Conceptions of Bibliography in the Russian Federation: The Russian Phenomenon of Bibliographic Theory

This article aims to explain the essence of the theory of bibliography as it has developed in Russia since 1975. The basic methods used are literature review and analysis of theoretical concepts. The article consists of a background section, presentation of four main concepts of modern Russian bibliography and an attempt to relate those to the equivalent concepts in the Western (mainly English) LIS literature. The four Russian concepts described are the ‘documentary’ concept of bibliography by Korshunov, the ‘ideo-documentary’ concept by Sliadneva, the ‘cognitive’ concept by Fokeev and the ‘epistemological’ concept by Astakhova. Basic features and shortcomings of each theory are discussed. The ideas of the four authors had to be significantly compressed for the article, and the authors of this article also confronted major difficulties in reproducing the equivalent of Russian academic LIS language. The essential issues reflected in the theories are the context, in which bibliography emerges and develops, the basic functions and role of bibliography in society, the essential features and structure of bibliography, the regularities of the development of bibliography, the role of bibliographic science and the theory of bibliography.