Zoological Library

Library Website (In Russian)

The Library of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (the Department of the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences) is the largest specialized zoological library in Russia, former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Its funds include more than 700,000 editions on systematics, faunistics, evolution and ecology of the animal world, publications on parasitology, epidemiology, hydrobiology, paleontology, genetics, developmental biology, resource science, environmental protection and the history of science.

About 30,000 books and journals are loaned annually. Acquisition of publications is carried through the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences and owing to the gifts from the staff members of the Institute, other institutes and private individuals. Considerable attention is given to compiling of alphabetical and systematic catalogues, and also electronic data bases which ease preparation of the bibliographic requests. The library has also published a series of bibliographic manuals and indices based on its catalogues. The number of electronic catalogue accesses exceeds 20 000 a year.

The full list of scientific journals presented in the library includes more than 6,000 titles. The electronic catalog of the library includes information about both scientific monographs and periodicals. It was created on the basis of bibliographic databases that have been formed since 1995 and currently contain more than 275,000 entries. The electronic catalog of the Library of the ZIN RAS functions both independently and in the system of the general electronic catalog of the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences, into which it is integrated.

The funds contain a unique collection of rare zoological publications of the 16th-19th centuries, numbering more than 3,000 items. Literature on zoology and related topics, published in the 20th century, is presented most fully in comparison with the libraries of any other biological institutes in Russia and the countries of the former USSR. Currently, the library receives freshly published domestic and foreign periodicals and scientific monographs.

Visitors can use electronic and paper catalogs online, work in the reference room and take books home (only for the staff of the Zoological Institute). Library responds to requests received by phone, email, or social media. You can order and receive electronic copies of articles and other documents. The library regularly organizes exhibitions of the new acquisitions and thematic exhibitions.