The Research Library was founded in 1878 and opened in 1888, the same year as Imperial Tomsk University. It was before the laying of the foundation stone of the university building that the books had started to arrive at the library.
The Research Library is one of the largest and oldest libraries beyond the Urals. Its collection includes more than 4 million printed items and electronic documents. The Department of Rare Books and Manuscripts holds over 120,000 documents. As of January 1, 2026 the Register of Rare Books includes 1,060 entries describing rare books from the Library’s collection. Since 1998, the Research Library, as part of Tomsk State University, has held the status of a Particularly Valuable Object of the Cultural Heritage of the Peoples of the Russian Federation.
The first contribution to the Library was a gift from Count A.G. Stroganov. In 1875, he gave consent to V. M. Florinskiy, the organizer of Imperial Tomsk University, founder of the Library, and trustee of the West Siberian Educational District, to donate his father’s family library, consisting of 22,626 volumes, to the future university. The book collections of Russian philanthropists, scientists, writers and public figures such as S.M. Golitsyn, V.A. Zhukovsky, A.V. Nikitenko and others formed the foundation of the Library’s holdings.
Initially, the Research Library was located in the university's main building. Books and journals were distributed among three divisions: foreign, Russian, and medical. In 1912–1914, a separate building in neoclassical style designed by architect A.D. Kryachkov was constructed for the Library in the University Grove. In 1978, another building designed by architect E.I. Dreizin was constructed and connected to the old one by two walkways. The Library's total area is 16,559 square meters.
In 1934, the Library was awarded the title “Research” for great achievements in developing the library collections and its importance to culture and science in Siberia. In 1969, the Library became a methodological center for university libraries of Western Siberia. Currently, the Research Library of TSU is a member of the Russian Library Association (RLA).
Around 200,000 readers visit the Library annually and check out 350,000 printed items. Over 1 million users access its electronic resources each year. The Library features the Information Center 24/7 and nine reading rooms with open access to collections, Research Commons with rooms for group and individual work, RFID technology for user services, and access to over 60 subscription resources. Language clubs, exhibitions, presentations, workshops, tours, games, conferences, strategy sessions, and forums held in the Library enjoy great popularity among the university, city, and professional communities.
TSU Research Library is certified to comply with the requirements of the European standard BS EN ISO 9001:2015 in the field of information and library support for research and educational activities. In 2006, the Library implemented a quality management system and continues to develop it. The Library is actively engaged in research, methodological, and project activities, participates in national and regional projects and programs.
In addition to supporting the university’s educational and research processes, the Research Library is actively involved in preservation of cultural heritage. The Regional Document Preservation Center has been operating at the Library since 2002, and the project “International School of Restoration” has been underway since 2014. More than 4,000 rare books and archival documents have been digitized and uploaded to the TSU E-library (Repository). For many years, the Library has been keeping records of and describing rare books initially adding them to the All-Russian Corpus of Rare Books, and since 2020 – to the Register of Rare Books of the Russian Federation. The TSU Expert Council on Rare Books has been operating since 2020.
The exhibition at the Book Museum introduces visitors to the finest examples of book heritage: handwritten and early printed books, newspapers and journals, lifetime editions of writers and poets in Russian and other languages, works of scientists, books with an unusual history, including those with autographs.
At the Museum you can see books from V.A. Zhukovsky’s personal library with his notes in the margins, A.S. Pushkin’s lifetime editions, and Distinguished Visitors’ Book opened at the page with the autograph of Tsesarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich – future Emperor Nicholas II. Using augmented reality technology, visitors can “flip through” some of the books displayed in showcases.
Commitment to the university values, respect for traditions and cultural heritage, initiative, openness, and innovative approach – all this makes the Research Library a favorite place for students, faculty, researchers, and diverse communities, as well as a popular platform for implementing the third mission of Tomsk State University.
Major events at the TSU Research Library: 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2019