BSMU international students visit the National Library of the Republic of Bashkortostan named after Akhmed-Zaki Validi

"Libraries are the treasures of all the riches of the human spirit," G. Leibniz argued, and I. Brodsky wrote: "Freedom exists only to go to the library." BSMU international students went to the National Library of the Republic of Bashkortostan named after Akhmed-Zaki Validi, organized as part of adaptation, cultural and educational events for international  students of Bashkir State Medical University.

Foreign students got acquainted with the card thematic, alphabetic and electronic catalog, departments of Bashkir literature and local history, periodicals, reading rooms and electronic resources, the hall of publications in foreign languages, French and German reading rooms, the hall of musical publications, the department of digitization of literature and the center for exhibitions and cultural programs. Of course, our students were impressed by the library's collection of more than 3.3 million publications and manuscripts, but most of all they were interested in the department of manuscripts and rare editions, which contains more than 12 thousand publications and manuscripts in Arabic, books and publications published in Pakistan, India, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia and other countries of Asia and the Middle East, works of the IX – XIV centuries, including the manuscript of the Holy Koran, written in the 14th century. BSMU students were interested to learn that in pre-revolutionary Bashkiria, Arabic and Persian were widely spoken: Arabic as the language of religion and science, Persian as the language of art and poetry. The library staff told about the most interesting pages of the history of our students' native country – Egypt, which finally won their hearts.

Communication of BSMU international students with the library staff, the opportunity to read rare books in their native language, to see how digital copies of ancient manuscripts are created, to see how carefully and with great respect in our Republic they treat not only their native, but also all cultures of the world – such an experience was for students for the first time and left an indelible mark on their memory, mind and soul.

Thanks all the staff of the National Library of the Republic of Bashkortostan for their love for the reader, the word, the book and the culture that they passed on to students!