Digital evolution of AvtoVAZ «cultural workshop» – the library of Avtograd Cultural Center (1967–2024)

The library of Avtograd Cultural Center in the city of Tolyatti, Samara Region, Russian Federation, traces its history from the trade-union library at Volga auto plant. The goal of the study is to examine library transformations and further digitalization of library and bibliographic processes and to analyze the functionality of automated library management system designed by the library’s specialists with due regard to the latest trends. The author compares the historical events that influenced the trade union libraries in Volga Federal Ditrict, their development and current status. On one hand, Avtograd Library’s transformation looks like the natural historical process influenced by exterior factors, on the other hand, against the historical background, it is rather the exception among other trade-union libraries. The author expresses her hope that studying the digital evolution of Tolyatti auto plant library will enrich the historiography through discovering new sources of the Avtograd Library’s history never published before.