Library directories, guides: experience of creation and publication

The current level of preparation and publication of directories and guides to libraries is studied. Presenting the chiefmaterial, it is emphasized that the solution of the problem of documentary resources and libraries' information potentialinforming, largely depends on the availability of directories and guides to libraries. Recently published directories informreaders about changes and current trends in the work of libraries, introduce users with the possibilities of ordering andreceiving literature, cover a wide range of basic and additional services. Over time, these publications acquire their own scientificvalue; they provide an opportunity to establish all the quantitative and qualitative changes that have occurred withinthe libraries and library networks; an opportunity to evaluate properly our predecessors - the authors and compilers ofreference books. It is this factor that determines the relevance of the stated topic. The aim of the article is to try to drawattention of modern researchers to directories and guides to libraries as a separate type of publications, the informationresource that is still insufficiently analyzed by the scientific community. The question of the necessity of publishing the newin structure and content directories for libraries - with a more detailed description of both traditional and digital resources,the entire system of services offered by libraries. The article characterizes the structure of directories, lists the features ofindividual publications, presents the changes in their content that have occurred over almost seventy-five years of development.The conclusions emphasize that the introduction of automation in the library work has contributed to the creation ofdigital guides and directories for libraries, diversified their structure and specialization, led to the emergence of a new generationof directories. Digital guides to Internet resources, as an important innovative area of modern library, have beenwidely used. The author emphasizes the lack of scientifically sound methods of creating guides to domestic library practiceand emphasizes that the multifaceted classification of digital resources of the Internet has only just begun