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Stanford University Libraries has recently acquired and made available to researchers the personal and professional papers of Russian poet Andrei Voznesenskii (Andrey Voznesensky). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines options and procedures for evaluating the physical conditions of Slavic and East Central European publications in libraries. The study concentrates on paper quality, since a large percentage of all materials published in East Central Europe and the countries of the former Soviet Union are at risk since they were printed on acidic paper. The author outlines preservation issues and provides basic instructions for evaluating collections. Such evaluations provide essential information necessary if a library is to develop an organized preservation plan for its collections. The paper outlines a simple program developed at the University of Kansas Libraries to evaluate the degree of risk in collections. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article focuses on the Ivan Petrushevich papers at the Hoover Institution. The collection includes printed materials, correspondence, documents, and clippings related to Ukraine, specifically addressing questions about Ukraine's territory after World War I, the Paris Peace Conference, Ukrainian Diplomatic Missions in London and Paris, the development of cooperatives (as a movement) in Ukraine and Canada, and finally, the political and social life of Ukrainians in Canada and the United States (1913–1940). The Petrushevich papers are a rich primary source of information regarding political events and various Ukrainian subjects during the interwar period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to develop new avenues of research for the study of the Ukrainian press in Europe in a retrospective of the 20th century. Specifically, it aims to present here a comprehensive overview of the Ukrainian periodicals issued in the West European languages during the Ukrainian Revolution (1917–1921). In the process of the search work conducted during 2012–2019, the corpus of the Ukrainian foreign-language press in Europe spanning the Ukrainian national liberation movement/Ukrainian Revolution has been identified. This has been accomplished through a comprehensive study of the foreign-language bibliography (by means of the bibliographic heuristics' method) and scholarly reference sources, as well as systematic fieldwork in the holdings of both Western and Ukrainian archives and libraries. The Ukrainian press in the West European languages of Europe of that period serves as a barometer of receptions by different West European media outlets of the Ukrainian Revolution (1917–1921). Its structure, editorial policies, and content serve both as a record, as well as a digest of the foreign (i.e., West European) press receptions about the Ukrainian national revolution. The complex nature of this cluster of the Ukrainian press thus enables researchers (both Ukrainian, and foreign scholars) to use it as an important (and sometimes indispensable) source of information about the development and transformations of the Ukrainian Revolution. This study argues that this corpus of publications is a unique phenomenon in the history of Ukrainian journalism in terms of its transformation, diversification, internationalization and subsequent integration into the European public sphere. This study also shows that there are yet many gaps in the fields of media history, Slavic and East European Studies, and Ukrainian Studies of the interwar period awaiting attention of future bibliographers and scholars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper looks at library approval plans for material published in Slavic, East European, and Eurasian countries from the selector's point of view. Reasons why a selector would or would not want one are examined. Success with approval plans requires monitoring receipts, as well as good and ongoing communication among the selector, the acquistions department, and the vendor. A preliminary list of vendors offering approval plans for the countries of the region appears in the appendix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the results of a survey carried out in 2000 to establish the extent of Baltic collections in United Kingdom libraries: academic, public, and émigré community libraries. Baltic collections are understood in this paper to mean materials in the Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian languages; however, reference is also made to materials in other languages about the history, society, and cultures of these countries. The paper begins with a short introduction to the history of Baltic library collections in the U.K., and then looks at the current situation, seeking to map Baltic collections at U.K. libraries, and establish collection size and strengths. Current collecting patterns are examined in the light of research trends, and the impact of electronic information sources is considered. Finally, prognostications are made about the future of Baltic library collections in the U.K., taking into account number of users, political factors, and the move towards increased inter-library cooperation occasioned by diminishing acquisitions budgets. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The author reports on her trip to Moscow and Uzbekistan. In Moscow she attended and presented a paper at the conference Rumiantsevskie chteniia [Rumiantsev readings] 2013. After the conference she set up a new approval plan for Yale University Libraries with Natasha Kozmenko Booksellers. In Tashkent she participated in the seventh international conference Information and Library Resources for Science, Education, Culture, and Business: Central Asia 2013. She and some of the other participants also traveled to Samarkand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors summarize the tenth annual conference of the Russian Library Association, held in St. Petersburg in May 2005, as well as the Fourth International Nevskii Book Forum, which took place at the same time. The paper discusses the current slate of libraries in Russia and in St. Petersburg and also the work of the RL4's sections and round tables. Work of the bibliography section is focused on in some detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper summarizes the ninth annual conference of the Russian Library Association in May 2004. Included are the exhibits, several plenary addresses, the work of the Bibliography Section, and election results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on the responsibilities of collection development officers at American libraries, and on selection processes in general and for electronic serials and databases in particular. The author discusses the advantages and disadvantages of having electronic serials and databases in libraries and the ways these formats impact users, selectors, and reference services overall. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper highlights the Pacific Coast (of the United States) Slavic Consortium of libraries. It looks at the consortial agreement, purpose, and arrangement, and analyzes how they inform electronic delivery of resources. Conclusions on the efficacy of consortial arrangements for electronic information delivery are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article introduces series of topics discussed in the July 2005 issue of the journal. The issue starts with a detailed discussion by a Polish librarian of Russian resources in Poland. One article examines approval plans for material published in Slavic, East European and Eurasian countries from the selector's point of view. It also includes a preliminary list of vendors offering approval plans for countries of the region. The earlier version of the paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies.

It is now undisputed that information resources freely available on U.S. Internet sites can be valuable for answering appropriate ready reference inquiries. Such resources range from online directories (Switchboard.com and others) to online encyclopedias (Brittanica.com and others). How valuable are freely available Russian Internet resources for use in answering similar kinds of ready reference inquiries? This article makes an assessment by looking at a number of specific examples. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses work by Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia with Polish-American, Czech-American, and Slovak-American collections in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

As the Muslim population grows in Russia, and along with it questions of radical Islam and the role of Islam in Russian society and government, it has become increasingly important for scholars, students, and policy makers to be able to conduct research effectively on the presence of Islam in Russia. English-language literature devoted to the topic is infrequent and often difficult to locate and access. This research guide points to important and recent books, reference works, periodicals, periodical databases, Internet resources, electronic discussion lists, and scholarly organizations to help identify relevant quality research material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overview of major institutions housing Russian émigré collections, primarily in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Harold M. Leich's outstanding service as a Slavic librarian from 1969 to 2019 earned him the Distinguished Service Award of the Committee on Libraries and Information Resources, delivered during the 2019 annual convention of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES). He began as a cataloger at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where six years later he was promoted to Librarian for Slavic and East European Acquisitions. From 1987 until retirement he served at the Library of Congress as Russian Area Specialist. For his last 20 years there he also served as the specialist for Modern Greek. He assisted Dr. James H. Billington, the Librarian of Congress and noted scholar of Russia, with many projects. Over his career, Leich produced more than 50 publications, mostly concerning Russian materials, but also on Modern Greek collections as well as on book matters relating to other countries. He participated on many ASEEES committees, and he also served on committees for the American Library Association, the Modern Greek Studies Association, and other societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the advent of printing in the Turkic languages of the North Caucasus in 1806, the Kumyks, Karachais, Balkars, Nogais, Daghestani Azeris, and Trukhmen have created a rich body of published materials, one that is well worth the attention of Western scholars and librarians. Along with publications by other numerically small peoples, however, these materials suffer from serious neglect. What is lost when research library collections focus only on "major" languages (and/or only on those languages their own current faculty and students can read)? Do librarians at large research libraries have a responsibility to redress imbalances of this type, and what are the practical obstacles to doing so? This article (Part III of three) discusses steps that libraries and scholars can take to improve this situation, surveys the North Caucasus Turkic Web environment, considers the problematic role of the Russian language, and emphasizes the urgency of collecting and preserving this category of material and encouraging its use in contemporary scholarship. Part I of this article appeared in volume 18, nos. 3–4 of Slavic & East European Information Resources and Part II appeared in volume 19, nos. 1–2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article shows the complex of information-bibliographic resources generated by Gosudarstvennaia publichnaia nauchno-tekhnicheskaia biblioteka Sibirskogo otdeleniia Rossiskoi akademii nauk (GPNTB SO RAS) [State Public Scientific-Technological Library of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences], which is the largest research library in Asian Russia, to support historical investigations in Siberia and the Russian Far East. This complex consists of electronic bibliographic and full-text databases, bibliographic retrospective and current indexes of literature. A brief bibliometric analysis of History of Siberia and the Far East (topical, chronological, quantitative, type-species content of documents, etc.) is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The selection and acquisition of contemporary research-quality Russian and Soviet history imprints from Russia is presenting increasingly formidable challenges for institutions with mandates to collect and preserve this category of material. This situation promises to worsen, as, increasingly, the administration of the Russian Federation appears to be preparing to enforce an official historiographic agenda. The agenda, inferred over the past several years by many professional observers and interpreters of the Russian administration’s words and deeds, is to promote a view of the country’s twentieth-century history which reactivates World War II-era nationalist narratives, justifies a centralized authoritarian model of government, and cultivates a sense of estrangement from the West. Anticipating that high-level historical scholarship on particular aspects of Russian history might become an endangered genre in the Russian publishing arena—and that such publications might become increasingly difficult to identify and acquire—collectors should begin strategizing for a potentially challenging marketplace. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the various types of texts produced by the Czech immigrant community in the United States in the nineteenth century. An interesting example is the periodicalHospodář. The author lists some bibliographies and directories that researchers can consult in order to locate such material, but much of it remains either unknown, difficult to access, or both. Buildings can also be considered texts. He urges librarians, archivists, and scholars of sources to work more with these materials. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents the evolution of the bibliographic resources created by Gosudarstvennaia publichnaia nauchno-tekhnicheskaia biblioteka Sibirskogo otdeleniia Rossiiskoi akademii nauk (GPNTB SO RAN) [State Public Scientific-Technological Library of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences] to provide information support to researchers of SO RAN. The components of these resources are described briefly: bibliographic databases, databases of abstracts, full-text thematic databases, and problem-specific databases. Also discussed are ways to improve these library information products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the Soviet years, each of the fifteen constituent union republics established a book chamber tasked with maintaining legal deposit of publications, archival preservation, national bibliography, centralized cataloging, and other book-related responsibilities. This introductory article summarizes the fate of the book chambers and national bibliographies after the dissolution of the USSR in late 1991. Several countries have maintained their book chambers, with varying success, while six countries have merged their book chambers' responsibilities and collections into their national libraries, again with varying degrees of success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National book chambers in post-Soviet Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova have essentially retained the Soviet model of bibliographic control. Although arguments were advanced after 1991 that book chambers should merge with their respective national libraries, many national book chambers have survived and continue to compile their national bibliographies. The number of bibliographic publications has increased substantially over the last decade and a half. The chambers in Belarus and Ukraine have made substantial electronic access to their national bibliographies available online. The important work of the national book chambers makes a compelling case for their continued institutional independence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Republic of Georgia, the National Parliamentary Library took over responsibility for the national bibliographic agency in 2006. Before this, the agency responsible for bibliographic control and statistics was the Georgian Book Chamber [Cignis palata] founded in 1924 as part of the Soviet system of national book chambers. There is currently no national bibliography in Georgia due to the lack of a legal deposit law and no legal infrastructure relating to libraries or national bibliography. The National Parliamentary Library, which assigns ISBNs and ISSNs, relies on an informal agreement with publishers to collect one copy of each publication, and estimates that it receives on this basis about 80-85% of publications. All relevant professionals and organizations, including the Georgian Publishers' and Booksellers' Association, recognize the importance of re-establishing the national bibliography and are working towards this aim. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article revisits the author's essay in Solanus on the state of Slavic librarianship at the turn of the twenty-first century in order to assess how the profession has changed in the interim. Trehub notes that the single most important effect of the proliferation of new library information technologies has been a gradual shift in emphasis from curation to creation. The library may no longer be the first stop in a student's research, but it remains the preferred venue for study, collaboration, social interaction, Internet use, and access to and help with specialized resources. The job of librarians—including Slavic librarians—is to build on their comparative advantage in these areas and re-integrate libraries into the students' information workflow. The author suggests that the best way to maintain Slavic studies' viability as a discipline is to participate more fully and be represented more prominently in the technology-driven scholarly digital initiatives that are transforming librarianship in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the Slavic Cataloging Manual (SCM), available on the World Wide Web since 1994. The SCM contains a great deal of valuable information for all aspects of cataloging materials in Slavic and East European languages and in the non-Slavic languages of the former Soviet Union, as well as equally valuable information for cataloging materials about the area. The manual offers especially detailed guidance on heading construction and subject analysis for the dissolved unions of the former USSR, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. This is a valuable resource for anyone involved in Slavic cataloging, both the experienced cataloger and the novice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Google is pursuing "mass digitization" of Russian books as part of its efforts that now involve more than a dozen partners, although so far there is no separate Russian-language search interface. How easy is it to find materials in books.google.com that are in Russian? What do users need to know to maximize their results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the André Savine collection, recently acquired by the University of North Carolina, and reports on an analysis of author-generated metadata contained in a portion of the bibliographic/biographical record compiled by the late André Savine. For this study, the contents of 368 index cards created by Savine were analyzed for core bibliographic elements (author-generated descriptive metadata). Elements were identified and conceptually mapped to the English and Russian versions of the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set (DCMES). Results of this study indicate that Savine created extensive descriptive metadata and that ten of these data elements map to the DCMES. Other key metadata elements that do not map to DC were also identified. It is recommended that these additional elements also be incorporated into the schema used to facilitate resource discovery of Savine's index cards. The descriptive metadata extracted from Savine's bibliographic and biographical information provide a model metadata scheme that can be used with similar projects in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proliferation of distance education courses raises many questions for librarians, not least of which is how best to support distance learners as they seek bibliographic training. WebCT is one type of course management software used at many universities. The Slavic Reference Service at the University of Illinois has constructed an orientation course for Slavic bibliography using WebCT courseware. While there have been some difficulties in building this course, it does make several types of reference services available: consultation, bibliographic instruction, and ready reference. Plans to expand these services are underway. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses online sources dealing with current Russian laws and regulations. Included are websites from branches of the federal government, commercial databases and commercial information systems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article, a follow-up to an earlier one, deals with problems involved in choosing among the competing fee-based Russian language full-text services. Each of the products covers the same core set of online news sources, but most also offer additional features or kinds of files. Each also seems intended for a different target audience, a factor that is important to understand. Vendor responsiveness to suggestions varies as well. A final issue to consider is access to the material several decades in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Over the last five years, useful information available about and from Russia has been increasing in both volume and quality. This article looks specifically at sources of news available via the Internet from Russia, primarily online versions of Russian newspapers. There are many useful free resources available as well as good collections of pointers to such free resources (AU, etc.), but the best selection is available from database vendors. An extended comparison is made of these resources, available from East View Publications, Integrum WorldWide, Internet Securities, Inc., News Express, and Russian Story. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]