ABSTRACT
Based on the theoretical understanding of libraries and museums as key social institutions which not only store, systemise, preserve, and disseminate information but also produce and help generate knowledge, this chapter examines St. Petersburg State University (SPSU) libraries' and museums' roles in the development of Arctic social science research. The chapter assumes that if Russia is to progress to a knowledge society, its universities, including SPSU, must increase their research output, and that SPSU's library and museum complex has a particularly important role to play toward this endeavour at SPSU. There are two institutional/faculty branches which play the most significant role in Arctic social sciences research: The library of sociological, political science, and international relations literature, serving three university faculties of the same profiles; and the social sciences library, serving the Institute of History and Institute of Philosophy. Along with the library, SPSU has a museum complex consisting of several natural sciences museums and a museum of university history.
