Knizhnaia Letopis’ Digital Archive

Russia’s definitive bibliographic book index.

Knizhnaia letopis’ (Книжная летопись, The Book Index) is the most definitive reference guide available for published books in Russia. For decades, libraries and researchers have turned to this weekly publication to follow book publishing trends in the USSR and Russia. As the main Soviet/Russian bibliographic publication for books, Knizhnaia letopis’ represents the most comprehensive bibliographic resource available on printed books in Russia. For scholars of Russian history, literature, and print culture, the digital archive of Knizhnaia Letopis represents an invaluable resource, offering a unique window into the evolution of publishing and intellectual life in Russia from the late Imperial period through the Soviet era.

Covering the period of 1907–1979, the Knizhnaia Letopis’ Digital Archive comprises over 105,000 articles, and features full page-level digitization, searchable text, and complete original graphics. This searchable format allows users to explore trends in publishing, track specific authors or topics, and gain insights into the intellectual and cultural landscape of Russia and the Soviet Union throughout much of the 20th century.

The archive is organized at the chapter level, with each issue divided into thematic chapters (articles). Issues of Knizhnaia letopis’ feature entries detailing new book publications across all fields of knowledge and practical activities, providing primary bibliographic registrations of new books published within the Russian Federation, as well as books published abroad on behalf of Russian publishers. Each bibliographic entry typically contains a sequential record number, a full bibliographic description, the state registration number assigned by the Russian Book Chamber and the UDC (Universal Decimal Classification) indices. The archive also preserves additional features of the original publication, such as author indexes, language indicators for non-Russian publications, and listings of ISBN errors.

The Knizhnaia Letopis’ Digital Archive also includes a number of important supplements, such as Knizhnaia Letopis’. Dopolnitelnyi vypusk (Supplement, includes dissertation abstracts), Knizhnaia Letopis’. Vspomogatelnye ukazateli (Name, Subject and Geographic Indexes), Dopolnitelnyi vypusk. Vspomogatelnye ukazateli (Name and Geographic Indexes), and Ukazatel seriinykh izdanii (annual Index to Book Series).

The Knizhnaia Letopis’ Digital Archive is an ideal complement to the Russian National Bibliography (UDB-BIB-RUS) database, which includes the archive of Knizhnaia letopis’ from 1980–2014 and its successor title Knigi Rossii (Books of Russia) from 2015–current. The Knizhnaia Letopis’ Digital Archive is not cross-searchable with UDB-BIB-RUS, which is on a different platform, but is cross-searchable with numerous other Infoteka digital resources.