The Russian State Library in Moscow serves as the national library as well as a public, with the largest collection in the country (about 45 million items). It should not be confused with Russian National Library in St. Petersburg, which is one of the oldest public libraries in eastern Europe; it holds over 34 million volumes. There are over 50,000 public libraries throughout the country. Some of the larger collections include the Gorky Moscow Institute of Literature library in Moscow (13.2 million volumes), the State University of Technology library in St. Petersburg (2.9 million volumes), the Bauman Moscow State Engineering University library (three million volumes), the Moscow M. V. Lomonosov State University (7.27 million volumes), the State University at Petersburg (6.4 million volumes), and dozens of other massive collections throughout the country. The Russian Library Association was established in 1994.

Russia has over 1,000 museums. Russian museums house some of the finest collections of European art in the world, the best known of which is the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. Also in St. Petersburg are Dostoevsky Memorial House-Museum, the Literary Museum of the Institute of Russian Literature, the State Russian Museum, and the State Museum of Sculpture, housing the country's largest collection of sculpture. Among the dozens of important museums in Moscow are the State Historical Museum, the State Literature Museum, the Tolstoy House Museum, the Pushkin Museum, the Chekhov House Museum, the Paleontological Museum of the Academy of Sciences, and the Cathedral of the Assumption, a religious arts museum housed in a 15th-century cathedral. The St. Petersburg Erotica Museum opened in 2004.