The librarian scans the shelves and quickly picks out a few works -- Orwell, Sorokin, Dostoevsky -- the authors she thinks can best help cast some light in a dark time for Russia. The spartan library, opened last year in an effort to counter growing propaganda and censorship, is housed in the ground floor of a run-down building with a computer and a few hundred books. "The most important thing is that here you can develop yourself, despite what is happening in our country, and somehow you can forget this fear and feel freer," says library visitor Dmitry Shestopalov. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES