The Mykhailo Maksymovych Scientific Library is a scientific, educational, informational and socio-cultural centre of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and one of the oldest and largest libraries in Kyiv.

From the very first days of the University of St. Volodymyr, officially opened on July 15, 1834, the library was located within its premises. Between June 1835 and the end of 1843, the library was located in a two-storey house of the merchant Bukhteiev rented by the University on the Pechersk Fortress (Heisivska Street, now Levandovska Street), where it occupied 8 rooms on the lower floor, 7 of which were for books and one for the caretaker. Already during the construction of the Main (Red) building of the University, designed by V. Beretti, some of its premises were specially allocated for the library.

According to its Statute, approved in 1833, the library was based on the book collections of the Jesuit College of Kremenets, later the Kremenets Lyceum, a university-level educational institution. These collections were formed thanks to donations and purchases by many individuals, including T. Chatsky, who acquired a collection of books (15,680 volumes) from the last Polish king, Stanisław II August Poniatowski, and other aristocratic representatives for the lyceum. The so-called Kremenets collection, which consisted of 34,378 volumes (including about 1,500 incunabula), as well as many paintings, sculptures, and a numismatic collection, was moved to the newly established University in 1833. The first rector of the University, M. Maksymovych, made great efforts to organize the collection at the new location.

For a long time, the library of the University of St. Volodymyr was among the best in the Russian Empire and the largest in Ukraine in terms of volume, as well as scientific, historical, and cultural value. The first heads of the library, P. Yarkovskyi (1834-1845) and O. Krasovskyi (1845-1865), laid the foundations for the systematisation of the book collection. In 1859, the library opened a professor’s lecture hall (the first reading room), and in 1863, the student department of the library (its collection consisted of about 10 thousand volumes of books). The funds of the library were constantly replenished through the transfer and acquisition of complete private libraries, book collections, individual gifts, and libraries of disbanded educational institutions. The collection was supplemented with publications in various fields of knowledge, taking into account the requests of teachers and students, as well as the courses of lectures given at the University. Under K. Tsarevsky, the third university librarian (1865-1894), the description of books was completed and a systematic catalogue of the collection was compiled. A catalogue of new acquisitions was published annually.

With the development of the University, the increase in the number of students, and the growing number of books, the premises for them became cramped and inconvenient to use. Therefore, from the end of the nineteenth century. The Academic Council of the University repeatedly raised the issue of building a separate special building for the Library. In the 1890s, a project for the library building was developed and presented to the Ministry of People’s Education, one of which was approved by the Council of Professors, but was not approved by the Ministry of People’s Education due to the lack of 300 thousand rubles needed for construction.

In 1894-1928, the library was headed by a prominent historian, bibliographer, and cartographer, W. Kordt. Under his leadership, there were several attempts to build university library buildings. Thus, the building, designed in 1900 on the model of the library in Leipzig, was to be located in the Botanical Garden, opposite St Volodymyr’s Cathedral. This project was presented to the Academic Council of the University on May 29, 1901, which approved it and petitioned the Ministry of People’s Education for funding for its construction, but without any success.

At the same time, the situation with the preservation of books in the building of the University of St. Volodymyr was becoming increasingly complicated, so the problem of building a special building for the library remained acute. In the summer of 1909, the architect V. Osmak and the director of the library V. Kordt went on a business trip to Darmstadt (Germany), where they got acquainted with the latest achievements in library technology – the newly equipped building of the Technical University of Hessen. In November 1910, V. Osmak presented a new project of the library building to the University Administration. On December 29, 1910, this project was approved by the Construction Committee of the Ministry of People’s Education with comments. The updated project of the library building was ready in May 1911. At that time, the library already had almost 400 thousand volumes. The southern courtyard of the university estate was chosen as the location for the library building, and the old brick buildings, mostly used for household purposes, located on this site were demolished. The University Administration also emphasized the aesthetic aspect, guided by the principle that the library building, which would be constructed next to the main facade of the University, should be in keeping with its architectural style.

After a number of repeated petitions to the Ministry of People’s Education, the University managed to obtain a construction loan of 434,351 rubles, at the expense of reducing the volume of book depositories. The contractor was obliged to carry out earthwork, stone and other necessary works by October 15, 1914. However, the First World War complicated their implementation and they were completed only in October 1916. The cost of construction materials increased during wartime, so it became clear at the beginning of the construction that the estimated amount would not be enough, leading to a temporary suspension of the construction.

During the period of the national liberation struggle of 1917-1921, permanent changes of government, and military operations, the library continued to be located in the Main building of the University (since 1920 – Kyiv Institute of People’s Education). Over the following years, it underwent significant transformations. Thus, on November 21, 1925, the Presidium of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences (a subdivision of the People’s Commissariat of Education) decided to transfer the library of the Kyiv Institute of People’s Education to the National Library of Ukraine in Kyiv (now the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine) and to complete the library building for it. The National Library of Ukraine in Kyiv took over the main book collection, mostly of the ‘fundamental library’ (500,000 titles, collection editions, manuscripts, including the Kremenets collection), as well as part of the library property. As a result of the reorganisation, the University library had about 120-130 thousand volumes (mostly educational literature). In the 1930s, due to improved funding, the library’s collections began to expand.

Already in 1932, the construction of a new academic building on Korolenko Street (now Volodymyrska Street), on the right side of the Main building of the University, began. The government allocated 3 million rubles for the construction of the building, which was to be used for the educational process of the humanities faculties. Meanwhile, in 1933, a government decision restored the activities of the Kyiv State University (instead of the liquidated Kyiv Institute of People’s Education). The book collection, which remained at the University after the transfer of its main part to the National Library of Ukraine in Kyiv, was still housed in different rooms of the Main building of the University.

The construction of the new building was completed on September 2, 1940. Today, the library building, with a total area of 5,321 m², is a monument of architecture and urban planning. This building, also designed by V. Osmak, was designed to be identical to the former Library building. As a result, the three buildings formed a classical ensemble, with the Main building of the University, designed by V. Beretti, playing a dominant role. The newly constructed building, designed for 24 classrooms, housed the Faculties of History and Philology and the reading rooms of the Library. At that time, the library’s collection comprised over 1 million volumes. According to the order of the People’s Commissar of Education of the USSR on December 30, 1940, the library was granted the status of a scientific library. Its structure included a general department, a department of acquisition and book registration, a department of literature processing, a department of monographic literature (fundamental), a department of periodicals, and a consulting and bibliographic bureau. In addition, the library had special literature rooms for eight faculties.

During the Second World War, the library, like the University, continued to operate. In total, it employed 6 people, whose main goal was to preserve the book collections. However, a significant part of the collection was lost, partly due to the export of the most valuable publications by the occupiers. Another 1,200,000 volumes (including those taken from other libraries) were destroyed in a fire in the Main building of the University on November 5, 1943.

The library resumed its work in January 1944. At that time, a research reading room with 80 seats and a reading room for students with 115 seats were equipped. According to the report on educational work for the academic year 1944-1945, at that time the library occupied 25% of the classroom space of the Humanities building of the University. As of 1948, the library’s collection already included 330,851 volumes.

In the mid-1960s, the Library maintained book exchanges with 340 organisations from 42 foreign countries. Particularly close contacts were established with the Scientific Library of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. In 1983, the Department of Rare Books and Manuscripts was founded, with a collection of unique manuscripts and old printed books from the late 15th century to 1830, as well as other rare and valuable publications. By the mid-1980s, the library had more than 3 million books.

Since pre-revolutionary times, the scientists of the University have been known as the creators of original scientific schools and trends. Every year the number of their scientific publications – monographs, textbooks, manuals – increased. All of them are organized into a separate collection of scientific works by university authors, which includes more than 12,000 titles. A significant part of them are autographed books by scientists who graduated from the University.

After Ukraine gained independence, a new chapter in the history of the Library began. In 1994, the Scientific Library was named after the first rector of the University, Mykhailo Maksymovych. In accordance with the order of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine dated January 20, 2005, the Mykhailo Maksymovych Scientific Library was entrusted with the duties of the methodological center for libraries of universities, academies, and institutes of Ukraine to improve the methodological management of libraries in higher education institutions.

On November 10, 2021, by the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the collection of old, rare and valuable book collections of the Mykhailo Maksymovych Scientific Library of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv was included in the State Register of Scientific Objects of National Heritage of Ukraine.