The opening of the library was made possible by the initiative of a circle of people close to the governor-general of the region, Count M.S. Vorontsov, in particular Alexei Irakliyovych Levshin – editor of the newspaper “Odessa Herald” (mayor of Odessa in 1831-1837). On September 13 (25), 1829, at the suggestion of Count Vorontsov, Emperor Nicholay I issued an order allowing the establishment of a city public library in Odessa. It was the second in the Russian Empire (after the Imperial in St. Petersburg) and the first public library in Ukraine.

Initially, rooms were allocated for the newly created library in the building of the city present places on Primorsky Boulevard. The opening of the library took place on April 15 (27), 1830.

In 1883, a separate building (now owned by the Archaeological Museum) was built for the Library and Museum of the Society of History and Antiquities, mainly at the expense of Mayor Hryhoriy Hryhorovych Marazli.

And in 1907 the library once again celebrated the housewarming – it moved to a building specially built for it, erected by the architect F.P. Nesturkh (Neshturkh) in 1904–1906, and which was one of the best examples of library architecture in the country.

There were many wonderful people in the life of the library who headed it at different times. These are historian Mykola Nikiforovych Murzakevich, professor Volodymyr Oleksiyovych Yakovlev, writer Mykhailo Feliksovych Deribas and his son, popular in Odessa writer-historian Oleksandr Mykhailovych Deribas, author of the book “Old Odessa”, who paid a lot of attention to the local history. ” Professor of Novorossiysk University Mykhailo Heorgiiovych Popruzhenko (author of the historical essay“ Odessa City Public Library. 1830–1910 ”) and others. All of them held a very honorable position in the city at that time, which was modestly called “librarian”.

It is also necessary to note the important role in the history of the library of the institute of guardianship, which was introduced in 1874. The trustees of the City Duma were: Baron A.F. Stuart, K.K. Sikard, V.I. Timonov, O.I. Kirpichnikov, honorary citizen of Odessa Count Mikhail Mikhailovich Tolstoy and others.

At different times, the readers of the Library were well-known figures of science and culture: D.I. Mendeleiev, I.I. Mechnikov, I.M. Sechenov, D.K. Zabolotnyi, M.F. Gamalia, V.P. Filatov, V. P. Glushko, M.F. Komarov, I. Karpenko-Karyi, P.I. Nishchinsky, O.I. Kuprin, I.O. Bunin, K. Chukovsky, O.I. Green and others.

The book collections of the library number more than 5,000,000 items and cover literature from all fields of knowledge. Historical and other local lore materials, in particular, the periodicals of the South of Ukraine, are of significant value. Valuable manuscripts of the 12th – 15th centuries, incunabula, old prints, etc. are kept in the department of rare editions and manuscripts.

Medical students are still waiting for “dolls” -mannequins to hone their skills in simulation laboratories at specialized departments, and today in the art department of ONSL they immersed themselves in the atmosphere of literary fantasies at the exhibition-installation “Fashion and Time”. And this was helped by charming handmade porcelain dolls in exquisite dresses – the heroines of famous novels and plays. Among the beauties: Margarita M. Bulgakova, Anna Karenina L. Tolstoy, Natalka Poltavka I. Kotlyarevsky, Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte and many others. Among the bright magazines and amazing publications on the history of fashion of different centuries lurked fragile beauties.

Afterwards, students took part in an interactive biblio-quest “Step by Step”. Teams of two or three players issued a scroll card. On each of the twelve questions-riddles, solving which you can find hidden throughout the library chairs with treasures (all twelve, not one of the twelve). There are treasures on each chair: an answer and a colored marker to mark the map. Having collected all the “treasures” and labels, everyone received a Library Connoisseur’s Certificate and a gift book.