Белорусская книга и наука о книге: формирование понятий, научных парадигм и автономной научной дисциплины

Abstrakt

The aim of the article is to examine the origins, directions of development, methodological assumptions and research categories in Belarusian bibliology as an autonomous academic discipline. An analysis of the most important achievements of books studies in Belarus, the beginnings of which as a science go back to the turn of the nineteenth century, has enabled the author to formulate a number of research hypotheses. Of key importance to the development of Belarusian bibliology were historical studies — they laid the foundations for the modern book science theory, as it was only thanks to research into book history that it became possible to formulate the theory of books studies, the role and place of the book in scholarship, research methods and conceptual apparatus of the discipline. An important role in the development of the methodology of bibliological research in the second half of the twentieth century was played by the studies of the Polish scholar Krzysztof Migoń. A considerable role was also played by the methods developed for the needs of bibliography and library science. The origins and evolution of bibliology in Belarus were and are inextricably linked to the role of the book as a means of disseminating and recording the achievements of the human thought, to the traditions of society’s intellectual development, cultural identity of the Belarusian people as well as the general knowledge of book culture. Belarusian bibliology has some significant achievements to its credit, both in historical studies and in book theory and methodology of book studies. As a result, it is possible to speak of the Belarusian book studies school, which is characterised by: 1) the use of interdisciplinary research methodology as well as scholarly interaction with disciplines like philosophy, culture studies, bibliography studies and information studies; 2) development of axiological and phenomenological research; and 3) development of international collaboration in order to make the Belarusian book studies recognisable in international academia. A considerable role was and still is played by bibliological journals, which are a platform for presenting scholarly achievements in the discipline (they include Кнігазнаўчыя чытанні, Кірыла-Мяфодзіеўскія чытанні, Берковские чтения) as well as publication series devoted to the subject.