History
October, 15, 1833 – the first Public Library was opened in Petrozavodsk. Olonets Governor A. I. Yakovlev offered to open the library.
January, 2, 1860 – Opening of the Public Library. The library occupied one of the buildings of the Noble Assembly (Blagorodnoye Sobranije) in Circular (Kruglaya) Square. Pavel Nikolaevich Rybnikov was one of the initiators.
1865 – the number of readers reached 105 people, and book stock contained 887 volumes. Rybnikov departured to take the post of Vice-Governor in a small town in Poland, the library gradually ceased to exist and was revived only thanks to a lucky incident.
1870 – Great Prince Alexey visits Petrozavodsk and donates 300 roubles to the City Foundation of Public Library. In honour of this event the newly established library was given the name "Alexeyevskaya". Its catalogue, dating back to 1872, has been preserved. According to the catalogue, the library stock at that time contained 1047 books in different fields of knowledge. Later the library suffered a growing lack of finances and many problems connected with the building it occupied.
1918 – The book stock of the library contained 40000 volumes, but it was destroyed by the fire in the same year.
1919 – A new regional library was established on the basis of libraries of two seminaries and a commercial club.
1941 – 1943 – During the war the library was evacuated to the city of Kem.
1947 – the library was reopened as the State Public Library of Karelian-Finnish SSR.
1959 – the library moved into a new building, designed by K. Gutin. The building is considered to be a monument of culture. The present address is 5, Pushkinskaya Street. It is situated in a historical and cultural part of the city.
1991 – the library gained the status of the National library of the Republic of Karelia (NL RK).
1998 – the website of the National Library of Karelia was published.
2001 – the Internet center for readers was opened in the Library.
2005 – the electronic Library Card was introduced in the Library. Open access to the Finno-Ugric Libraries page.
2011 – the Library received the Information and Library Services Complex (Library Car)
2013 – the library celebrated its 180th anniversary.
2013-2014 – the National Library of Karelia launched a new project entitled «Libraries are changing: new forms of activity for the local community». The project has received support from the Karelia ENPI Cross - Border Cooperation Program.
2015 – the Library started services in its new outbuilding. A bookstore was opened in the National Library, where the sale of books by Karelian writers was organized.
2016 – the Library of the Blind of the Republic of Karelia joined the National Library of Karelia.
2017 – the National Library signed a cooperation agreement with the St. Petersburg State Museum-Roerich Family Museum Institute and the Nicholas Roerich Center in Karelia was opened in the library.
2018 – the Children's Reading Center was opened at the National Library.
2019 – the Karelian Regional Center of the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library was opened in the National Library of Karelia.
2021 – the XXV All-Russian Library Congress of the Russian Library Association was held at the National Library of Karelia.
2022 – The Department of National and Local Literature and Bibliography celebrated 100th anniversary.
2023 – the National Library celebrates its 190th anniversary.
2024 – The National Library of Karelia presents the Kalevala Days in Moscow at the Rossija International Expo and Forum at VDNKH.