The article describes contribution to the library science and scientific activity of the Russian State Library (RSL) of the famous librarian Maria Ivanovna Akilina (April 13, 1953 — June 04, 2021).Since 1989, first as senior research scientist in the departments of the Russian State Library, and then in the scientific research department of library science, she worked her way up from leading researcher to the head of the department. Together with her colleagues — library scientists, she made the great contribution to the development of problems of the general theory of library science, the organization of practical activities of libraries, scientific and methodological assistance to libraries of the country.In the scientific research department of library science, there was created the all-Russian system for monitoring library collections; there were studied the issues of standardization of library science; and the work was carried out to create the Electronic Library of the RSL. The department developed and implemented the methodology for preparing the first fundamental unique reference publication on library science in our country — the “Library Encyclopaedia”, which was published in 2007 by the “Pashkov Dom” publisher. M.I. Akilina was a member of the editorial board of this publication; she also made a great contribution to the work as an editor and author of the articles. Together with the staff of the department from 2002 through 2013, she actively participated in the publication of the scientific-practical collection “Librarianship — the 21st Century” — the supplement to the journal “Bibliotekovedenie” [Russian Journal of Library Science], and also became one of the compilers of the collection “Library Research in the System of Postnonclassical Science”.M.I. Akilina managed to create an atmosphere of creativity and scientific research in the department, which became a significant factor in the development of interdisciplinary approaches to the study of librarianship, its various aspects and research practices. Since 2015, M.I. Akilina worked as a leading research scientist in the Centre for the study of problems of library development in the information society. She is the author of more than 100 scientific papers, major part of which is devoted to the scientific and methodological activities of libraries and general theoretical problems of library science; these are the publications about national, central, mass rural and other libraries. When communicating with colleagues, she always took into account not only their achievements, but also the ability to be honest both in scientific work and in human relations. Her contribution to the library scientific research will undoubtedly become part of the research heritage of library science.