​Practical Class in Bibliology

On May 15, 2025, a practical class in bibliology was held within the framework of the course Special Historical Disciplines, at the initiative of the Department of Historiography, Source Studies, and Archaeology. The session was conducted for second-year undergraduate students by Dr. Nataliia Vasylivna Prots, Head of the Department of Book Monuments, Rare Editions, and Manuscripts at the Central Scientific Library of Karazin University, alumna of the university’s Faculty of History, and Candidate of Historical Sciences (PhD equivalent).

At the outset, the guest speaker provided an overview of the founding and development of the university library, as well as the formation of its book and manuscript collections. She emphasized that the Karazin University Library is one of the oldest and most comprehensive book repositories in Ukraine, and that since 2013 its collection of book monuments has been included in the State Register of Scientific Objects Constituting National Heritage.

The main focus of the session was on the description and attribution of book monuments. Dr. Prots introduced students to the principal types of provenance evidence (including presentation inscriptions, authorial and reader annotations, imprints of seals and stamps, ex-libris, supralibros, and others), and explained the specific approaches to their study. She also outlined the fundamental principles of bibliographic description and academic cataloguing of printed books, illustrating them with examples of early printed editions from the university library’s holdings. The session concluded with a question-and-answer segment.

We sincerely thank Dr. Nataliia Vasylivna Prots for an insightful and engaging class that contributed meaningfully to the professional training of future specialists.