The author speculates on the life, scientific, pedagogic and social activities of Russian prominent library scientist Yury Nikolaevich Stolyarov and his contribution into the library studies. His publications embrace the problems of library collections development, general library studies, library profession and education, documentology, document resources, document communication, book culture, theory of information, library ethics, bibliopsychology by Nikolas Rubakin, information resources, efficiency of library activities, methodology, library statistics, bibliography, history of librarianship, etc. The key works by Stolyarov are listed. The importance of several works by Stolyarov is revealed: “Library: The structural and functional approach”, “The evolution of library collections studies”, ”The origins of book culture”, textbooks and learning aids in library collections studies, etc.Yury Stolyarov’s childhood years and environment, stages of his professional career, his work for Kaluga Regional Library, army service, work for Moscow State Institute of Culture and job positions, engagement in dissertation boards and IFLA activities are discussed. His pedagogical and social activities are characterized, awards are mentioned, too.