Recommendatory bibliography gives considerable assistance to education in Russia. The term "recommendatory" was introduced before the Revolution by the well-known bibliographer, N.A. Rubakin. The term has been preserved but the volume and contents of its concept have changed and become more complicated. During the first years of Soviet power recommendatory bibliography helped wipe out illiteracy and cultural backwardness in the rural population, often substituting for school and teacher. Now it promotes knowledge in conjunction with secondary and higher schools or becomes the foundation of post-school education of the Soviet people. The system of recommendatory bibliography handbooks embraces the most urgent themes, problems and branches of knowledge, that arouse wide social interest and meet the most typical requirements of the Soviet people in the field of general education. Manuals of recommendatory bibliography give more detailed information on books than any other sources of mass information. The main general principle of recommendatory bibliography is strict selection of good quality literature easily understood by readers. A Lenin State Library study shows that the recommendatory bibliography increases book demands in libraries and promotes general spiritual development of readers. (NH)