Development of the libraries network of the USSR Ministry of Culture in Penza region in 1953-1959

Based on the use of materials from the State Archive of the Penza Region, including those first introduced into scientific circulation, the article analyzes the functions of mass library institutions of the Ministry of Culture in the Penza region in accordance with the central regulations in 1953-1959 (from the transfer of a mass libraries network to the Ministry of Culture to the appearance of the resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU “On the state and measures to improve librarianship in the country”). The process of developing the library system is considered, and the main indicators of its positive dynamics are characterized: an increase in the number of libraries (regional, district, municipal, independent rural, independent children's); the availability of libraries with reading rooms and mobile collections; an increase in the volume of the book fund; an increase in the number of readers, including children under 16; changes in readers' demand for certain types of literature; expansion of the range of mass work (exhibitions, literary evenings, readers' conferences and bibliographic reviews).