The materials of Research-Information Department
The Research-Information Department stores a considerable amount of special books, periodicals, reprints, and occasionally field records donated by prominent Russian zoologists. Among them are A.P. Bogdanov, N.Yu. and Yu.N. Zografs, G.A. Kozhevnikov, S.I. Ognev, G.V. Epstein, M.A. Menzbier, A.P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky, S.A. Buturlin, N.N. Plavilshchikov, K.A. Satunin, V.A. Dogel, I.I. Schmalhausen, N.I. Vavilov, S.S. Chetverikov, B.P. Uvarov, D.M. Fedotov, Y.N. Filipchenko, N.F. Zolotnitsky, L.L. Sabaneev, I.I. Mesyatsev, A.K. Mordvilko, V.S. Muralevich, N.F. Ikonnikov, N.V. Nasonov, A.A. Borisyak, L.S. Berg, A.M. Nikolsky, N.K. Koltsov, P.A. Kosminsky, D.P. Kaigorodov, B.M. Zhitkov, S.N. Alferaki, N.A. Kholodkovsky, E.G. Becker, N.F. Kashchenko, and others.
Among the most valuable acquisitions of pre-revolutionary times was the entire library of A.P. Bogdanov donated by him and containing 1892 items. Of the donations related to those years, some highly valuable publications were specially noted, such as a gift from the honorary member of the Society of Amateur Naturalalists, the Count V.A. Bobrinsky with 95 issues of "Bulletin de la Societe Imperiale des Naturalistes de Moscou", which has been delivered to the Museum with the help of M.A. Menzbier. The library also holds a unique copy of the book "From Zaisan through Khami to Tibet and to the upper reaches of the Yellow River" (St. Petersburg, 1883) by the famous scientist and traveler N.M. Przhevalsky, with an autograph of its author.
The library of the Faculty of Biology temporarily located in the Hall of Comparative Anatomy in 1951-1952.
This long established tradition of donating personal libraries is preserved to current day. So the special pride of the Department and a significant part of its collection are the books gathered by the prominent Russian zoologists working in the Museum during the 20th century, namely S.I. Ognev, V.G. Heptner, G.P. Dementiev, N.A. Gladkov, N.V. Shibanov, S.S. Turov, E.P. Spangenberg, G.V. Nikolsky, N.N. Plavilshchikov, E.S. Smirnov, B.B. Rodendorff, G.A. Viktorov, A.N. Zhelokhovtsev, and some others. These are unique samples of rare books on different branches of classical zoology, including systematics, morphology, ecology, zoogeography, and fauna of various groups of animals.
Of the Russian and foreign books and magazines received by the Department in 2001, 409 copies were donated by various individuals and institutions, 208 were received from abroad, and 209 research journal were received by subscription. A luxurious multi-volume edition by Buffon from the collection of Prince S.S. Gagarin was received by the Museum from the former Library of the USSR Academy of Sciences (Leningrad).
A significant and very important and informative part of the Museum library includes a quite complete sets of the Zoological Journal, the Bulletin of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Entomological Review, the Proceedings of the Imperial Society of Lovers of Natural Science, Anthropology and Ethnography, the Works of zoological institutes, museums, nature reserves, the Russian Entomological Society, and many other periodicals. Among foreign periodicals, collections of publications of the Natural History Museum (London) and leading zoological scientific institutions in the USA deserve a special mention. The "Fauna of the USSR", "Guides to the fauna of the USSR", "Flora of the USSR", as well as a lot of native and foreign faunal check lists and manuals. The reader is also provided with the main necessary published sources on the protection of animals and plants: the Red Data Books of the IUCN, the RSFSR, the USSR, Russia, the Moscow Region, Moscow, and many local regions of Russia.
"The Birds of Australia" by J. Gould with the author’s magnificent drawings.
Visitors are provided with reference books, including bibliographic literature. The most necessary abstract journals published by VINITI are available, and there are valuable retrospective bibliographic publications, including foreign ones, as well as the Codes of nomenclature. The reference literature of more general content includes three editions of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia; medical and geographical encyclopedias; a large set of dictionaries, including Dahl's explanatory dictionary; five-language dictionaries of animal names; a number of biographical publications dedicated to prominent naturalists. There are many useful textbooks on various branches of biology and on the philosophy of natural science. Of great importance is a special set of theoretical biological literature demanded by taxonomists, zoogeographers, and evolutionists. The lifetime editions and modern reprints of C. Linnaeus, C. Darwin, J.-B. Lamarck and other prominent theorists of the past, as well as the modern issues by E. Mayr, W. Hennig, R. Sokal and P. Sneath, L. Croizat, and many other fundamental books could be found here. It is worthy to note the wealth of illustrated publications that are popular among animal artists, and the abundance of popular natural history books, for which there is an increased demand among young naturalists.