Services of the INION RAN Fundamental Library

The Fundamental Library of the Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, with a collection of 7,254,000 copies, is one of the largest centralized library networks in the social sciences and humanities. It includes the central library and its branches, which comprise 13 departments of library and bibliographic services at academic institutions in the social sciences and humanities.

The central library is located at 51/21 Nakhimovsky Prospekt, Moscow, Russia

Registration Rules

Individuals with higher education need to present a passport to register for the library. Students can register starting from their third year, and with approval from both the Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the university administration, from the first year.

Since 2024, the following is available to readers in a new building on a historic site:

• Digital catalog of books of the Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, received through the mandatory deposit line since 2023 – 3,590 publications.
• Access to the National Platform of Academic Publications of the Russian Center for Scientific Research, as part of the National Subscription – 140 journals.
• Access point to the NEL – the Russian State Library, as the operator of the National Electronic Library, provides access to millions of Russian documents (primarily “classical” works from the late 19th to the first half of the 20th century, including most 21st-century dissertations) – 5,691,485 documents.
• A collection of over 5,000 English-language books from 2015-2023 is available in digital format on computers in the reading rooms. More than half of these books cover the social and human sciences, along with architecture, computer science, and other disciplines. This collection is equipped with a functional search engine and permits file saving.
• Access is also available through the National Subscription to foreign databases of books and journals, including Springer, Wiley, Sage, Questel, and others.
• The CNKI database sections F and G feature journals in Chinese on subjects such as history, philology and philosophy, law, political science, and military affairs. These journals can be saved and sent via email in PDF format. The database contains 8,530 titles of leading Chinese scientific journals. The CNKI system includes an English-language search engine, and Chinese-Russian electronic translators that open in a separate computer window.
• The EB-PISHU database provided by the CEPIEC publishing company covers areas such as China Economy, Public Policy, and Security, with access to an archive spanning from the start of publication to June 30, 2024.
• More than 1,500 foreign book novelties, resulting from the acquisition of paper copies from leading foreign publishers between 2021 and 2024.
• Leading Russian journals that are not publicly available on the Internet.
• Ongoing expansion of access to books and journals from the main collection of the Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, as the materials are transferred from the warehouse.
• Thematic collections, including previously restricted storage, personal collections donated as gifts, and other related categories.

The branches of the Fundamental Library at the humanities institutions of the Russian Academy of Sciences contain a three-million-item collection. The unique acquisition methods have led to the formation of valuable thematic collections of both domestic and foreign literature on a variety of industrial, complex, and regional topics. The following branches are highly regarded among specialists:

• The Department of Library and Bibliographic Services at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, founded in 1950, contains a unique collection of Oriental studies literature. This collection began with 9,000 copies transferred from the Asian Museum (Leningrad) and has since grown to include valuable personal libraries.
• The Sinological Library, part of the Institute of China and Modern Asia of the Russian Academy of Sciences, possesses a specialized collection of 200,000 items, predominantly in Chinese, along with works on China in Russian and Western European languages.
• The Department of Library and Bibliographic Services at the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences offers an extensive specialized collection of books and Russian dissertations on sociology, including many classics authored by Russian sociologists.
• The Department of Library and Bibliographic Services at the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences is one of the oldest and includes a collection featuring lifetime editions of notable philosophers.
• The Department of Library and Bibliographic Services at the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences is also one of the oldest departments of the FL, featuring a collection on economics that includes 19th-century books.