Rural Libraries of Chuvashia are Keepers of the Language and Ethnic Culture of the People

Abstract

In the context of globalization and internationalization of culture, the problems of ethnic groups development and preservation of their identity and originality, especially their native language, are of particular relevance. Traditional forms of native language development, cognition and direct communication include reading, writing, oral counting, live communication at home and in social events, as well as collective forms of leisure. Both urban and rural residents began to turn to books and periodicals less often that naturally led to narrowing of the vocabulary, the general outlook of people, as well as to the decrease in their cultural level and loss of ethnic identity. As sociological studies show, there is decrease in interest in the book in general and in the library in particular. This tendency is clearly manifested in the attitude to the printed word in the Chuvash language. Rural libraries, being the leading institutions in the socio-cultural centre of rural settlement and promoting books and reading to the masses, are the fighters for the purity of their native language, for the preservation of age-old traditions and, in general, the ethnoculture of the people. The paper shows the forms of cultural and educational activities of rural libraries of Chuvashia at various stages of modern history. Special attention is paid to the development of the network and the deepening of the content of their educational and social mobilization work in direct connection with collective farm construction. The author notes with regret that due to the collapse of the USSR (1991), the destruction of collective farms, the growth of unemployment, the departure of able-bodied men to find work elsewhere, there was a sharp discrepancy in the income level of the majority of villagers. Market relations have led to the expansion of paid services, including education and culture. In such conditions, libraries with free access to their book collections have become the only centres of rural culture. Instead of the traditional “place of lending books”, they have turned into publicly accessible socio-cultural centres of the village, into keepers of the language and ethnoculture of the people. Computer technologies and Internet access attract readers to rural libraries, which have again proved to be in demand. The article is based on the analysis of published sources, Internet resources, current library archives, using the comparative historical method.