This article is an attempt to give an approximate conception of the situation formed by the beginning of the 20th century, to determine a level of development of the library system in Western Siberia. The purpose of the article is to analyze legal aspects of library work, to try to realize such a library problem as the profession of a librarian, to comprehend the way the library system of Western Siberia had undergone in the past century. This is an exposition of the history of the library system in the context of the general history of the country and in connection with different phenomena of social and economic life of our society.