The collection of the Chernivtsi Regional Museum of Local Lore (CHRM) library is universal. Rare and valuable documents are considered the true gems of the library's collection: foreign, Cyrillic, and Ukrainian early printed books.
As of 01.10.2024, the library collection comprises 24,030 documents. Of these, books account for 20,652 copies, periodicals – 3,324 copies, author's abstracts – 48 copies, and documents on electronic media – 6 copies. By language, the library collection is distributed as follows: Ukrainian – 9,129 copies, foreign languages – 14,901 copies.
The library has a lending department and a reading room. The library's work covers a whole range of services: these include collection development, acceptance of new documents, compiling alphabetical and systematic catalogs of new acquisitions, and other library processes. The main task of the CHRM library is to provide high-quality service to users, to fully satisfy their information and research needs. Users of the CHRM library include museum staff, pupils and students of educational institutions in the city and region, scholars, and local historians.
Rare documents in German, Romanian, French, and other languages, published at the end of the 17th century are available to users. Due to the closure of the Museum of Church Art in 1940, which was housed in the Metropolitan Residence of Chernivtsi, some theological books were transferred to the museum's library.
The core of the modern library collection consists of publications from the second half of the 20th century. Among the documents from the 18th – first half of the 20th century are "World History" in 96 volumes, works by the Bukovinian historian Prof. R. Kaindl, historical and local history documents from the Austrian and Romanian periods, museum annuals from the Austrian period, transcripts of the protocols of the Bukovinian Landtag from the second half of the 19th – early 20th century, and many others.
The library's holdings include many documents on archaeology, history, ethnography, natural sciences, art of the Chernivtsi region, history of Ukraine, and so on. A large part of the collection consists of documents donated by authors and publishers from the region. Donations to the library are an ancient form of charity and a reliable source of collection replenishment without requiring additional funding. Despite the challenging times for our country, donated publications continuously arrive at the CHRM library. CHRM scholars also actively participate in this process, donating their scientific works to the library. The library maintains active ties with the departments of the History Faculty of Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University to replenish the library's collection with modern scientific and local history documents.
Currently, the library at the Chernivtsi Regional Museum of Local Lore is overseen by Zhanetta Petrivna Akimova. In previous years, librarians I. I. Avdeyeva, V. P. Belchuk, M. Y. Zaishliuk, and O. P. Kolesnikova worked here.
