Information-Library Center named after Ahmad Ferganiy
Marifat str. 31A
Library history
The library history
Fergana regional library named after Akhmad al Fraghanus was open in 1899 during the days of 100th anniversary of the Great Russian writer A. S. Pushkin celebration, as the first city library on the rights of a public museum department. The fund of the library by that time made only 853 books.
The number of readers was insignificant - only 200 people and was limited by the circle of the city intelligence, the library was inaccessible to broad masses.
In 1926 there was books exchange between the Tashkent State library and our Fergana regional library.
The Fergana library has exchanged books belonging to Catherine II times and has received literature in Uzbek language; due to this exchange Uzbek department was open in our library, but soon it was thrown into the internalized club, only in 1931 the Uzbek department was open again.
In 1933 children`s department was organized.
In 1939 on the basis of the city library the Regional library was created.
The history of Fergana library is non-separate from the name of Vera Levashova - its immortal director from 1908 to 1949.
Vera Levashova continued working up to 1953, when her experience has made six decades. The same year she was the first who was awarded with a honorable rank "the Deserved librarian of Uzbekistan".
In 1950-1960 years the directors of the library were Khidoyat Yagafarov and Galim Khayretdinov. At their times young experts came and have accepted the relay race from their colleagues.
Since 1956 the active work on collecting and propagation of materials about Fergana region has started: about its history, economy, and culture, about its outstanding people. The regional card files were created. Now it numbers more than 150000 cards about the territory. 
The 1970 became significant for the regional library: it has received new three-story building designed to include half-million of volumes, with special equipment and all conditions for normal work.
The same year the library has received its famous name - the name of Akhmad al Fraghanus. He was a scientist - encyclopedist of the early Middle Ages: the astronomer, geographer, and mathematician. A little bit later in 1980 its facade was decorated with metal portrait of Al Fraghanus Fergana sculptor Aider Aliev. He has made the scientist in full height with a book in his hand looking at the sky.
As soon as the library was taken to the new building its structure has entirely changed, the staff was enlarged. A whole system of specialized reading halls was created, the readers service became diverse. "Book Weeks" and "months", books and clubs on interests, literary - musical "Thursdays", "week of regional book" and "days of bibliography" collected large audiences.
A real tragedy for the library became a flood in 1977. Basic book storage in the basement was filled with water. Almost two thirds of the fund was lost, it was more than three hundred thousand books, brochures, magazines. Several thousands pre-revolutionary editions were among those, filing of local newspapers of 1920-1930 and other valuables.
It was necessary to completely restore the fund, which was made during the next years, simultaneously to work on the catalogues, which was made by the bibliography department employees. Their work - alphabetic and regular catalogues - now remains the pride of the collective.
