The book collections of the Central Scientific Library as a source for studying the socio-economic history of the nobility of the Kharkiv province (second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries): historiographical aspect.

Abstract

Research aim. The purpose of this article is to reveal the composition and content of the book collection of the Central Scientific Library, which contains a significant array of publications from the pre-Soviet period, allowing researchers to continue studying the situation of the nobility in the Kharkiv province during the difficult period of social and economic transformations in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Methodology of the research is based on a set of scientific principles and methods that allow for an objective study of the past. The methodology is based on the principle of historicism, which involves analyzing events and phenomena in a specific historical context. The principle of objectivity is also important, obliging the researcher to avoid bias and evaluate facts without imposing contemporary ideas. Among the main methods used in the analysis process, the chronological and comparative-historical methods are worth highlighting.

The scientific novelty lies in the analysis of the book collections of the Central Scientific Library of V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, which cover the topic of the nobility. The bibliographic potential of the library as a source base for research on the nobility is outlined. The work systematizes scientific literature according to content areas (the formation of the nobility, changes in noble land ownership, the role of the nobility in the system of local self-government).

Conclusions. The article considers the possibility of using the information potential of the Central Scientific Library of Karazin University for educational, scientific, and cultural-educational processes. An important component of the library's funds is a complex of various sources that allows for the study of the socio-economic history of the Kharkiv province. The article analyzes the works of pre-Soviet researchers who studied the position, role, and evolution of the nobility in general, and in particular in the Kharkiv province in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The historiography of the nobility developed gradually, reflecting changes in scientific approaches, political contexts, and social demands.