The Mediatheque has a specialized reading room that is open to members of the Hermitage Student Club and to auditors of the Hermitage seminars such as young tour guides and guide-interpreters.

The collection of books in the reading room makes it possible to look into the history and culture of Western Europe, Russia, and the ancient and contemporary East. It includes works by well-known Western and Russian art historians who specialize in the history and theory of art such as K. Werman, J. Burckhardt, M. Dvorak, D. Revald, and A. Benois. There are monographs dedicated to the greatest names in the fine arts and literature of a biographical nature: G. Vasari's 'Lives of the Artists' and Van Gogh's 'Letters', among others. A considerable section is devoted to modern art.

The historical and cultural studies section of the library includes materials from pre-history to the 20th century and has works by such well-known authors as F. Buslaev, B. Turaev, J. Heising and others.

The reading room also has a number of encyclopedia editions devoted to art, religion, history, numismatics, etc. The most important part of the collection consists of materials on the history and collections of the Hermitage and catalogues of the temporary exhibitions written by senior staff of the museum and their foreign colleagues. This section is regularly added to. Together with materials continually arriving in the reading room from international conferences dealing with questions of culture and art that are organized within the Hermitage and elsewhere, all of this gives the reader a chance to stay abreast of current artistic life.

The Mediatheque of the Youth Center has video materials such as CD-ROMs and video cassettes devoted to the Hermitage and other museums of St Petersburg, materials on the history and culture of foreign countries, and on separate master artists and their work. It also contains encyclopedic information on various fields of knowledge.

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