Submitted by
Sergius Yakobson, Chief
July 17, 1968

SUMMARY

Devoting the bulk of its efforts to reference and bibliographical services, the Division supplied an aggregate of 37,616 reference services, readied three bibliographies for publication, prepared 20 special studies, and made 31,844 recommendations for the acquisition of new materials.

In close cooperation with other Library units, the Division staff took an active hand in implementing existing and bringing to fruition new foreign acquisitions programs relative to several Central and Eastern European countries. The procurement of older materials was highlighted by the addition to the Library's already sizable collections on the Czech renaissance of some 100 old books dealing with early Czech intellectual and religious history. About 35 titles among them with 16th and 17th century imprints were rara and rarissima and included the following choice items: Biblij Cžeská (Czech Bible), published in Prague in 1570 by the famous Melantrich Press; and the original printed edition of Postilla (Nuremberg, 1563) containing the story of the life and religious writings of Jan Hus, religious reformer and martyr. Other notable acquisitions included 50 volumes of Literaturno-naukovyi Vistnyk, covering the years 1898 to 1900 and 1903 to 1912. This important Ukrainian periodical was edited by the historian and political leader Mykhailo Hrushevs'kyi and the writer Ivan Franko and played an important role in the development of the Ukrainian national consciousness in the early 20th century.

Three new publications appeared in print: East Germany; a Selected Bibliography, The USSR and Eastern Europe; Periodicals in Western Languages, and Czechoslovakia; a Bibliographic Guide. These newcomers bring the total of Division publications to 18 titles, of which four are second editions, one is a third edition, and eight are out of print and available only on microfilm.

An inventory of the Library's microfilms of Russian and Ukrainian periodicals was prepared, a brief survey of the Library's Polonica is nearing completion, and among projects in progress are the compilation of a bibliographic guide on Yugoslavia and an index to the contents of Festschriften in Western languages on Slavic studies. Library of Congress publications were selected for display at the Far Western Slavic Conference (University of British Columbia, Vancouver) and the Sixth International Congress of Slavists (Prague, Czechoslovakia).

I. ACQUISITION OF MATERIALS

In Fiscal Year 1967, Division staff members were active participants in the Library-wide effort to move forward the National Program for Acquisitions and Cataloging (Title II-C Higher Education Act of 1965) and also PL 480 operations. This year, with programs already underway in the major German-speaking countries of Central Europe, in Yugoslavia and in Finland, the Division staff joined forces with other Library units engaged in this task in order to help implement existing programs by establishing techniques and control mechanisms which will insure that these programs yield optimal qualitative effectiveness and utility and to extend these activities at the earliest possible juncture to new countries of Eastern Europe.

Here are a few examples. At present, the Division's area specialist for the Central European area, Dr. Arnold H. Price, processes annually some 67,500 cards from the pertinent national bibliographies and selects newly cataloged books at the rate of 26,000 per year. In the Slavic area, the USSR Area Specialist, Dr. Robert V. Allen, and the Senior Reference Librarian (Yugoslavia) devote many hours to the laborious duty of sorting wanted materials from the mass of daily receipts and classifying them as "Wanted," "Marginal," and "Not Wanted," so that a reliable assessment can be made as to how the flood of incoming materials squares with the Library's collecting interest.

Dr. Allen, while on a private study trip to the Soviet Union last September, ascertained at the request of the Processing Department a number of details in connection with the implementation of the shared cataloging program. As a result of prolonged negotiations the All-Union Book Chamber (Knizhnaia palata) in Moscow has begun sending its cards to the Shared Cataloging Division, which routes them to our Division for use as a recommending tool. This practice is proving to be helpful in expediting orders for needed materials, but it also necessitates review of thousands of cards on a crash basis.

As the Library's plans progressed to expand Title II programs to Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Rumania, the Division's specialists have been taking a very active hand in the planning of this expansion. Thus the Chief and the Assistant Chief took part in a number of meetings with officials of the Processing Department and the Reference Department to hammer out the blueprint for draft agreements with these countries. Specifically, their contributions involved defining concrete needs for materials from these areas, identifying priority categories and numbers of multiple copies desired for them, specifying a representative and evenly balanced cross section of serials needed for the Library's collections, and recommending various provisions in the interests of enhancing both speed and quality of procurement efforts. In particular, the Division's staff, after examining lists of Bulgarian, Czech, and Yugoslav serials and pertinent specialized bibliographic sources, produced lists of titles to be secured within the framework of the new acquisitions arrangements and analyzed the Czechoslovak National Bibliography to substantiate the Library's claims for official publications to be supplied as part of the expanded exchange agreement with Czechoslovakia.

In the previous fiscal year, Dr. Horecky was an on-the-spot advisor in setting up the Field Director's office in Belgrade and in coordinating the PL 480 program for all six federative republics of Yugoslavia. Frequent contacts subsequently maintained with this office have redounded to mutual advantage. Thus, Mr. Bowman supplied at our suggestion a catalog of museum and society publications offered by a dealer in Ljubljana, which included many items missing from the Library's collections and sought for many years. After searching of the list, selections were made, and as a result sensitive lacunae in the Library's collections could be filled.

The influx of a vastly increased volume of serials received from Yugoslavia under PL 480, which must be recorded, processed, and organized for binding, has finally had a visible impact on the workload of the Slavic Room staff.

While new trails were being blazed, the recommending officers did not neglect time-honored acquisitions approaches. Indeed, their efforts were so concentrated that funds for the purchase of retrospective materials had run dry by November. However, a detailed survey of the type of valuable retrospective items which could not be added to the Library's collections because of this financial predicament was barely completed by the recommending staff when welcome relief came in the form of a sub-allotment under which collecting activities were allowed to resume.

Due to a most felicitous coincidence, an unusually attractive and tempting opportunity came the Library's way not long thereafter. Professor Matthew Spinka, a world-renowned scholar of Czech history and religious movements now living in retirement in California, decided to part with a fraction of his unique research library and offered for sale at a remarkably modest price a truly outstanding collection of rare Czech books on early Czech intellectual history, some 35 of which were 16th and 17th century imprints which easily qualified as rara and rarissima. Over the years the Division has endeavored to build up a highly specialized volume of knowledge on the fascinating cultural history of the Czech renaissance. Through its heavy concentration on that very period and country, Professor Spinka's offer held out the promise of strengthening these resources immeasurably, thereby making a signal contribution toward establishing the Library as a prominent center for the study of that specific field. It goes without saying that the Division seized this unusual chance with enthusiasm and speed. Among the pièces de resistance of this corpus of over 100 books are Biblij Cžeská (Czech Bible), published in Prague in 1570 by the famous Melantrich Press and representing a pearl of exquisite Renaissance book printing and illustrating, and the original printed edition of Postilla (Nuremberg, 1563) by Jan Hus, dealing with the life of that Czech religious reformer and martyr, his epistles, sermons, and religious treatises. The number of major repositories outside Czechoslovakia which, according to standard bibliographic sources, possess extant copies of these works, ranges from five for the first title to only two for the second. It is gratifying to note as a telling demonstration of the bargain price for which this collection was obtained, that a recent offering by a well-known antiquarian book dealer asked almost four times the amount actually paid by the Library for one of the above-mentioned books.

Other notable acquisitions comprised 50 volumes of Literaturno-naukovyi Vistnyk, covering the years 1898 to 1900 and 1903 to 1912. This important Ukrainian periodical was edited by the historian and political leader Mykhailo Hrushevs'kyi and the writer Ivan Franko and played an important role in the development of the Ukrainian national consciousness in the early 20th century. It is an essential tool for researchers, who will not find such an extensive set of this serial elsewhere in the United States. A bonanza was the offer of the Foreign Broadcast Information Service to turn over to the Library its extensive card file of indexed articles from the Soviet and East European press for the period from 1956 to 1963, representing a most valuable research tool.

To give voice also to the non-Slavic areas, the addition of the following important works to the Library's holdings should be mentioned by way of example: the 52-volume Regionen Katalog of the Institut für Weltwirtschaft in Kiel, a massive reference work recording by region books and articles on economics and related fields; the first of three volumes of Politike historia tes Neoteras Hellados, 1828–1964, a revealing political history of modern Greece by S.B. Markezines; and the six-volume Finnish Paikallishistoriallinen Bibliografia, a comprehensive bibliography of local history published in 1967.

Surveys of special segments of the Library's collections designed to probe into the weak spots to isolate important desiderata continued to be helpful devices for strengthening resources. To this end, for instance, Dr. Allen made a thorough investigation of the transactions of Soviet pedagogical institutions and, upon completion of the survey, was able to furnish the Exchange and Gift Division with a long list of important materials, mostly unrepresented in American research libraries and also badly needed to complete our sets. Along similar lines, the Division's area experts prepared detailed card files listing the addresses of academic institutions, libraries, and archives in Eastern and Southeastern Europe, with which no active exchange contacts are presently maintained, as well as their principal publications that are absent from our collections. This material was turned over to the Exchange and Gift Division with a request for appropriate action.

In some instances, gaps also came to light in the process of filling reference requests. For example, in checking a list of Soviet statistical handbooks compiled for publication in the 1968 edition of the journal Soviet Studies at the request of the University of Glasgow, which is rendered this service annually by us, a number of important items of this genre were found to be missing. It was recommended that efforts be made to obtain them from exchange partners in the USSR.

II. ORGANIZATION OF MATERIALS

Following the expansion of Slavic Room facilities by one third in the previous fiscal year and with added space now available, the number of readers availing themselves of public reference facilities rose from 34,737 to 44,567.

Shelf space, which increased proportionately with seating facilities, provided room for a greatly expanded reference collection, more fully representing the wide geographic area within the Division's responsibility. The aggregate of carefully selected reference books now numbers 7,800 and is under continual review for timeliness and completeness. Additions are chosen by the Head, Slavic Room, with the help of the Division's area specialists, in order to provide the wide range of patrons with the most discriminately selected tools that can be assembled. During this fiscal year, the collection was augmented by approximately 900 reference books and concurrently a sizable number of obsolete titles were weeded out.

To make sure that this most useful facility is always up to exacting standards, the reference collections have been further subdivided into area segments which are assigned on a regular basis to specific reference librarians charged with the responsibility of periodic shelf reading and of monitoring materials in process so that they reach the shelves as rapidly as possible.

Efforts continue also to insure the timeliness of serial publications in the Division's custody. To this end, recommendations were made to initiate airmail dispatch of the leading newspapers from Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Rumania, and Yugoslavia. At present only two Soviet newspapers and one Polish daily are sent to the Library by airmail. The other indispensable sources of information come to the Library by surface mail and arrive after a hiatus of up to eight weeks. With the rapid pace of important developments on the international scene, the area specialists as well as the Division's clients need, however, the earliest possible access to these important materials on current events. The speeding up of delivery of materials from all countries of Eastern Europe will signify a step forward in improving service to the Congress, to other foreign agencies, and to the scholarly community.

Up-to-date records of newspaper receipts enabled the Division to comply in short order with a request of the Serial Division to supply a card file of all the Slavic and Baltic newspapers currently published at home and abroad and regularly subscribed to by the Library. These data were incorporated into a bibliographic list of current newspapers in the Library of Congress which is now being readied for publication by the Serial Division.

The move of the Defense Research Division, one of the Slavic Room's most assiduous customers, to new quarters on Massachusetts Avenue required laying out new arrangements for the scanning by their staff members of incoming Slavic serials. These new procedures went into effect in September. Likewise, arrangements were worked out permitting staff members of the Cyrillic Bibliographic Project, now also located at the Massachusetts Avenue address, to screen on their premises Slavic periodicals of potential interest.

The Head, Slavic Room, who also wears the hat of specialist in Greek affairs, advised the Descriptive Cataloging Division on various problems concerning the processing of Greek materials.

As a member of the Reference Department Area Code Working Group, Mr. Carlton devoted considerable time and attention to the effort of establishing viable area codes for use in conjunction with the MARC program. He also attended meetings of the subcommittee of the National Libraries Task Force which is engaged in determining and encoding names of places and publication.

III. USE OF MATERIALS

1. Reference Services

Reference and bibliographic services continue to be the mainstay and the crux of the Division's operations, to which the bulk of the efforts and energies were turned. During this fiscal year 15,420 reference inquiries were answered, 20 special studies prepared, 25 shorter bibliographic lists compiled, and 21,328 telephone clients supplied with information.

As in previous years, the members of Congress and their staffs called upon the Division for a variety of services. In Fiscal Year 1967, the Chief and Dr. Allen prepared a study on Aspects of Intellectual Ferment in the Soviet Union, which was released in 15,000 copies as a Senate document; this year, the sponsoring Senator thought it desirable to update and expand the study in the light of recent developments in the USSR. Consequently, an overview of the latest phase in the ceaseless struggle of Soviet intellectuals against governmentally imposed thought control and regimentation was made the subject of a new survey to which a voluminous appendix of documentary evidence was added. In addition, Dr. Yakobson and Dr. Allen reviewed a manuscript prepared by a Congressional committee, which reported on Communist concepts related to the use of force and violence, and contributed a draft for an introduction to it. Dr. Bako's sections in a bibliographic list on Hungarians in Rumania and Transylvania which he compiled for a Congressional client in 1966 were also updated under the aegis of the Legislative Reference Service in preparation for its release as a House document. The Director of the Legislative Reference Service commended Dr. Bako for the "expeditious manner in which the final phase of this task was performed."

A spate of less complicated and time-consuming requests from clients on the Hill dealt with such subjects as Soviet writings on psychological warfare, Yugoslav genealogy, and the "Dyngus" celebration in Poland, and of course there were also the customary routine requests for translation of materials in the languages of the Division's area competence.

Agencies of the Federal and local governments were also regular patrons. Services rendered to these quarters ranged from a detailed analysis of statistics on poverty in West Germany prepared for the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, to evaluation of the credentials of a young engineer from Latvia needed by the North Carolina State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors. Clients from business and industry included inquirers from Harper and Row, General Motors, and the Gerber baby food company. News headlines also sparked a number of inquiries. For example, one query concerned Soviet press reportage of the peace demonstrations at the Pentagon last fall. On another occasion, the wife of a Virginia college professor, who was accused in Izvestiia of trying to tempt a Soviet scientist to defect (an item which received conspicuous billing in the Western press), called long distance to find out about the particulars of the Soviet version of the story. Clients from the ranks of the new media were represented by reporters of the Washington Star, Fortune, Time, the correspondent of Radio Prague, and the writers of the Cadence program on TV, to name only a few.

Under the rubric "curiosa" one could register the reference call for the role of the beard and mustache in Polish proverbs and customs, and the case of the Chinese scholar thirsting for German references on rainmaking.

Writers and researchers who visited the Division included an author who is compiling the accounts and experiences of persons trapped in countries under Nazi domination, another writer who is working on a guide to European periodical literature, and representatives of the Encyclopedia Britannica preparing a documentary film on the Library. Members of the staff of NATO Headquarters, Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic, conferred on several occasions with the Division's specialists concerning resources related to Soviet sea power, and the newly appointed head of the political section of the U.S. Embassy in Bonn was briefed on the latest printed sources on West German developments. As the Library's sole reference specialist on Greece, Mr. Perry assisted the secretary of the Greek Embassy in obtaining materials for a bibliography on the Greek population of Macedonia.

It goes without saying that units of the Library itself have been among the Division's steadiest patrons. Mr. Carlton collaborated with the Manuscript Division in scrutinizing and evaluating an index to the sections of the Alaska Russian Church Archives that have hitherto not yet been indexed, and he was also called upon to assess the contents and value of Rumanian manuscripts provisionally held by that Division. At the request of the Hispanic Foundation, he further reviewed the texts of translations from Russian into English to be included in a volume which is being prepared for release as a Hispanic Foundation publication on the Soviet Image of Contemporary Latin America. All the members of the professional staff contributed items to a list of foreign language translations of the works of Carl Sandburg compiled by the General Reference and Bibliography Division. Dr. Allen advised the Exhibits Officer, who was preparing an exhibit on papermaking, on data related to Arab manuscripts found in Central Asian areas now part of the USSR. The Children's Book Section was provided with a translation of an annotated list of the 100 "best books for children" sent by the Children's Librarian of the Lenin Library in Moscow. Other Library units availing themselves frequently of the Division's language and area skills included the Photoduplication Service, the Law Library, the Music Division, the Serial Division, and the cataloging divisions.

Letters of appreciation are a visible and welcome feedback from reference service. To cull a few excerpts from some of them: "You have sent me a wealth of carefully noted information." "I am pursuing the leads suggested to me through the most helpful cooperation of yourself and your staff." "Your kind response, indicating several hours of staff research, will be most helpful in preparing the volume for publication. Without such assistance, it would be impossible to complete this work from Denver, more than a thousand miles from the necessary sources." "I want to express to you my very deep appreciation for the painstaking and thoroughgoing efforts you made in my behalf."

2. Bibliographies, Special Studies, and Exhibits

In the 17 years of its existence, the Division has succeeded in making a distinct contribution to Eastern European and German bibliography. As of now, the roster of its publications, which have been used with profit by researchers, scholars, and librarians, encompasses 18 titles of which four are in second editions and one in the third edition. Eight works are out of print and at present available only on microfilm. As to Fiscal Year 1968, far from showing signs of abating, our bibliographic program has been forging ahead in the current reporting period with the publication of three bibliographies and the initiation of several new ones now in progress.

East Germany; a Selected Bibliography appeared in print last winter. In the words of Professor R.V. Burks of Wayne State University, it "will do much to advance research on a regime, the future of which concerns us all," and Professor Edgar Salin of the University of Basel remarked "I doubt that there is a similarly informative compilation in existence in either the East or the West."

Responding to a lively demand for this type of information, the Division brought out the third, updated and enlarged edition of The USSR and Eastern Europe; Periodicals in Western Languages. This reference aid describes and provides subscription data for 708 current periodicals in Western languages which deal exclusively or predominantly with the area. In addition to this amazingly high number, as a new feature, 61 discontinued periodicals of remaining research value were also reported.

Czechoslovakia; a Bibliographic Guide, a timely publication in this special series, was mentioned in a news item in the New York Times shortly after its appearance in print, which stimulated requests for this work.

In continuation of the Division's above-mentioned series of area bibliographies on East European countries, Professor Michael B. Petrovich of the University of Wisconsin was commissioned to prepare a bibliographic guide on Yugoslavia, the fourth in the series. Spending a good part of his sabbatical year on this assignment, he worked for some time in the Library, where Division staff members rendered him substantial assistance in rounding up materials preliminary to final compilation. The wealth of literature on Yugoslavia caused him to exceed markedly the size originally envisaged for the manuscript, which is now in our hands and is being given thorough editorial attention. A publication subsidy, pledged at the Chief's instance by the American Council of Learned Societies, should reduce the cost of its printing for the Library.

Mr. Carlton is at present at work compiling an index to the contents of Festschriften in the field of Slavic studies published outside of Eastern Europe. The important research sources hidden in these commemorative publications have proved virtually impervious to control either through catalogs or bibliographic tools. Thus, there is every expectation that this undertaking will yield a novel and serviceable aid.

Another valuable project, competed this year by Dr. John P. Balys, involved a survey of Russian and Ukrainian periodicals which, though available on microfilm in the Library were never properly publicized. The manuscript resulting from this investigation, consisting of 556 entries, was turned over to the Photoduplication Service for use and circulation.

In an attempt to establish bibliographic control over Polish books in English translation, Dr. Janina W. Hoskins assembled a card file of pertinent data which may be considered at a later date for possible publication. Dr. Bako is presently preparing a card file of acronyms which have come into use in Hungary since 1961 and which will update the information contained in Hungarian Abbreviations published by the Library in that year. With the help of the Division the manuscript of Professor Kazimierz Grzybowski's survey of the Library's holdings of Polish treasures and materials in all fields of knowledge is now undergoing final review for publication by the Library.

Two staff members contributed articles to the Quarterly Journal. Dr. Price authored "West German Education. A Survey" for which illustrations were contributed at his solicitation by the German Education Center in New York. Dr. Price, in turn, sent the Center complimentary copies of his articles on Germany previously featured in the Quarterly Journal. A letter of acknowledgement from the Center reported that "Such bibliographies are wonderful to have on hand . . . We were very impressed with the illustration, the layout, and the overall makeup of the journal— everything is in such excellent taste." Mr. Carlton's contribution dealt with "The Inception of the Rumanian Academy and its Library" which also won praise from the Director of the Academy Library, who stated in a letter addressed to the Librarian of Congress that it was "a comprehensive and beautiful paper."

On several occasions, the Division collaborated with the Exhibits Office in gathering material and supplying needed data for displays within and outside the Library's walls. For example, a cross section of Library of Congress publications on the Slavic and Central European area as well as an up-to-date list of the Division's publications were assembled for display at two events — the Far Western Slavic Conference held on the campus of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver in May, and the Sixth International Congress of Slavists in Prague, Czechoslovakia, where recent American publications will be exhibited this coming August.

Dr. Bako prepared a list of 58 items in the Library's collections for use in the exhibit "600 Years of Hungarian University Education," which was organized by the Washington chapter of the American-Hungarian Federation and the University of Maryland Library. In connection with commemorative activities to take place in Washington in the fall of 1968 as part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Czechoslovak national independence, Dr. Horecky has been assisting the sponsoring organization in bringing together Czech and Slovak materials appropriate for the occasion.

IV. EXTERNAL RELATIONS

Active involvement of Division staff members in professional organizations engaged in promoting the advancement of subject disciplines, area studies, and librarianship provides an invaluable platform for keeping abreast of developments in the field, maintain close liaison and coordination with programs affecting the entire profession, and increasing the awareness of scholarship of what the Library has to offer in terms of services and collections.

The Chief's services on several committees of the American Council of Learned Societies and the Social Science Research Council devoted to cooperative endeavors in the interest of strengthening academic programs and sharpening the tools of area research, coupled with the membership of the Chief and the Assistant Chief in a newly constituted ACLS Advisory Committee on Library Needs (for the purpose of producing a survey of Slavic and East European library resources in this country) insure a viable channel of communication between the Library and the scholarly community.

t times, professional associations and acquaintances were turned to good account by steering the Library to interesting acquisitions. Returning from a trip to the USSR, Mr. Harrison Salisbury of the New York Times advised the Chief of the possibility of microfilming files of Leningradskaia pravda for the period of the siege of Leningrad during World War II, which had been inaccessible to researchers in this country. Appropriate action was taken by the Division to fill this gap through sources in Leningrad. A personal contact at the Taylor Institution in Oxford offered the Library on exchange microfilms of several hard-to-get Ukrainian bibliographies. Another colleague of the Chief, Professor Robert F. Byrnes of Indiana University, presented to the Library a set of microfilms of important documents secured by him during a study stay in the USSR and extracted from the Pobedonostsev archives in the Lenin Library to which the donor added an explanatory appraisal of the material.

By virtue of its expertise and concentration of area skills, the Division found itself often in the position of being called upon by other libraries desirous of developing special collections. Thus, a member of the staff of the History Department of Wayne State University was advised on how to bring together a collection of unusual Slavic materials not ordinarily represented in American depositories, for convenient use by scholars located in the country's Middle West. Dr. Hoskins was invited by the Slavic and Soviet Area Studies Committee, University of Kansas, to survey and evaluate a rare Polonica collection for the 16th and 17th centuries assembled by the university library. Responding to a request by a public library in Ohio, Dr. Bako suggested ways and means of providing a basic collection of Hungarian publications for use by the library's patrons.

When George Washington University recently commenced a novel program entailing the expansion of its graduate curriculum to advanced reading courses to be offered at the Library of Congress, several Division specialists declared their readiness to partake in these activities. Course topics proposed by them included Russo-American relations, contacts between the U.S. and Poland, current intellectual developments in Eastern and Southeastern Europe, and various phases of German and Russian history.

A number of occasions arose for the Division to share in Library of Congress hospitality programs for foreign guests. Several staff members were invited to attend a luncheon given by the Librarian to welcome the new Ambassador of Poland. Following the event, the wife of the Ambassador, along with the ladies of other Embassy diplomats, were taken on a tour of the Division's facilities and followed with keen interest the briefing on our operations. Similarly, two staff members were present at functions in honor of participants in the Multi-National Group Librarian Project, whose Eastern European representative Dr. Vera Kratochvilová (senior information specialist of the State Commission of Science and Technology in Prague) and Dr. Jadwiga Kołodziejska (assistant librarian of the National Library in Warsaw), were subsequently oriented in detail on the Library's Slavic programs and collections.

Keeping open the lines of communication with cultural officials of embassies of the countries within the Division's responsibility brought mutual benefit. Connections with representatives of the embassies of Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Greece, Finland, Hungary, Poland, Rumania, Switzerland, the USSR, and Yugoslavia, who visited the Division from time to time in quest of reference assistance or to introduce foreign visitors, offered staff members an opportunity for exchanging information and furthering the Library's procurement concerns.

The Division's welcome mat was laid out for a mounting number of visitors from abroad who made it a point to call on us for consultation on research problems and orientation on specialized resources and facilities. An easing of travel restrictions in the wake of a certain relaxation in the political atmosphere probably accounted for a sizable representation of East European nationals. Whether coming to this country in pursuit of an official mission, for a study stay with U.S. Government or foundation support, or as freelance travelers, they were always assured of the staff's interested attention and services. The mutual give and take of information and opinion flowing from such encounters proved to be a rewarding experience. A random scanning of the pages of our guest book reveals the following visitors and reference patrons from a diversity of intellectual endeavors, representative also of the metropolitan profile of the Division's clientele: Mr. Miloš Rajačić, Director for Western Countries, Federal Administration of International Technical Cooperation of Yugoslavia, and Mr. Dušan Bogdanović, Director of Library and Documentation Services of the Foreign Ministry of Yugoslavia; Mrs. Tzvetana Mateyeva, Director of the Library Department of the Bulgarian Ministry of Arts and Culture (who came to the Library for concluding negotiations for the Title II agreement with Bulgaria), and Professor Nikolai Todorov, Professor of Sofia University and Member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences; Professor Satoshi Yamamoto of the Slavic Institute, Hokkaido University; Professor Ivan M. Krasnov and Dr. Nikolai N. Bolkhovitinov, both of the USSR Academy of Sciences; Mr. Daniel Székely, head of the Documentation and Bibliography Department, Hungarian Academy of Sciences Library; Dr. Miloš Kalab of the Institute of Sociology, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences; Mr. Jerzy Sito, a well-known Polish poet of the younger generation and a Shakespeare translator; Mr. Valeriu Rapeanu, noted Rumanian drama critic and Mr. Silviu Stanculescu, a prominent Rumanian actor; and many others.

V. ADMINISTRATION AND PERSONNEL

1. Personnel Administration

The scope and character of many Division positions have undergone sizable alteration since the grade structure was reviewed in 1964. Moreover, transformation in comparable grades elsewhere in the Library caused grade levels in the Division to lag behind them and become disparate and obsolescent. These developments lent particular relevance and timeliness to a new classification survey which was conducted with remarkable efficiency and expeditiousness during the current fiscal year. Its findings were most gratifying and led to the allocation of higher grades for 12 positions, thereby aligning them more harmoniously with the overall grade structure in the Library. In the long run, these readjustments, along with promotion plans instituted for several position categories, will equip management with a mechanism for recognizing proved initiative and performance and, additionally, will enhance flexibility and competitiveness in future recruiting.

A newly established position in lieu of a former strictly clerical one was that of Reference and Bibliographic Assistant (GS-5), which satisfies our need of having a staff member work on manuscript typing and also render supporting services in searching and maintaining bibliographic files. Radical changes in the Library's acquisitions objectives and methods and their attendant repercussions on the Central and East European procurement situation had a perceptible impact on the Division's workload and distribution of assignments. Upon looking into this matter more closely, it was ascertained that each of several staff members currently engaged in Title II and PL 480 operations had to divert an aggregate of circa 20 man-hours per week to performances stemming solely from these activities. Therefore, with the endorsement of the Reference Department, a new position (GS-9) was requested which, if allocated, would make it possible for the incumbent to screen, select, sort, and search the inflowing materials and thus free the specialists from reference and bibliographic functions deserving priority consideration.

This year's rate of employee turnover, occasioned by four resignations and promotions to other positions in the Library, somewhat exceeded the traditionally low ratio of previous years. The bulk of vacancies occurred with respect to Slavic Room reference personnel, but in spite of some staffing difficulties encountered in the interim, suitable replacements were found and all vacancies are now filled.

2. Training

To achieve optimal standards of efficiency and productivity in the performance of our specialized areas functions, the Division promoted participation in training programs for its old and new employees. In addition to designating three staff members for attendance at Library-wide orientation programs and sessions, the Division perfected machinery for internal training with the goal of giving newcomers a precise understanding of their duties — both within the Division and in relation to other library areas — and equipping them with an adequate knowledge of the flow of materials, reference techniques, and procedural methods. Mr. Carlton graduated with flying colors from the local IBM computer technology training course, scoring the best attainable grade of "highly satisfactory." Finally, from the giving end, the Chief addressed groups of Library of Congress employees in the Professional Orientation Series on the Division's operations, and the Assistant Chief conducted the annual briefing sessions with the new crop of Library recruits, as well as regularly held orientation sessions for new employees.

3. Space

Following the addition of one study room to our work area, the overcrowding of previous years was tangibly alleviated. The administrative-clerical staff can now operate under more pleasant working conditions, and visitors to the Division can be received in more fitting quarters.

With sights trained on the day when the Madison Building will join the Library of Congress complex, we have done some advance thinking, planning and prospecting in regard to our future home in the Main Building and have concluded that of the two locations proposed to us the area in the north curtain, northeast pavilion, and northeast curtain would clearly be the first choice for the quarters of the Slavic and Central European Division in the 1970's, both from the point of view of conveniently organized services to readers and the most purposeful deployment of staff, collections, and reference facilities.

VI. PROFESSIONAL BUT UNOFFICIAL ACTIVITES

The following conspectus will epitomize the manifold contributions made by staff members in their specialties to professional undertakings.

The Chief has continued to serve on the Joint Committee on Slavic Studies (of the American Council of Learned Societies and the Social Science Research Council), as well as its Coordinating Committee for Slavic and East European Library Resources (COCOSEERS) and the Subcommittee on East-Central and Southeastern Studies (SECSES). In connection with the annual meeting of the International Studies Association, held in Washington, he chaired a session on "Communism as an International System." He and the Assistant Chief participated further in New York City, along with some 40 other specialists from the government and academic communities, in a conference which discussed and reviewed a broad-gauged survey of Eastern European and Southeast European research in the United States now in process under ACLS sponsorship.

Appointed project director and chief editor of the bibliographic segment of this survey, Dr. Horecky has directed the efforts of some 120 participating scholars and experts from this country and abroad, which will result in 1969 in the publication by Chicago University Press of a two-volume bibliographic area guide on Eastern Europe. As one of 75 invited expert panelists, Dr. Horecky took part in the American Assembly at the Airlie Conference Center in Warrenton, Virginia, on the theme "The United States and Eastern Europe"; he was also appointed to be a member of the Nominating Committee of the ALA Subject Specialists Section.

Mr. Carlton and Dr. Horecky accepted the invitation by Professor Nikolai Todorov, member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, to become regular contributors of data on American publications concerning the Balkan countries for an annotated bibliographic volume edited in Sofia, Bulgaria, under UNESCO auspices.

Making his debut on television, Dr. Allen discussed on a NBC program, sponsored by American University, the subject of information media in the Soviet Union. He translated and edited a Soviet bibliography of Russian language writings on American literature to be published by Duke University Press.

Dr. Bako served as chairman of the Organization Committee of a newly constituted Hungarian Library Association of America and became the editor of its Hungarian Library Journal of America. He also addressed several gatherings on Hungarian and Finnish affairs.

Dr. Balys was active in writing and lecturing on Baltic subjects.

Mr. Fessenko contributed an article on "Ukrainica in the Library of Congress" to the Quarterly Forum (published in Scranton, Pennsylvania) and spoke in New York to members of the Shevchenko Scientific Society on "The Problem of Ukrainian Bibliography Abroad."

Dr. Hoskins had a book review in the American Historical Review.

As the Secretary of the Slavic and East European Subsection, ACRL, Mr. Perry participated in the deliberations and activities of that unit.

Dr. Price was in attendance at the annual meeting of the American Historical Association in Toronto in December 1967 and continued to serve as a section editor for the American Historical Review to which he also contributed several book reviews.