Department of State, Retrospective Bibliography and Kazakhstan Studies
In its current form, the department was established in March 2026. It is one of the leading structural units of the National State Book Chamber of the Republic of Kazakhstan and represents the integrated work of two major subdivisions in several areas.
1. State Bibliography
Established in 1968.
Main tasks:
- receipt of books, brochures, fine arts publications, maps, calendars, and albums published in Kazakhstan and received from the departments “Receipt and Control of Legal Deposit Copies” and “Book Market Statistics and Monitoring”;
- preparation of layouts;
- assignment of Universal Decimal Classification (UDC) and Library-Bibliographic Classification (LBC) indices;
- selection of articles;
- preparation of bibliographic descriptions in accordance with current instructions.
The State Bibliography ensures the publication of bibliographic indexes, including the “Chronicle of Print of the Republic of Kazakhstan,” which has been published monthly since 1938. This chronicle includes:
- “Music Chronicle” (since 1955);
- “Chronicle of Journal Articles,” “Chronicle of Newspaper Articles,” and “Chronicle of Reviews” (since 1957);
- “Chronicle of Visual Arts” (since 1961);
- “Chronicle of Cartography” (since 2000).
Periodicity of bibliographic index publication:
- “Book Chronicle” — monthly;
- “Chronicle of Journal Articles” — monthly;
- “Chronicle of Newspaper Articles” — monthly;
- “Visual Arts. Cartography. Musicography” — annually;
- “Chronicle of Reviews” — annually.
2. Kazakhstan Studies
Established in 1973.
Main task:
The quarterly bibliographic index “Kazakhstanica”, which informs readers about political, economic, and cultural developments in Kazakhstan; works by Kazakh authors; books, fine arts publications, musical editions, dissertations and abstracts; as well as articles published in collections, journals, and newspapers in near and far abroad countries.
It also ensures systematization and classification by subject fields in accordance with UDC and LBC.
The basis for compiling the index includes mandatory legal deposit copies, state registration and statistical accounting materials, as well as bibliographic processing of articles by Kazakh authors published in foreign newspapers and journals.
In accordance with the Information Cooperation Agreement of the National State Book Chamber of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the main information sources include record cards from CIS book chambers, materials selected during literature review in republican libraries in Almaty, as well as bibliographic indexes of the Russian Book Chamber, abstract journals published by KazNIINTI, and other sources.
3. Retrospective Bibliography
A field of bibliographic activity aimed at identifying, selecting, and systematizing literature published in previous years.
It includes the publication of retrospective bibliographic indexes of printed materials covering past periods, such as:
- “Chronicle of Books of the Republic of Kazakhstan”;
- “Periodical and Continuing Publications of the Republic of Kazakhstan: Consolidated Index”;
- “Chronicle of Journal and Newspaper Articles”;
- “Press of the Republic of Kazakhstan: Statistical Consolidated Bibliographic Index”;
- “Bibliographic Index of Kazakhstan”;
- “Chronicle of Reviews: Consolidated Bibliographic Index”;
- “Chronicle of Cartographic Publications: Consolidated Bibliographic Index”;
- “Chronicle of Music Publications: Consolidated Bibliographic Index”;
- “Chronicle of Visual Arts: Consolidated Bibliographic Index”;
- “Dissertation Abstracts: Consolidated Bibliographic Index”.
The Department of State, Retrospective Bibliography and Kazakhstan Studies, when compiling and processing bibliographic and analytical descriptions of printed materials, is guided by interstate standards of the System of Standards on Information, Librarianship and Publishing (SIBID), including:
- ST RK 2383–2013 “Publications. Output data. General requirements and rules for preparation”;
- ST RK 994-2012 “Publishing. International Standard Book Number (ISBN): application and publishing requirements”;
- GOST 7.34–81 “System of standards on information, librarianship and publishing. Bibliographic description of visual publications”;
- GOST 7.1–2003 “Bibliographic record. Bibliographic description. General requirements and rules”;
- GOST 7.12–93 “Bibliographic record. Abbreviation of words in Russian. General requirements and rules”;
- GOST 7.60–2003 “Publications. Basic types. Terms and definitions”;
- GOST 7.61–96 “Publications. National bibliographic indexes. General requirements and rules”;
- GOST 7.80–2000 “Bibliographic record. Heading. General requirements and rules”.
The department also uses instructions for compiling bibliographic records of books, newspapers, and journals developed on the basis of the above standards.
