Since 2004, October 7 has been celebrated in Armenia as Librarian Day, which was officially included in the list of professional holidays in the country, thanks to the Decision of the Government of the Republic of Armenia.
The main goal of holding events dedicated to this Day is to popularize and restore the interest, first of all, of the younger generation in the book as a special source of information. This is not surprising, since the development of computer technologies, electronic methods of communication, storage and transmission of information have greatly shaken the status of the book in the eyes of young people who draw information, primarily from the Internet.
Unfortunately, few of them care about the authenticity of what they find online. Few people understand that communicating with the book – is a special ritual where there is no place for anything unnecessary except the reader, storyline or important information. In addition, a significant part of reading lovers have switched to electronic storage media. Another thing is – students, scientists, specialists with a narrow focus, for whom visiting the library and communicating with the original source – is a necessity. And here the library and its employees are still guarding the storage of knowledge.
Today, library collections are subject to innovations in order to keep up with the times and its requirements: electronic catalogs and electronic copies of books are created.
The first libraries appeared in Armenia at the beginning of the 5th century. In each monastery there were groups of census takers (screamers) who rewrote the manuscripts. It was thanks to their work that unique examples from the treasury of world literature were preserved in the Armenian translation. And the first state library appeared in Armenia in 1832, when the library of the Yerevan Gymnasium was founded. During its existence, it not only significantly expanded its archives, but also acquired a special status. Since 1990, it became the National Library of Armenia.
Librarian's Day is celebrated in the Republic by holding various events at libraries in order to attract the attention of the younger generation to them and to recognize workers of particular importance in the preservation of cultural heritage. These events also aim to attract the attention of the authorities to the state of Armenian libraries.