The Russian Intellectual-Bookman Arkadiy Vasilyevich Sokolov

The article traces the main milestones of the life of the outstanding cultural critic, documentologist and librarian A.V. Sokolov (1934—2023). He was a Candidate of Technical Sciences (1967) and Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences (1979), professor at the Leningrad (then St. Petersburg) State Institute of Culture (1980), founded the first Department of Computer Science in the system of national library education, headed the Department of Branch Bibliography at the same institute. He was a member of the editorial boards of leading professional publications, including the journal Bibliotekovedenie [Russian Journal of Library Science]. A.V. Sokolov published 35 monographs and textbooks, about 800 scientific papers. He has trained one doctor and 42 candidates of pedagogical, philological sciences, as well as cultural studies. He consistently defended the point of view that the library is the humanistic stronghold of the nation, and digitalization (informatization, automation) is only an auxiliary tool for strengthening book culture as the basic value of human culture.