The Orlovskaya Regional Scientific Universal Public Library named after I. A. Bunin, previously named after N. K. Krupskaya and commonly known as "Buninka", is the oldest and largest library in Oryol and the Oryol region. Its history dates back to 1833, when the Oryol provincial public library was founded.

The library's collection includes over 600,000 printed, audiovisual, and electronic documents, as well as about 500 titles of magazines and newspapers. Each year, up to 12,000 new documents are added to the collection. The library has 16 departments with 123 employees. Daily, the library serves up to a thousand users, and the total number of regular readers exceeds 35,000 people. Annually, the library issues about one million copies of documents, utilizing both traditional and modern service technologies.

The library houses rare editions, including manuscripts such as the "Menaion" from the late 15th century, the Gospel from 1600 printed by Mamonich, books from the Petrine era, lifetime editions of Kheraskov's "Rossiada", Lomonosov's "Collection of Various Works in Verse and Prose...", Pushkin's "History of Pugachev", as well as books with autographs and works of graphic art from various years.

On July 30, 1833, a decree was issued by Oryol Governor A. V. Kochubey to establish the provincial public library, which opened to the public on December 18, 1838. In December 1841, the library temporarily ceased operations due to a lack of reader donations, but its collections were preserved. In 1850, the library moved to an annex of a private house, and in January 1858, it was reopened at the initiative of Governor V. I. Safonovich. In 1866, the library closed again.

In 1897, with the support of Governor A. N. Trubnikov, a reading library for officials opened in the building of the provincial government. In 1917, the library was nationalized, and in 1918 and 1919, two new libraries appeared in Oryol: the provincial central and the central city library. On May 3, 1920, the recreated centralized provincial library began operations.

In 1929, the Oryol authorities appealed to N. K. Krupskaya to name the library after her, and in 1937 it was officially mentioned under this name for the first time. In 1938, the library was reorganized into a regional one. In 1941, before the occupation, part of the valuable copies was evacuated to Yelets, while the remaining ones were subjected to censorship. In 1943, before retreating, the Germans mined the library building but did not manage to blow it up. On September 12, 1943, the reading room resumed operations.

In 1959, the library moved to a new building, where it remains to this day. In 1966, it was granted scientific status, and on October 15, 1992, it was named after I. A. Bunin.