Corporate libraries: The right to life

Abstract

The richness of the term “library” is revealed: from the common meaning (a depositary, collection of books and other publications) to that of the library science object (an institution, social institution). The attempt is made to identify whether corporate book collections make a document array, internal book collection, or a library. The case study of the “Laboratory of urban planning” Company (St. Petersburg) is offered. The main stages of the Company’s library development and vectors of work are discussed. Other corporate libraries’ experience is examined. The common features of the corporate and special, e.g. sci-tech, libraries, that satisfy information needs and demands in professional sphere, are revealed.The author also attempts to apply Yury Stoyarov’s four-component library model to the corporate library phenomenon. She speculates on whether the library core features are applicable to a corporate library – namely, collection purpose, document array orderliness, librarian supply. The differences between the traditional concept of a library and a library as a live selforganizing system are revealed. The need to include corporate libraries into the library science subject scope and therefore to expand social influence of librarians is emphasized.