The Department of Rare Books and Manuscripts holds rare and especially valuable editions, manuscripts, archival documents, and graphic materials which have scientific, historical and cultural significance.

Throughout the history of the Department as a structural unit of the Research Library, it has amassed a collection unique to Siberia of over 100,000 items. Chronologically, the collection materials range from the 12th to the 21st century. The collection covers a wide range of topics. There are documents in Russian, in different European languages (French, German, English, Latin, Greek, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Polish and others) and in some Eastern languages (Chinese, Japanese, Arabic and others). The collection includes manuscripts and printed books, magazines, newspapers, albums, leaflets, posters, postcards, photos, maps, sheet music, paintings, prints, archival materials, etc.

How to get the documents from the Department of Rare Books and Manuscripts