Requesting and Receiving Materials
Right after obtaining your Reader Pass (including an electronic one), you can place orders.
The key things to remember:
The RSL operates an electronic ordering system
We recommend ordering in advance, before you arrive at the library – this will save you time
Items received can only be read and used within RSL buildings; they are not issued for home use
Request
Before your visit
You can place your order in advance, before visiting the library – via the Electronic Catalogue.
Anything you find in the catalogue can be ordered straight away: from home, in a café, or on the go.
If you are unable to find the item you need in the Electronic Catalogue, you can submit an order using a special form. Alternatively, you can contact a librarian directly via the Virtual Reference Service – by chat or email. Our specialists will help you access everything held in the RSL collections.
Orders for documents
from the Central Book Repository are accepted by phone at +7 (499) 557-04-70, ext. 43-56, from 9:00 to 18:30 on the current library working day
Phone numbers for ordering from the specialised collections, conditions for ordering and renewing items, opening hours of each Reading Room, and other useful information can be reached on the Reading Rooms’ web pages.
Important: Please check the date, time and delivery location carefully
Plan Your Visit
Check announcements for any possible changes to opening hours. For example, the library is closed on the last Monday of each month for a cleaning day
Check the opening hours of the specific Reading Room, particularly if it is listed as your delivery location
Already at the Library?
Once inside the library, readers place electronic orders themselves (but a librarian is always on hand to help!). You can use any available computer in a Reading Room. If you have your own laptop or other device, you can place orders from that instead. The process is then the same as when ordering from home.
Receive
Documents from the RSL collections can be used in the Reading Rooms and in the open access areas for printed documents in the subsidiary collections
Documents for use in the Reading Rooms are issued at the circulation desks; printed documents held in the Central Subsidiary Collection are issued at the collection's own desk. Documents are returned to the same desks.
Main Circulation Desk (Main Building, 1st Entrance, 2nd Floor)
+7 (499) 557-04-70, ext. 45-34
Printed documents from the Central Book Repository
Low-use items, publications in the languages of the peoples of Russia, periodicals in foreign European languages up to 1950, and fiction from 2024, held at the Khimki Complex
Documents from the Central Reference and Bibliographic Collection
Documents delivered from other libraries via Interlibrary Loan (ILL). Enquiries:
+7 (499) 557-04-70, ext. 17-30
Once you have received your order (or part of it), you can proceed to any* Reading Room or reading area in the Main Building.
*The Reading Room No.1 is primarily for readers with an academic degree, title, or distinction: Candidates and Doctors of Sciences, professors, academicians. This is the sole exception as set out in the Service Regulations.
Service Desk in the Reading Room of Electronic Resources and Microforms (Main Building, 1st Entrance, 1st Floor, Room A-116г):
Documents on optical compact discs and microforms from the Central Book Repository
In the Oak Reading Room (Main Building, 1st Entrance, 3rd Floor, Room A-309):
Documents from the collection of the Department of Art Publications
Newspapers of the Russian emigration, documents with access restrictions (marked “For Official Use”, included in the Federal List of Extremist Materials (FLEM), etc.), thematic collections of documents processed in groups that do not have individual bibliographic records in the RSL Electronic Catalogue, fragile and oversized items from the Central Book Repository that cannot be transported using mechanical means. For advance enquiries, please call: +7 (499) 557-04-70, ext. 46-85
Additional Circulation Desk in the Reading Room of the Department of Dissertations at the Khimki Complex (15 Bibliotechnaya Street, 2nd Floor, Room X228, Khimki, Moscow Region).
Low-use items, publications in the languages of the peoples of Russia, periodicals in foreign European languages up to 1950, and fiction from 2024.
+7 (495) 570-03-66
Circulation Desks in the Reading Rooms of Specialised Departments:
Department of Newspapers
+7 (499) 557-04-70, ext. 13- 08, 13-21
Department of Dissertations (main desk)
+7 (495) 570-03- 66
Department of Art Publications
+7 (499) 557-04-70, ext. 44-36
Department of Cartographic Publications
+7 (499) 557- 04-70, ext. 45-65
Department of Music Publications and Audio Recordings
+7 (499) 557-04-70, ext. 43-35
Please note! To work in the Reading Rooms of the following specialised departments, you will need a physical (plastic) Reader Pass:
Research Department of Rare Books (Book Museum)
+7 (499) 557-04-70, ext. 46-79
Department of Manuscripts
+7 (499) 557-04-70, ext. 43- 38
Centre for Oriental Literature
+7 (499) 557-04-70, ext. 14-59
In the specialised collections reading rooms you will need your plastic Reader Pass – please remember to obtain it at the building entrance.
Return, Renew, Cancel
Return items to the exact place you received them: either at the Main Circulation Desk or in the Reading Room of the specialised collection.
Renew: If you have not finished your work and wish to continue on another day, when you hand in your items, please let the staff know you are renewing them – whether it is one, several, or all of them.
Note that it is not possible to cancel an order you have placed. Please only order the items you genuinely intend to use. The librarians at the RSL will be grateful.
Still have questions?
Throughout the library, consultants are ready to help you:
Information Desk
Main Building’s Lobby
In the Information and Reference Area
Do you have a complex search request, or perhaps need an extensive bibliography? Specialists in searching for and selecting materials, as well as compiling and formatting bibliographies, are on duty in the Bibliographic Services Room. We have also created the Podborka service (a personal selection service) for you.
While You Wait for Your Order
An average order will be ready in approximately 40 minutes. Sometimes the wait may be longer – after all, the RSL holds 275 kilometers of shelves and an 11-kilometer-long conveyor-telelift system, and some items are kept in remote storage facilities.
The LBC electronic standard is temporarily unavailable due to technical reasons.
Throughout the library, consultants are ready to help you:
Continue Exploring the RSL
As a registered reader of the RSL, you now have access to millions of publications in both international and Russian digital collections. These online remote resources – including books, articles, and databases – are available to you free of charge. Many of them can be accessed from outside the library.