Abbasov familiarized himself with Vyatkin’s archives as well as with the information about him in the periodical press. He considered Vyatkin his kindred spirit. Vassily Vyatkin, a Russian man, was in love with Samarkand and its history. He was fluent in the local dialects. He laid particular stress upon developing a network of public libraries in the region, which, he believed, would lay the groundwork for the education. According to Vassily Vyatkin, it is essential for a city as celebrated as Samarkand to have its own scientific and cultural centers.

In 1961, Akhtam Abbasov got appointed director of the library of Samarkand State University. Due to his extensive theoretical knowledge and practical expertise, the library’s status was upgraded in 1961.

Akhtam Abbasov combined the managerial and public work and continued his research and publications about Vassily Vyatkin’s contribution to history, archeology and oriental studies. He traveled to Moscow, Leningrad and Tashkent to work in their archives and libraries, searching for more information about Vyatkin. In 1969, he wrote and defended his thesis “Vassily L. Vyatkin – historian-archeologist and historian-orientalist of Uzbekistan” at the Institute of Oriental Studies, Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan. In total, Akhtam Abbasovich published 15 scientific papers. He was editor of more than 200 scientific editions, bibliographies and catalogs.

An experienced manager, Akhtam Abbasovich gave all his energies to developing the library! Under Abasov’s guidance its personnel was supplemented with highly qualified professionals while its book and periodical collections rose, reaching up to 3 mln items. Moreover, the department specializing in oriental manuscripts and rare books was set up.

Abbasov put a lot of effort into persuading powers that be to safeguard and study the legacy of oriental poets and thinkers. He created the Samarkand depository with over 50,000 manuscripts, including 15,000 rare items, in Arab, Persian, Tajik, and Turk languages, dating from XIII to XX centuries.

The holdings, featuring works by Farid Attar, Al-Ghazali, Nur ad-Din A. Jami, and other poets and philosophers, benefitted not only university scholars but also orientalists from other Uzbek cities and from abroad. “This is a mine of knowledge containing the heritage of our ancestors,” often said the director to his colleagues, urging them to take good care of the priceless manuscripts.

Akhtam Abbasovich Abbasov was an active public figure. Under Abbasov’s guidance in 1978, an exhibition The Oriental Manuscripts, based upon the oriental collection of the SSU library, opened in the Mirzo Ulugbek madrassah on the Registan Square in Samarkand. The exhibition was timed to coincide with the 1st International Musicology Symposium “Shashmakom” and received a high appraisal on the part of Uzbekistan’s leadership. As a deputy chairman of the republican research and methodological commission for libraries and the secretary of the Communist Party bureau at the SSU Rector’s office, Abbasov repeatedly met with the labor collectives at various enterprises and made interesting reports.