The main lesson of history: no one bears lessons from the past

Interview of the editor-in-chief N.V. Lopatina with Alexander Mazuritsky, Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, professor, librarian. The interview discusses the problems of the history of librarianship, emphasizes their importance in overcoming the "challenges" of time, raises issues of popularization of the history of librarianship in the professional community, characterizes the peculiarities of the development of librarianship during the First and Second World Wars, during the existence of the USSR, considers the issues of restitution and cataloguing of displaced and lost cultural values during the war period. Much attention is paid to the assessment of the personality of the famous librarian and teacher K.I. Abramov in the context of his scientific interests and research strategies, their importance for the modern development of the library industry. The current state of librarianship is assessed and the prerequisites for its effective development are determined.