For the sake of accessibility of knowledge...

Scientific library as a component of university development

The main characteristic feature of the Library's activity is the definition of intellectual information technologies as the strategic vector of its functioning, the ideology of its development and an indispensable condition for its existence.

The mission of the Library is to meet the information needs of the university community in education, research, pedagogical and administrative practices by providing resources and services and creating information products.

The Library's vision is a multi-resource and multi-service center for integrated high-quality information support of the university's educational and research processes and a research and experimental laboratory for digital initiatives in scientific and educational communications.

Key values:

• User as a person;
• Information and knowledge;
• Creativity and leadership;
• Professionalism;
• Cultural and civic identity.

The modern Ukrainian State University of Science and Technologies  (USUST) is a multidisciplinary university with a long history that unites the teams of five higher education institutions in Dnipro. Namely: Academician V. Lazaryan Dnipro National University of Railway Transport, National Metallurgical Academy of Ukraine, Prydniprovska State Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Ukrainian State University of Chemical Technology, and Prydniprovska State Academy of Physical Culture and Sports. These universities became part of USUST as educational and research institutes. Accordingly, a single Scientific Library of the university was created.

It is known from the history of the higher education institutions that they (except for the last one) were established in 1930, during the period of industrialization, to ensure the development of the national economy with high-quality engineering personnel. A branch library was organized at each educational institution. For many years, the libraries developed in parallel, forming centers of learning, science and culture. Responding to the demands of their academic communities, they actively developed traditional processes of acquisition of sectoral collections, processing, classification, systematization, preservation and popularization of documents, and promotion of reading. The periods of prosperity were followed by dark times of “cleansing” of personnel: dismissal of “politically unstable” employees, exclusion of “hostile and outdated” literature from the library collections.

The Second World War (1939-1945) brought libraries significant losses of literature and changes in staff. For example, for more than two years, higher education institutions were evacuated (August 1941 - November 1943); a significant number of faculty and staff, including librarians, left. People in forced exile experienced cold and hunger; to get a ration card, everyone had to work several shifts at factories. In those difficult times, the only place of respite was the library, where the lights were constantly on (sometimes only a few candles), the stove was heated, and there was literature for studying. Here students studied, socialized and rested, and teachers prepared for lectures. The librarians faithfully helped their readers with books, warmth, and a kind word of support.

The educational institutions, like the whole country, survived the difficult years of trials and continued to train personnel for the domestic industry. By 1947, the restoration of the institutes was almost complete, and in 1950 (the 20th anniversary of the founding of the universities), the campuses were revived. Much effort was spent on restoring book collections and organizing library services. The work was carried out under certain ideological pressure inherent in the USSR and required the implementation of party directives, orders, and instructions. The requirements for librarians to observe labor discipline were very strict; for absenteeism or even being late for work, the “case” was referred to the court.

In the 50s and 70s of the twentieth century, new educational buildings, student dormitories, and sports complexes were built in each university. New faculties and laboratories were opened. The book and journal collections of each of the branch libraries increased significantly; they received the status of scientific and technical libraries. The need for reading and the demand of communities for literature were incredibly high. Library service points were open from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Queues for books were a sign of the times.

In the 70s and 80s, library staff took an active part in socialist competitions, improved their skills, worked on agricultural work, and participated in sports competitions and amateur performances at universities. New departments and subdivisions were created, and libraries were provided with new premises and equipment for the development of automation processes for the convenience of readers. The collections were replenished with relevant domestic and foreign publications. Events to promote reading, such as conferences, meetings with writers, literary evenings, etc., became popular. To improve the competencies of librarians, they were constantly exchanging experience at seminars and conferences.

With the beginning of the new millennium, libraries received a new vector of development - mastering the world of information technology and modern communications, which radically changed the work with academic communities (students, teachers, researchers) as users of information. Library professionals in the twenty-first century are learning themselves and teaching their readers the latest means of communication on the World Wide Web, including in the context of distance and the global advancement of Open Science and Open Education.

As of the beginning of 2025, the united Scientific Library of USUST is one of the largest libraries of higher education institutions in Ukraine. It serves almost 11 thousand readers with a single library card. The total area of the united Scientific Library is 8255 m². It consists of 8 departments, 13 subscription desks, a Media Hall, an Art Space, and 12 reading rooms with 1105 seats. The library collection of more than 2.7 million copies of printed and electronic publications is a universal base for the educational process and research.

The collections are not limited to educational literature only, but also include scientific and fiction literature, encyclopedic and reference books, dictionaries, collections of legislative materials, regulatory and technical documentation, rare scientific and technical publications, special types of scientific and technical literature, dissertations and abstracts, unpublished materials, periodicals, and information and bibliographic publications.

Users have access to numerous databases of full-text, bibliographic, and scientometric information.

The USUST Scientific Library has a wide representation on the Internet - the website (https://library.ust.edu.ua/uk), Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc.

The global scenario of uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and, since February 2022, the criminal military full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, have undoubtedly affected Ukrainian higher education institutions, changing the models of learning, teaching and research.

The USUST Scientific Library has demonstrated how quickly it can respond to changes in the educational and research ecosystems of its university, including information support for blended and distance learning. The vector of the library's activities is distance, openness, and improvement of the library's unified information space. The library continues to introduce digital technologies with the focus of library commitments on social justice, which gives a new impetus to business models and formats that fully utilize the Internet, especially open access. The volume and subject matter of in-house generated information resources (presented on the Library's website in the Electronic Catalog, the Common Repository of the University of Science and Technologies (CRUST), websites of scientific journals and conferences, YouTube and social networks) are increasing:

• Railway Ukrainians and Metallurgical Ukrainians projects;
• Information-analytical and scientometric system of USUST “Publication Profile of University Science”;
• The CRUST University Common Repository is an electronic archive created to publish, create, accumulate and provide free full-text access to publications;
• Professional journal “Science and Progress of Transport”;
• Specialized journal “Anthropological Dimensions of Philosophical Research”;
• Journal “University Library at a new stage of social communications development. Conference Proceedings”;
• Virtual exhibitions, videos and presentations.

The publishing activities of the Scientific Library focus on maximizing the impact of USUST publications within the international scientific, educational and public sphere and promoting the free exchange of knowledge. Digital Publishing at the Library of USUST specializes in publishing open access publications based on Creative Commons (CC BY) licenses: electronic scientific journals, monographs, textbooks, and collections of scientific conference proceedings.

The information infrastructure of the USUST Library - a set of software and hardware tools, organizational systems and regulatory frameworks - allows for remote support of teaching and research processes. Today we offer the user the following components of the information infrastructure:

• Global information-analytical and scientometric system Scopus;
• Global information-analytical and scientometric system “Web of Science”;
• Information and reference system “Budstandard”;
• Automated library and information system IRBIS;
• Turnitin system for checking academic papers for plagiarism (the Rector's order established the Plagiarism Prevention and Detection Sector within the Scientific and Technical Library to carry out technical checks of graduation qualification papers for signs of plagiarism, as well as to organize information events for students on academic integrity);
• Online block “Open Educational Resources”, etc.

The Scientific Library has solved one of the main tasks - to provide the fullest possible access to the educational and scientific resources of the university, as well as remote information resources, and various modern services (online and offline).

The library invites you, dear readers, to plunge into the interesting, useful and boundless world of humanity's heritage - the world of information!