Declassification of Special Storage Fonds of the Vernadsky Central Scientific Library of Academy of Sciences of Ukrainian SSR: Prerequisites and Consequences

The article describes the last stage in the history of the special storage department of the Vernadsky Сentral Scientifi c Library of the Academy of Sciences of USSR (from 1996 named the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine) and the process of establishment on its basis the department of foreign Ucrainica. The aim of the research is to characterize the features of the process of liquidation of the special storage fonds and its reorganization into a department of foreign Uсrainica. Methods of analysis and synthesis, diachronous, chronological and comparative-historical methods, methodological foundations of microhistory are used in the research. The scientifi c novelty of the research is to establish precise dates of closing the special fonds and the creation of a new department on its basis, which have not been clearly defi ned by its predecessors, explaining the causes of the long duration of this process and its features. All stages in the reorganization of the special fonds into the department of foreign Uсrainica are distinguished. It is shown how its work has changed with the new policy of «openness» of M. Gorbachev and «restructuring». The prospects for further studies include the enlightening of the activity of the special fonds in the years of «restructuring», outlining the diffi culties, which the department of foreign Uсrainiсa faced at the beginning of its work. Conclusions. The gradual process of liquidation of the special storage fonds, which led to the formation of a new department and open access to information, began with the receiving lists for the return of «prohibited» books to the general book depository from the General Directorate for the Protection of State Secrets in Print under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, which controlled the work of the special fonds, in 1987. At the beginning of 1990, according to the order of Glavlit, there was no reason for the further work of the special fonds, but is still continued its activity. With the independence of Ukraine, a reading room was opened in the library, and later the department of foreign Uсrainiсa, which caused a boom in the reading circles and started diaspora studies, in particular at the Vernadsky Central Scientifi c Library.