N. M. Sikorsky, A. I. Barsuk, I. E. Barenbaum and the Evolvement of Russian Theoretical Book Studies in the Late Soviet Period

The article presents the results of the study of the scientific heritage of Soviet bibliologists N. M. Sikorsky, A. I. Barsuk, I. E. Barenbaum. The authors analyze and characterize the contribution of each of them to the formation and development of the functional approach in book science. The article identifies and discloses some methodological problems of the functional approach: isolation exclusively in the system of university science, isolation from the international scientific discourse, the presence of intellectual influence of ideologized works of the 1920–1930s (N. Ya. Marr, I. V. Novosadsky, P. N. Berkov), excessive attention to complexity as a key characteristic of the book science, the unresolved issue of scientific methods of bibliological research. It highlights positive and promising areas of development of the functional school– reactualization of the creative heritage of A. M. Lovyagin and M. N. Kufaev, incorporation of the reader and reading into the system of scientific problems of book science, recognition of the communicative essence of book science and the sociodynamics of the book process. In conclusion, the authors substantiate the thesis, that the eclecticism and contradictory nature of late Soviet theoretical book studies and, at the same time, its heuristic value both from the point of view of ensuring the conceptual continuity of the development of book science in our country and in the context of the fruitful academic discussion unfolded in the professional press in the 1970–1980s.