Rural Libraries of the Western Regions of the Ukrainian SSR as a Factor of the Sovietization of the Region in 1944–1949 (on the Documents of the State Archives of Ternopil Region)

The purpose of the work is to reveal the political and ideological component of the process of formation of the library network and activities of rural libraries in the western regions of the Ukrainian SSR in 1944–1949 based on the documents stored in the fonds of the State Archives of Ternopil Region. The methodological basis of the study is based on the principles of historicism, objectivity and systematicity. In the course of the study, the general scientific methods of logic, systemic and structural-functional analysis, modeling, and terminology were used. The methods of analysis and comparison were used to process archival documents and analyze statistical material. The scientific novelty is that the problem of forming a network of rural libraries in the western regions of the Ukrainian SSR during the late Stalinist period is for the first time considered as a separate subject of scientific research. The work uses a number of previously unpublished archival documents stored in the fonds the State Archives of Ternopil Region. Their analysis made it possible to determine the dynamics of creation/restoration of the rural library network of the Ternopil Region in the first postwar years, to outline the functions of rural libraries. Conclusions. The problem of restoring the network of rural libraries in the western regions of Ukraine in the first postwar decade cannot be considered outside the framework of the process of Sovietization of this region, the imposition of a totalitarian system of the Stalinist type. Cultural institutions in rural areas, such as clubs, libraries, and reading houses, were viewed by the Soviet party leadership as one of the links in the political system. First of all, they realized political and ideological functions related to the establishment of Party-Soviet institutions of power in the region and the formation of worldview positions among the local population based on Marxist-Leninist ideology. Tasks related to library activity itself, such as maintaining library catalogs, preserving and popularizing book collections, including works by foreign and domestic authors, were pushed to the background.