Today, September 15, is Library Day in the Republic of Belarus. This is a professional holiday for everyone involved in preserving, systematizing, and disseminating knowledge. For the Scientific Library of BNTU, as for hundreds of libraries across the country, this is a special day: an opportunity to take stock, look back at the path taken, and look ahead to the future.
The history of the holiday
The history of librarianship in the Belarusian land dates back almost a thousand years. It began with monastic scriptoriums and the educational activities of Euphrosyne of Polotsk, and in the Renaissance reached the European level thanks to the legendary private collections of magnates, such as the Radziwill Library in Nesvizh.
In the 20th century, the library ceased to be the privilege of a select few. During the Soviet era, libraries were opened throughout the country, and in 1976, the first professional holiday was established — the All‑Union Library Day, which laid the foundation for the tradition of respecting the librarian profession.
An important milestone in the development of librarianship in Belarus was the creation of the National Library of Belarus on September 15, 1922. Initially, it was called the Belarusian State and University Library and was part of the Belarusian State University, but it performed the functions of the republic’s main library. Having endured the trials of wars and evacuations, today it is the country’s main book repository.
In independent Belarus, Library Day has been celebrated since 2001, in accordance with the Presidential Decree of September 8, 2001. The date of the holiday is symbolically tied to the founding day of the National Library of Belarus. Its collections include more than 9 million books and about 3 million copies of periodicals. The institution’s special pride is its unique collection, which carefully preserves approximately 70,000 rare early printed books and valuable manuscripts.
Scientific Library of BNTU
The Scientific Library is an integral part of the educational and scientific process at the Belarusian National Technical University. It is one of the oldest university libraries in the Republic of Belarus. Over more than a century of history, it has grown into the largest university library of a technical profile in the country, with a unique universal collection covering literature on engineering, architecture, and art.
The Scientific Library of BNTU is located in several buildings, providing students, postgraduate students, and faculty with modern spaces, including cozy coworking areas and specialized reading rooms.
The library’s social media channels contain a wealth of useful and up‑to‑date information. They regularly feature thematic collections of books for independent study, recommendations on the latest additions to the collection, interesting facts from the university’s history, as well as timely announcements of upcoming events, exhibitions, and creative meetings.
The high level of professionalism of the team is confirmed by the fact that in 2012, the Scientific Library of BNTU became the first library in the country to join the International Association of Technical University Libraries, which cements its authority on the global stage.
The BNTU Repository
The BNTU repository, which was launched in 2012, is a particular source of pride for the university and the result of the painstaking work of the library’s specialists. Today, it stores more than 139,000 documents in a systematic manner: monographs, methodological guides, electronic educational and methodological complexes, articles, and dissertations by polytechnic scholars. For students and scholars, this means round‑the‑clock and free access to cutting‑edge scientific and educational materials.
Thanks to the activity of researchers and the openness of scientific achievements, the BNTU Repository consistently shows outstanding results in the most authoritative international archive ranking — the Transparent Ranking of Repositories (Webometrics). According to the latest rankings, the BNTU Repository has firmly established itself among the world’s leading repositories: it ranks 14th in the overall list of more than 4,500 global repositories and 23rd among institutional repositories worldwide. It is rightfully considered one of the best repositories in the world.
Congratulations to the staff of the BNTU Scientific Library on their professional holiday! Your daily work provides a reliable information foundation for engineering education and scientific discoveries. We wish you new digital achievements, the development of innovative services, and, of course, grateful and inquisitive readers!
