ACADEMIC LIBRARY

The library was established during the same period as the Yerevan Institute of Fine Arts and Theatre. In 1994, it was separated from the Fine Arts Institute with a collection of 16000 books. Today, the library holds approximately 46342 books. The greatest guarantee for the uninterrupted operation of the university library is the continuous replenishment of its book collection.

The library is being replenished with new collections through donations from A. Sakharov, the French Embassy, Sos Sargsyan, Armen Mazmanyan, various authors and individuals, as well as the reprinting of high-demand books and funding allocated by the institute to supplement its collection.

16000 books have been entrusted to the YSTFI library, including 900 from the A. Gulakyan and V. Vardanyan collections, along with 431 rare books. Among these are The Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopaedic Dictionary in 86 volumes,The Yearbook of Imperial Theatres and works by William Shakespeare published in Tbilisi in the 1880s, among others.

Since 1998, the library has been in close collaboration with the Armenian Press. Newspapers, magazines, journals (12-14 titles) and collections of plays published in Yerevan and Moscow have been obtained through subscription. The library catalogues reflect the available literature categorized by fields of study, including theatre history, directing, acting mastery, film arts and film history, Armenian literature, and Russian and world literature. Special attention is focused on the acquisition of plays. Approximately 30-35% of the literature consists of plays, either in typewritten form, as separate books, or in collections.

The library's primary goal is to meet the reading demand. The institute's library has favorable conditions for providing services. The subscription department, reading hall and computer room are designated as separate areas for targeted service.

The subscription department is the busiest in terms of service. It carries out several functions of library operations:

• Subscription;

• Receiving literature orders;

• Coordination and transportation of ordered and returned books;

• Registration of lost books and replacement arrangements.

The institute's readers are also provided with library services in the reading room. The book collection available in the reading room includes not only narrowly focused professional textbooks, educational and auxiliary manuals and other various publications necessary for the educational process, but also highly demanded reference materials such as encyclopedias, dictionaries and albums. There are also over 500 folders related to directors, actors, literature and art, along with articles from newspapers and magazines. The folders are also used by lecturers, master's students, PhD candidates and graduates, as well as by students from other departments when writing course papers and theses.