The book is the source of culture. The libraries remain one of the most popular institutions in the society. Their origin for Almaty goes back to Verny city, which was the major administrative and cultural center for the region Seven Rivers, as well as for the whole Turkestan region. The first cultural and educational institutions started to appear at the beginning of the 20th century.
The history of the National Library of Kazakhstan started in 1910. The first reading room of the city was opened at that time by the decision of Verny City Council. In 1920 the library took a name of L.N. Tolstoy and after 1937 it was re-named after A.S. Pushkin. The library obtained its "national" status in 1991. It contains a unique fund of rare books and manuscripts in the ancient runic, Arabic, Kazakh, Russian and foreign languages. The pride of the collection is the original works of Ahmed Yassaui, Yusuf Balasuguni, Mahmud Kashgar, Abay, Ybray Altynsarin. There are the samples of calligraphy in the pre-revolutionary edition of "Koran". Currently the book fund contains over 6.6 million units. About 1 million people visit the library every year. There are 14 specialized halls available for 1500 people. The building of the National Library was built in accordance with a special project in 1970. It is located on Abay Avenue, 14, at the intersection of Abylaikhan Avenue. The library is considered to be a historical and cultural monument. The authors of the unique project are the architect V.P. Ischenko, K.N. Kalnoy, V. Kim, E.M. Kuznetsov, engineers V. Angelic, A. Deev, and Mr. Stulov.
