Submitted by
Sergius Yakobson, Chief
July 10, 1967

The progress of the Division's activities is reflected statistically in an aggregate of 34,737 readers serviced (an increase of 14.1% over FY 1966), 41,216 reference services rendered, 21 special studies prepared, and 52,018 recommendations made toward the development of the collections. A sizable addition of space to the Slavic Room made it possible to double the seating capacity, expand considerably the reference collections, and accommodate new reference facilities.

A banner year can be recorded in regard to the Division's publications programs. The end of FY 1967 finds three bibliographies in the final stages of publication: Czechoslovakia. A Bibliographic Guide, the third in a series of area bibliographies; East Germany. A Selected Bibliography, which updates an earlier version prepared in 1958; and The USSR and East Europe; Periodicals in the Western Languages, the third and enlarged edition of a bibliographic tool the predecessors of which had met with a most favorable reception. The two-volume Latin America in Soviet Writings, published in this fiscal year by the Johns Hopkins Press, received commendatory acclaim in reviews and was included among the "Selected Reference Books of 1965/66" in College and Research Libraries. A study on intellectual ferment in the Soviet Union was published as a Senate document in 15,000 copies. In response to active public interest, the exhibit in commemoration of the millennium of Poland's nationhood and adoption of Christianity had to be continued into the spring of 1967, and on the occasion of the Second National Convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, selected East European materials were placed on display in the Slavic Room.

One of this year's highlights was the active contribution the Division specialist staff was called upon to make toward evolving the groundwork for the National Program for Acquisitions and Cataloging and PL 480 operations as they relate to the East European area. Staff members participated in September 1966 in discussions at the Vienna conference between the Librarian of Congress and representatives of six East European countries, and subsequently assisted on the spot in furthering the implementation of these programs in Czechoslovakia, Poland, the USSR, and Yugoslavia.

I. ACQUISITION OF MATERIALS

The future chronicler of the Library of Congress may well record the year under purview as a milestone in the development of new concepts and goals of the Library's acquisitions operations. They were initiated, in radical departure from traditional practices, in the course of implementing the National Program for Acquisitions and Cataloging (Title II-C, Higher Education Act) and PL 480 activities. Since this was the year when novel dimensions of the Library's operations on an international scale became discernible, it is only fair to assume that such significant transformations will have a profound impact on the scope, profile, and complexion of the Library's foreign language collections. Several countries within the Division's geographic compass, owing to traditionally advanced standards of library techniques and national bibliographic registration, seemed qualified candidates for early consideration for these programs. Thus one of the highlights of this year's activities of the Division is the active hand its staff members were called upon to take in devising the blueprint of and laying the groundwork for these programs as they related to the Central and East European area.

The Chief and Assistant Chief were invited to participate in the discussions at the Vienna conference of September 1966 initiated by the Librarian of Congress with the national librarians of Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Rumania, and Yugoslavia to explore the possibility of launching shared cataloging programs in these parts of the world. They contributed their knowledge of the library and publications systems concerned, their language skills, and their connections with these foreign library representatives, to further the objectives of the conference. Following this gathering, the Chief accompanied the Director of the Processing Department to Wiesbaden, Germany, in order to advise and assist him in establishing Title II-C operations in the Federal Republic of Germany.

At the direction of the Library administration, the Assistant Chief proceeded to Prague, Czechoslovakia, to pursue the Vienna talks with the Director of the Czechoslovak State Library in an effort to formulate concrete plans for a possible expansion of the Title II-C program to Czechoslovakia. A far-reaching meeting of minds came about on this occasion, and upon his return to the Library the Assistant Chief submitted to the Processing Department specific information, which should prove useful as soon as the Library is ready to implement the program.

The visits of the Assistant Chief to Vienna and Prague were also part of an acquisitions survey trip which he undertook as a representative of the Library to Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and Rumania. In the course of this travel he visited and transacted business with representatives of a large number of leading libraries, academies of sciences, universities, learned institutions, book trade organizations, archives, and museums. The main objectives of this travel were finding ways and means of improving quality, spread, and speed of the Library's current acquisitions programs in these areas; arranging for the procurement of retrospective publications for the Library's general and law collections; investigating the possibility of closing gaps in programs of microfilming; and paving the way for securing microfilms of manuscripts relevant to the study of American history. As an outgrowth of this trip, there has been an increase in the flow of gift materials to the Library as well as a marked intensification of exchange contacts with the countries visited.

In December 1966, the Librarian and officials of the Processing Department went to Moscow and Warsaw to conduct there a series of negotiations concerning the extension of the Library's new acquisitions programs. Two members of the Division staff participated. Dr. Janina W. Hoskins assisted in discussions with Polish authorities and Dr. Robert V. Allen accompanied the group to Moscow and took part in a week of deliberations.

Yugoslavia, for which the Congress in the summer of 1966 authorized use of counterpart funds for PL 480 operations and which ranked high in the Library's plans for instituting Title II-C operations, became the first country to be earmarked for simultaneous enactment of both programs. With this aim in mind and in pursuance of conversations the Librarian had previously held in Yugoslavia, Mr. Donald F. Jay, Coordinator of Overseas Programs, accompanied by Dr. Horecky, visited Belgrade in December 1966 to discuss with Yugoslav government authorities details of the modus operandi. Dr. Horecky assisted Mr. Jay in arranging for appointments and meetings and participated in negotiations held with Yugoslav government officials, publishers, librarians, and representatives of research and academic institutions. The results proved gratifying beyond original expectations. Details of cataloging services to be rendered were hammered out with the Yugoslav Bibliographic Institute in Belgrade and the Yugoslav Ministry of Finance concurred in the release of the required dinar equivalent of U.S.-owned funds for the operation of the PL 480 program.

In view of this favorable turn of events, it proved feasible for Mr. James R. Bowman, the Library's new Field Director for Yugoslavia, to take up his new post in Belgrade by the end of February 1967. Dr. Horecky accompanied him there to be of assistance in setting up the new programs. The selection of the first 12, and later 16, American participants in the program was undertaken by the Coordinating Committee for Slavic and East European Library Resources (COCOSEERS) in close cooperation with the Processing Department and the Chief of the Division.

The Division's staff was also actively involved in other phases of planning and negotiating the newly developing programs. The Assistant Chief took part in discussions held in the Reference Department to work out matters for evaluating Title II-C receipts from various European countries and two staff members (Dr. Allen and Dr. Arnold H. Price) were assigned to serve as a part of a 13-man task force (selected from 108 recommending officers) to conduct a test program of screening and identifying wanted, marginal, and undesired items. When representatives of two leading German bookdealer firms visited the Library to clarify their role in the Title II-C program in Germany and possible services they could render in regard to operations envisaged for several countries in East Central Europe, the Chief and the Area Specialist for Central Europe took part in these discussions held in the Processing Department. Incidentally, Dr. Price reports that the adoption of Title II-C procedures resulted in increased efficiency in securing German materials.

The never-ending task of rounding out the Library's retrospective collections by identifying disturbing lacunae and recommending remedial action to fill them was a constant concern of the Division's specialist staff. In this connection, particular mention should be made of the beneficial results of the systematic care given by the Division's Greek specialist to the Library's Greek collections, which showed visible traces of past neglect.

Projects undertaken to isolate weak spots in the Library's collections are further exemplified by collection surveys designed to determine the completeness of coverage of older Yugoslav periodicals and newspapers as well as of retrospective sets of the Yugoslav National Bibliography. To be sure, the Division would have been more successful in its efforts to obtain urgently needed desiderata had the funds initially assigned for that purpose not been subsequently curtailed and disallowed altogether in early April.

Some examples of notable retrospective acquisitions will illustrate the Division's endeavors in this domain. Among this year's harvest were microfiche files of the German Reichstag debates and papers for the period 1880–1933, procured as a replacement for the Library's brittle and deteriorating sets, as well as a rare copy of the first edition (Leipzig, 1794) of Grundlage der gesammten Wissenschaftslehre als Handschrift für seine Zuhörer by the well-known German philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte; several 17th century books from Poland; the basic three volume Slovak encyclopedic dictionary Slovenský naučný slovník; a series of full sets or missing volumes of important Finnish cultural and literary journals published in the early 20th century, along with some 400 valuable monographs sponsored by leading Finnish cultural institutions; the massive 28-volume Greek encyclopedia Megale Hellenike enkyclopaideia; and, as a welcome addition to the Russian holdings, a complete microfilm run for the years 1825–55 of the Journal de Saint-Pétersbourg, which was the official spokesman of the Imperial Russian government and served in particular as a vehicle for the expression of views on international affairs of the time.

II. ORGANIZATION OF MATERIALS

Long standing hopes and plans to improve facilities for readers in the Slavic Room area came to fruition this fiscal year. The addition of approximately one third more space made it possible not only to enlarge the seating capacity but also to expand considerably the reference collections and to accommodate urgently needed reference aids in the newly gained area. As a result of these innovations, reader and book can now meet in the Slavic Room in more congenial and comfortable surroundings.

Mindful of the fact that a competently selected and organized reference collection is the lifeblood of efficient reference service to the public, the Curator of the Slavic Room, assisted by the Division's specialist staff, gave careful thought well in advance of the actual expansion to strengthening those sectors which, because of space limitations, had not received the deserved emphasis. Primary attention was given to broadening the representation of reference works concerning countries of East and East Central Europe outside the USSR and to reinforcing the bibliographic reference materials for all Slavic countries. A special collection of works dealing with the Eastern European area as a whole was set up in the alcove and a shelf section for representative current newspapers from Slavic countries was also established. The Cyrillic Union Catalog has now been ensconced in the alcove fronting the Slavic Room and serves many readers as an important and unique source of information. Special lights and work tables make it easy and comfortable to examine its contents, and through a purposeful arrangement, this catalog now occupies [50]% less space that [sic] at its former secluded and inconvenient location.

Summing up the results of the move, the Slavic Room reference collection now numbers circa 7,500 volumes, i.e. 1,000 more than before. The seating capacity is almost doubled and an increase of 14.1% in reader patronage has been registered.

The Division has been constantly concerned with devising ways of improving access to those segments of materials in its custodial care which, in the absence of full cataloging or ready bibliographic control, can be purposefully utilized only with the help of provisional inventories and dependable shelf arrangement. Appreciable progress to this end was accomplished. Thorough shelf-reading of the Cyrillic 4 and Yudin collections, kept on Deck 8 of the Annex, was carried out by its staff and locational signs were put up for the orientation of the staff and readers. Records are now maintained for some 400 current newspapers, as well as for a large number of Soviet standards in the Division's custody which facilitate the location and retrieval of these materials.

Frequent explorations of the Library's collections occasioned by reference or bibliographic assignments afford the specialist staff a particular vantage point from which to spot and identify valuable rare works which in future merit a safer custodial niche free from peril of theft and deterioration. In this pursuit staff members have identified and recommended for transfer to the Rare Book Division a number of works, including a rare edition by Pushkin and several valuable old Polish books.

Quite frequently the Division and the Photoduplication Service receive reference inquiries concerning the availability of Russian periodicals on microfilm in the Library, yet no consolidated list or catalog of this corpus of materials has been available up to now. To avoid time-consuming searches in each individual case, the Division is in the process of preparing just such an inventory, which when completed by Dr. Balys should provide a convenient device for handling queries of that type.

Last, but not least, members of the specialist staff scrutinized thousands of volumes in the Descriptive Cataloging Division to insure that those in potential demand were accorded priority consideration for cataloging.

III. USE OF MATERIALS

1. Reference Services

How well have the previously discussed endeavors to develop and organize the collections stood the acid test of meeting readers' needs and demands? The answer is clearly in the affirmative. With the help of the Library's substantial old and newly acquired collections in the field, it proved possible to solve a host of reference and bibliographic problems brought to us by a vast patronage. The statistical record for this year reveals that an increased total of 34,737 readers received altogether 41,216 reference services which, as the diaries of the Division's activities can attest, were of impressive diversity. Speed and efficiency in tackling these tasks were greatly enhanced by the Division's area files of periodical articles which were enlarged by over 7,000 new entries and now comprise a total of circa 70,000 cards.

Members of Congress and the staff of Congressional committees were again among our most assiduous clients. A study on Aspects of Intellectual Ferment in the Soviet Union, co-authored by the Chief and Dr. Allen, was published in 15,000 copies as a Senate document and received wide critical acclaim in the United States and abroad. Samples of routinely provided services for the Capitol Hill clientele included a compilation on the gross national products of Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, and Poland; documentation of Soviet comments on the activities of the U.S. Communist Party; a review of a Senatorial newsletter dealing with a visit to the Soviet Union; the preparation of a draft for a commemorative address on the enslavement of Lithuania; and the updating of a bibliographic listing of documentation on Hungarians in Rumania and Transylvania. Moreover, members of Congress called on the Division regularly for translation services. The language skills concentrated in the Division were also drawn upon by the Librarian, the Deputy Librarian, the Copyright Office, and quite frequently by the American Red Cross National Headquarters.

The roster of agencies of the U.S. government which availed themselves of the Division's area skills and research resources includes the White House; the Departments of State, Defense, Health, Education and Welfare, and Commerce as well as numerous other federal establishments. For instance, the National Park Service needed material on U.S. ethnic groups for use in an exhibit arranged at the Statue of Liberty. The Social Security Administration recurrently sought data from the Alaska Russian Church Archives in authentication of claims for benefits. The National Bureau of Standards needed statistics on earthquake resistant structures in the USSR.

National news media constituted another sector of our clientele. CBS and ABC requested and obtained background data for programs featuring events in the Soviet Union and U.S. News and World Report was furnished with a bibliography of sources on Soviet foreign policy. Also represented in our reference log book are some of the corporate giants such as du Pont and General Motors.

During the year the staff prepared a total of 21 special studies ranging in coverage from book production in the USSR to biographic information on notable Yugoslav personalities. Briefer bibliographic lists provided in response to ad hoc requests focused on the Balkan campaigns of World War II, Hungary's history from 1919 to 1945, materials relating to the reign of Tsar Nicholas II and the State Duma, and economic developments in East Germany since 1963. Several commemorative events in the Finno-Ugrian area, such as the 10th anniversary of the Hungarian revolution, 600 years of university education in Hungary, and 50 years of Finnish independence stimulated demand for reference and bibliographic information.

A steady flow of service calls emanated from intramural inquirers. Thus the specialist staff cooperated with General Reference and Bibliography Division in conducting a thorough survey of those reference collections in the Main Reading Room and the Thomas Jefferson Room which pertain to countries within the Division's area scope. Concrete recommendations were supplied for upgrading and updating these collections and ridding them of outdated materials. Other demonstrations of how the Division's skills benefit offices in the Library were the continuing services rendered to the Hispanic Foundation and the Children's Book Section in identifying and translating titles. Manuscript Division, Music Division, Serial Division, the Law Library, and the Photoduplication Service also received a variety of services.

Leafing through the files of reference correspondence, one becomes vividly aware not only of the wide spectrum of knowledge treated there, but also of the highly specialized interests of those who turn to the Division. Thus one pauses to scan a request for information from the National Geographic Society on the use in the Soviet Union of golden eagles to hunt wolves. Or one comes upon a letter from an airline pilot who, be it for intellectual curiosity, marital solidarity with his librarian spouse, or for a combination of these reasons, had taken up graduate work in library science with his interest focused on the Soviet library system. In acknowledging what was apparently a satisfactory reply, he offered the Division his Good Samaritan services should an emergency need for airplane reservations arise.

A cursory sampling of the reference files also brings to light a number of instances of the customer's expression of gratification with the quality of service received. The Librarian of Cathedral College in New York, in presenting the Librarian with a copy of her study on "Dante in Poland; a Retrospect," commended Dr. Gisela Weinfeld for considerable research assistance in producing this paper. Other letters do not spare kudos for the efforts of the staff: "The time I spent in the Library of Congress. . .was very valuable for me and it became the most pleasant memory of my visit to the Nation's Capital." "Thank heaven for the Library and its competent staff." In other missives the Library appears as the image of an oasis of efficiency amidst the desert of bureaucracy. Thus, a Ph. D. candidate remarks that far from the "bureaucratic runaround" he had expected, he was quite overwhelmed by the excellent service he received from the Slavic Room staff. And finally one catches sight of still another letter, addressed to Dr. Price, leading up to the following crescendo: "I suppose that all of us feel at times that government is an impenetrable maze and of no immediate assistance to the average citizen. You have made me aware of just how helpful and considerate an organ and employee of the federal government can be."

2. Bibliographies and Related Studies

The Division can register with satisfaction a veritable banner year in terms of its output of publications, either already in print or to appear in the near future. Such a record appears worthy of particular note, since we have not a single full time bibliographer — not to speak of a separate bibliography section — and the duties of the specialist staff are, as a rule, taken up by the gamut of other Library activities. Notwithstanding these impediments, much of the staff's energy went into executing an imaginative publications program, which would respond meaningfully to the needs of scholars and librarians for bibliographic surveys and controls within our area concerns.

The end of FY 1967 finds three bibliographies completed in manuscript form. Czechoslovakia. A Bibliographic Guide (compiled by Professor Rudolf Sturm of Skidmore College), the third in a series sponsored by the Division, is in the hands of the printer and is expected to be available for distribution by early fall. East Germany. A Selected Bibliography (compiled by Dr. Price), which updates an earlier version prepared in the Division in 1958, is now awaiting publication by photooffset [sic] reproduction. The USSR and Eastern Europe; Periodicals in the Western Languages (compiled by Dr. Horecky and Mr. Carlton) is being processed for publication and should also appear in the fall. This bibliography is a third revised and enlarged edition of a listing which was a sell-out when it appeared in its second edition in 1964 (the first edition, published in 1958, was entitled East and East Central Europe; Periodicals in English and other West European Languages).

A proposal by the Division to continue the series of its area guides was approved by the Committee on Bibliography and Publications early in 1967. The first of this series, dealing with Rumania, appeared in 1963; the second, devoted to Bulgaria, was published in 1965; and with work for the third, on Czechoslovakia, completed the decks were cleared for tackling the next installment in the series on Yugoslavia. To this end the services of Professor Michael B. Petrovich of the Department of History, University of Wisconsin, a recognized authority on Balkan studies, have been secured. He will compile the new listing which, like the others, will consist of a bibliographic essay on various aspects of the life of the country followed by an alphabetical list of all the works mentioned. He is expected to submit his manuscript in November 1967, when the Division's editorial staff will begin a review and close editing process.

The Division also reviewed the text of Library of Congress — A Window on the Poles and Poland, which Professor Kazimierz Grzybowski of Duke University was commissioned to prepare for the Library. This collection survey offers a panoramic view of the wealth of recorded knowledge on Poland in the Library's collections and presents a revealing introduction to all those who wish to explore them.

Continuing a fruitful cooperation with the Hispanic Foundation in projects on which mutual area interests converge, the Division took an active hand in getting off the ground a survey entitled Lateinamerikaforschung in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland und in Berlin (West). Compiled by three scholars of the Sozialforschungsstelle of the University of Münster, this study will acquaint American research with developments in the field of Latin American studies in West German universities.

The two volume Latin America in Soviet Writings, a product of a previous joint effort undertaken by the Division and the Hispanic Foundation with Ford Foundation support, has now been published by the Johns Hopkins Press. The June 1967 issue of The American Political Science Review praised it as a "handsome, comprehensive and elaborately organized bibliography. . .this bibliography is invaluable." The positive acclaim it has been receiving is also evidenced by its inclusion among the "Selected Reference Books of 1965/1966" in College and Research Libraries.

3. Exhibits and Informational Activities

Through exhibits and a variety of informational devices, the Division brought to the attention of the interested public the Library's all-too-often hidden treasures and spread the good word of its own activities and services in the field. The display of examples of unique Polonica, including ancient books, maps, prints, and manuscripts, prepared primarily by Dr. Hoskins, which opened in the Rare Book Room on June 27, 1966, in commemoration of the millennium of Poland's nationhood and adoption of Christianity, attracted lively attention on the part of many visitors to the Library. It had to be continued into the spring of 1967, long past the end of the jubilee year. Among those who saw the exhibit was a group of Polish embassy employees and their wives, who on this occasion were also given an orientation on the Library's Polish collections.

Another theme for an exhibit presented itself when the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, the nation's top organization for specialists in this area, convened for its Second National Convention in Washington early in the spring. Items placed on public view in the Slavic Room in honor of this happening encompassed recent important monographs and serials from the Slavic countries, rara from this part of Europe, and examples of the Division's publications.

The Division also seized the opportunity to play cicerone to numerous foreign dignitaries and cultural representatives visiting the Library and to initiate them into the many things of interest they wished to learn about the Library. For those who cannot do this in person, the USIA prepared tapes for rebroadcast in which Dr. Elemer Bako and Dr. Hoskins discussed the highlights of the Library's Hungarian and Polish collections.

IV. EXTERNAL RELATIONS

The U.S. cultural exchange programs lately promoted with countries in the area of the Division's responsibility have brought numerous public figures, scholars, and librarians from the East European countries to the Library of Congress and the personal contacts established on such occasions proved to be most valuable in promoting the Library's programs. To give an example: the Chief and the Assistant Chief, along with other Library officials, participated in a series of discussions between the Deputy Librarian of Congress and Mr. Janez Vipotnik, at the time Yugoslav Federal Secretary of Education and Culture and President of the Commission on Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries. The rapport thus established, along with other connections made with influential Yugoslav official visitors to the Division, proved to be of invaluable assistance in clinching negotiations on PL 480 with Yugoslavia in the talks held in that country by the Coordinator for Overseas Programs and the Assistant Chief. Similarly, official contacts of staff members with cultural attachés and other diplomatic representatives from Central and East European countries were very helpful in preparing acquisitions survey trips and in promoting and expediting negotiations in Vienna and elsewhere. Following the American Library Association meeting in New York last summer, several librarians from Eastern Europe who were participants in the Multi-Area Librarian Program visited the Division. They included Mr. Zbigniew Daszkowski, the Deputy Director of the Polish National Library; Mrs. Lidija Zatvornicki-Subotin of the Library of the University of Belgrade; and Mrs. Marta Nováková of the Komenský University Library in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. This meeting offered a welcome opportunity for discussing matters of mutual interest, including prospects for intensifying exchange relations and extending new Library operations to the countries concerned. The same objectives loomed high on the agenda when Mr. Virgil Bradateanu, Vice President of the Rumanian State Committee for Culture and Arts and professor of drama at the University of Bucharest, who was accompanied by a three-man delegation of directors of Rumanian printing establishments and the First Secretary of the Rumanian Embassy in Washington, paid a visit to the Division. Professor Remus Răduleţ, Vice President of the Rumanian Academy, also called upon the Division and plans for possible microfilming of the holdings of the Academy library were discussed.

The Second National Convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, held in Washington, brought not only American but also a spate of Canadian scholars and librarians to the Library and enabled staff members both to be kept au courant on developments in the scholarly field and to brief the visitors on the Division's programs and objectives.

Briefing sessions for scholars preparing for stays abroad were a regular feature of the Division's program. For example, Mr. Richard Pachella of the Union Theological Seminary was thoroughly oriented prior to his trip to Rumania in connection with the Department of State exchange program. Another active area was the guided tour to special segments of the Library's collections. Thus numerous participants in the Convention of the American Council of Polish Cultural Clubs were given visual demonstration of what the Library has to offer in the Polish field.

A random sampling of the Division's guest book shows the following impressive list of visitors from abroad: Dr. Claus Kernig, Director of Soviet Studies at the Herder Verlag in Freiburg, Germany; Mrs. Slavka Georgieva, Secretary for Education and Cultural Affairs of the Republic of Macedonia, Yugoslavia; Mr. Richard Bancroft, Superintendent of Reading Rooms at the British Museum; Professor Viktor Vol'skii, noted economist and Director of the Latin American Institute of the Soviet Academy of Sciences; Mr. Antoni Marianowicz, Polish writer and translator of American musicals such as My Fair Lady; Professor Grzegorz L. Seidler, Rector of the Marie Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Poland, who was accompanied by the Acting Ambassador of Poland; Mr. František Daniel, prominent motion picture producer in Czechoslovakia; Professor László Zsigmond, Director of the Department of Contemporary History, University of Budapest; and Professor Tuomo Polvinen of the Department of Political Science of the University of Helsinki. Two other guests of note were Mrs. Ludmila Stoicheva, daughter of the Prime Minister of Bulgaria, and Miss Vikra Tarabanov, daughter of the Head of the Bulgarian Mission to the United Nations, who were accompanied on their visit to the Division by the Bulgarian Cultural Attaché. Mrs. Stoicheva, who is doing doctoral research, was especially interested in essential literature on American and British policies in the Balkans between 1938 and 1942.

V. ADMINISTRATION AND PERSONNEL

Automation and problems arising from expected growth and newly assumed responsibilities played a decisive role in the life of the Library in FY 1967.

The Chief, Assistant Chief, Mr. Carlton, and other staff members participated in a number of conferences called by the Information Systems Office and contributed specialized data and proposals. In close cooperation with representatives of ISO, working papers were prepared on the nature of the Division's operations. Informational files and card catalogs were surveyed and the Division's activities were described in flow-chart form. At a later juncture the Division worked out a proposal for a pilot project which envisages machine oriented bibliographic control over current additions to the Division's card file of periodicals in Western languages on the Slavic and East European countries. While so far this experimental project has not received priority consideration, it is hoped that its merits may be reconsidered at a later date.

In the light of newly developing programs of acquisitions, cataloging, and automation, the need for reassessing and clarifying the Library's role in the context of nationwide area studies programs became imperative. With this aim in mind, a Task Force on Area Studies was appointed last September and, as one of its members, the Chief cooperated in the preparation of several preliminary surveys and in the drafting of a position paper which embodied the thinking of the Library's area Divisions on this subject.

For many years overcrowding and unsuitable conditions in some of its working areas have been a matter of great concern to the Division. A step toward an improvement of this situation was taken in the year under review when five staff members were moved to more adequate quarters in Alcove 5011A off the Thomas Jefferson Room and in convenient proximity to the extended Slavic Room area. Much remains to be done, however, to remedy other serious space deficiencies. The Division Office deserves special mention in this respect because it houses in one double study room the administrative-clerical staff of three, plus filing cabinets, a supply cabinet, and bookshelves, along with desks and typewriter tables. Such crowded work conditions certainly are not conducive to fostering good employee morale and optimal speed and convenience of operations. Another shortcoming is the lack of a single larger room where briefing sessions for groups of visitors and staff conferences could be held and which could also accommodate visitors waiting for appointments.

Following a now traditional pattern, the Division's employee turnover remained below the levels of the Library of Congress and also of Federal averages. Miss Robin G. Berman, who joined the staff last August to succeed Mr. Robert F. Price, resigned to get married. Fortunately a well-qualified replacement, Mr. Richard M. Arnold, Jr., was appointed to fill this vacancy in the reference staff. Mrs. Mildred Maze, who was attracted by the greener pastures of the National Referral Center, was replaced by Miss Patricia Blanchard.

The Division recommended a quality pay increase for Mr. Basil Nadraga, the Reference Assistant and Searcher, in recognition of his consistently efficient and conscientious performance. Mr. Nadraga was awarded this honor in a ceremony in the office of the Department Director.

VI. PROFESSIONAL BUT UNOFFICIAL ACTIVITIES

The staff can look back upon a productive year of extracurricular accomplishment through service on professional bodies and scholarly contributions to the world of learning.

As a member of the Joint Committee on Slavic Studies (JCSS) of the American Council of Learned Societies and the Social Science Research Council, and of the Coordinating Committee for Slavic and East European Library Resources (COCOSEERS), the Chief continued to take an active part in the operations and deliberations of these two bodies primarily responsible for the organization and promotion of scholarship and librarianship in the Slavic area. He also remained a member of the Subcommittee on East Central and South-East European Studies (SECSES) of the JCSS, the Committee on Linguistic Information (CLI), and the Chairman of the local chapter of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (AAASS). When AAASS this year held its Second National Convention in Washington, Dr. Yakobson served on its five-man program committee. Many of the Division's professional staff also belong to this organization and participated in the convention proceedings. At the invitation of the Chairman of the University Notre Dame Committee on International Relations, the Chief visited the campus and advised on the development and organization of library collections related to area programs.

The Assistant Chief was commissioned by SECSES to assume, as Project Director, the direction of the preparation of a two-volume annotated and selected bibliographic guide to East Central Europe and the Balkan countries respectively. Over 100 leading specialists in the United States, Canada, and various European countries were enlisted by Dr. Horecky for this scholarly undertaking. In August 1966 Dr. Horecky attended as a member of the American delegation, the First International Congress of Balkan and Southeast European Studies in Sofia. A travel subsidy from the American Council of Learned Societies helped to defray the major part of his travel expenses both for this Congress and for his subsequent official acquisitions trip described in Section I.

In November 1966 Mr. Carlton, Dr. Horecky, and Dr. Yakobson were invited to participate in the Conference on Bibliographic and Research Aids in Soviet Studies which was held at Columbia University's Greyston Conference Center in Riverdale, New York. Co-sponsored by JCSS and COCOSEERS, this meeting served to bring together librarians and scholars in the field to review the state of the art, assess major needs, and recommend future programs. Dr. Yakobson chaired the session on "New Trends and Techniques in Library Science and Technology" and Mr. Carlton was commentator for another program on "Acquisitions and Accessions."

The Chief, Dr. Price, and Dr. Hoskins attended the convention of the American Historical Association in New York, which provided another forum for the exchange of information and ideas with a number of U.S. and European scholars. Mr. Fessenko presented a paper on Ukrainica in the Library of Congress at the Conference of American Librarians of Ukrainian Descent held in New York, at which Mr. Shaviak was also in attendance. Dr. Balys was the principal speaker at the meetings in Chicago of the Lithuanian Institute of Education and, in Philadelphia, of the Institute of Lithuanian Studies. Dr. Bako was a guest speaker at a meeting of the New York City Chapter of the American-Hungarian Federation and prepared for the Royal Commission on Bi-Lingualism and Bi-Culturalism in Ottawa, Canada, an appraisal of a draft of one of the Commission's forthcoming publications. Dr. Hoskins attended in connection with her annual leave the 13th International Congress of Byzantine Studies held in Oxford, England. Dr. Allen and Dr. Price continued to serve as editors for the bibliographic sections of the American Historical Review and to offer courses at local universities. The Assistant Chief and Mr. Perry attended the 85th Annual Conference of the American Library Association held in New York. Mr. Perry was elected to serve a three year term as Secretary of the Slavic and East European Sub-Section of the ALA, succeeding Dr. Horecky in this office.

Personal contributions to scholarship made by the professional staff in activities such as writing, editing, and reviewing books are too numerous to list here.