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In this case study of the ecological programs of the Bryansk Regional Public Library System, I used qualitative research methods including observation, interviews, and archival research. I collected data from 2002 to 2007 with the bulk of the data gathered in the summer and fall of 2006. The libraries in Bryansk have been working with ecological information and education since the meltdown at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986 and started a systematic program of ecological education in 1995. The types of ecological education activities that the libraries engage in range from the more traditional library activities such as developing collections, hosting seminars, and working with partners to much more hand-on activities such as taking field trips to nature preserves with library users and actually cleaning up the local stream or planting trees. Through these activities, libraries have become active participants in the ecological community in Bryansk.

This volume brings together a range of reflective essays and empirical analyses of the changing character of the library world in what is sometimes called, “post-Soviet space.” Specifically, individual contributions from Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, the New Republic of Kosovo, and the post-Soviet successor states of Eurasia all provide different perspectives on Library and Information Sciences within the former Soviet Union and “Eastern Bloc” in terms of national and cultural identity and diverse institutional contexts. Thus, the included chapters range in focus from broad transformations in National Libraries and national library systems to the more specific problems facing municipal and local public libraries and information institutions within decentralized and, in some cases, privatized post-Soviet environments.