Submitted by
Paul L. Horecky, Chief
July 10, 1972

I. ACQUISITION OF MATERIALS

Moralists say that an acquisitive spirit brings death to the soul. This can scarcely be the case, however, with the Slavic and Central European Division, to which the continued acquisition of publications is life's blood itself.

The dimensions of the Division's challenge are brought into sharper focus when one realizes that the countries for which it is responsible produce annually, according to the most recent UNESCO survey, approximately 160,000 titles of monographs. This figure represents almost 35% of world book production, which totals some 460,000 titles. Selection of material for the Library from the mass of publications is, therefore, a most significant function. In the performance of this task, the staff of the Division in FY 1972 screened some 12,800 issues of national bibliographies and lists of publications offered on exchange or by purchase, and made approximately 43,300 recommendations for acquisitions. It is a telling illustration of the magnitude of the Library's intake from this part of the world that during this year the Library's printed cards for the areas within the Division's purview totaled 66,200, including 24,400 from countries with predominantly German language book output, 22,500 from the Soviet Union, and 19,300 from the other countries. These figures, which also include titles outside the Division's fields of recommendation, are indicative rather than precise to the last digit, and they do not include the substantial number of items in Western languages dealing with the area. However, they demonstrate something of the extent of the Division's role in the Library's acquisitions of publications.

In answering the question of how these publications are acquired and through what channels, the Division may point first to its participation in a number of programs for acquisitions. The first is its cooperation in a series of comprehensive arrangements for procurement in a number of the countries in the Division's area. During FY 1972, the Polish specialist, together with the other members of the Library's staff, visited Poland and took part in negotiations which resulted in the conclusion of an agreement under Public Law 480 whereby the Library's receipt of Polish publications is to be improved. This agreement, which is in its first months of operation, is being closely observed by the Polish specialist in order to remove possible initial difficulties and to assure continuing smooth implementation. In addition to acting for the Library of Congress, the Polish specialist is also serving as recommending officer for a number of other American libraries cooperating in this program.

Broad-based procurement arrangements of this type, either under PL-480 or under the National Program for Acquisitions and Cataloging (NPAC), are operative in all the countries of the area save Albania, Greece, and Hungary. These programs have brought a marked improvement in the timeliness of receipt of materials and have served to reduce somewhat the mechanics of selection. However, they are by no means always automatic, and the Division must survey their operation in order to assure that they work properly, chiefly by scrutinizing non- selected items. As a rule, the procurement arrangements have been working satisfactorily, but the Division's staff is careful to pay continued attention to receipts to prevent the omission of needed materials.

For the three countries not covered by these comprehensive agreements and for non-current items there remain the "traditional" methods of acquisitions, involving item by item surveys of national bibliographies and other publication guides and the implementation of various forms of purchase. The Division's specialists have a major role to play in this field too, as well as in recommending items for acquisition through exchange or, especially in the case of retrospective materials, through selective purchase.

Only a sampling of items can be offered as an illustration of the results of the Division's procurement efforts. Two of the more noteworthy major additions to the Library in which we played a part during FY 1972 were so-called Samizdat materials and the tape-recordings of the Rudolf Slanský trial. Samizdat is a Soviet term formed from two Russian words meaning roughly "privately published," and it is applied to a large body of essays, petitions, letters, and works of literature which are circulated in the Soviet Union, usually in typescript or similar form, entirely outside the official channels of publication. The points of view represented in this literature are those which largely go unvoiced in the open, public press of the Soviet Union, but they provide much of value to the student of Soviet culture and politics. The collection of Samizdat documents, now numbering over 1,000 items and to be supplemented by future receipts, was presented to the Library by the Radio Liberty Committee of New York, which had gathered the originals from a number of sources over recent years. Negotiations for this gift were instituted by the Chief of the Division with the cooperation of other representatives of the Library, the State Department and the Radio Liberty Committee. This Samizdat material has also been made available to five other institutions in the United States and Western Europe.

The tapes of the trial of Rudolf Slanský, who in 1952 was accused of treason by the government of Czechoslovakia, tried, condemned to death, executed and later partially rehabilitated, are recordings, made in Munich, of the proceedings which were broadcast by Radio Praha. Not only are they of interest for the student of Czechoslovak affairs, but they also represent vividly one example of a type of judicial action which found its counterpart in that era in other countries of Eastern and Central Europe.

An item of particular interest in view of the forthcoming Bicentennial of the American Revolution, and which was acquired by purchase at auction, is the issue for December 7, 1778 of the Russian newspaper Sanktpeterburgskie viedomosti, three of the eight pages of which relate to the Revolution and concern such matters as events in Boston, decisions of the British government and French naval action. When added to other issues of this title already in the Library it will help to extend both our view of international reaction to the Revolution and our understanding of the nature of early Russian journalism.

Another acquisition which bears in part on the American Revolution is the microfilm, in 11 reels, of the Gazeta Warszawska, the oldest Warsaw newspaper, from whose pages one may draw much information about the life and times of Poles, such as Kosciuszko and Pulaski, who were participants in the Revolution, and about Poland in an era of great political stress and turmoil.

American resources for the study of Czech political, social, and intellectual movements before 1939 and in the early post-War years were significantly strengthened by the acquisition of complete sets of the reviews Přítomnost and Dnešek, organs of great influence which were hitherto lacking in American libraries.

One of the most extensive and important acquisitions of German material was the 30-volume Personenkatalog of the Institut für Weltwirtschaft of Kiel University. The issuing institute is a major world bibliographical center for publications in economics, and this author index, which supplements the regional catalog received earlier by the Library, lists both books and articles dealing with many important current problems. Among other major German reference works, the Deutsches Wörterbuch, the great German dictionary begun in the 1930s by the Brothers Grimm, of fairy tale fame, was complete during FY 1972.

The development of the Finnish national movement, as reflected in the writings of a prominent reformer and scholar, may be traced through the 10 volumes of I.V. Snellman's Samlade artbeten (Helsingfors, 1894–1898), and the broad Finno-Ugrian family of languages can now more easily be studied by American scholars as a result of acquisition of tapes in the Lapp, Votiak and Nenets language.

Acquisition was recommended for microfilms covering the period 1904–1941 of the Yugoslav newspaper Politika, a major source for research into Yugoslav politics and society in an era of great changes.

Thirteen volumes of publications of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Institute of Economics were received from the Academy's Library, to complete the Library's set of three series issued by the Institute in 1965–1971.

As one of the consequences of the visit to Greece made by the Head of the Slavic Room at the end of FY 1971, the Library was able to obtain 100 titles issued by the major Greek publisher "Ikaros"; this acquisition constitutes a major extension of the holdings of modern Greek literature, including, in particular, the works of G. Seferis, winner of the Nobel Prize. As an added outcome of this visit, the Greek Ambassador has informed the Library of plans for acquisitions aid to be given by the Greek Foreign Ministry.

However, a mere listing of prize acquisitions does not go far toward answering the question of the adequacy of the Division's activities in building a collection. There is no simple, litmus paper method for testing the quality of receipts, but one can provide a general answer by reference to several indicators. First of all, the figures given above for the total number of recommendations and printed cards show something of the overall level of activity in this field. Second, the systematic collection surveys mentioned in another section of this report offer fairly convincing evidence of the degree to which the needs of area specialists are being met.

As a third indicator, from time to time ad hoc opportunities arise for us to test the status of holdings in given fields of publishing. A recent inquiry from the Orientalia Division about Soviet publications in Oriental studies occasioned a search of 264 recent titles in the field, which revealed that only nine were missing. In another area, that of Soviet statistical handbooks, a listing which appeared in the British review Soviet Studies for January 1972 shows that the Library of Congress has copies of 44 out of 57 recent volumes of this type of publication, by far in excess of the number reported by seven other libraries, including the British Museum, the Bodleian, and the United Nations Geneva, which have strong collections in Soviet economics.

Finally, there is the evidence of day-to-day reference requests. These range over a variety of subjects which may require the simplest of reference sources to provide an answer or may call upon samples from a broad body of literature, and it is practically impossible to quantify them. Nevertheless, general experience has been that the Library's resources are equal to such demands, and thus, to quote George Washington's family motto, exitus acta probat [the outcome justifies the deed].

II. ORGANIZATION OF MATERIALS

Particular emphasis was placed this year on updating and enriching the non-Russian Slavic and Baltic reference collections. The unique Slavic Room collections now number 10,000 volumes, with 6,800 volumes on the USSR and 3,200 volumes on Eastern Europe (a 20% increase in the Eastern European materials as compared to last year's figures). The Slavic Room reference collections have more than tripled since 1964, when the collections numbered about 3,000 volumes.

One definite shortcoming in the reference activities of the Slavic Room is that, because of severe shortage of space, it has not been possible thus far to make provisions for adequate core collections on the non-Slavic countries of Eastern Europe, i.e., Albania, Finland, Greece, Hungary, and Romania, although there is constant and active demand for reference service by readers investigating these countries, which are also within the area responsibility of the Division. The Division has sought to find at least a partial solution to this incongruous state of affairs by proposing to the Reference Department that the Slavic room be extended into part of the adjoining office space area. This proposal is under consideration.

With a view to improving reader services in the Slavic Room, a file of New York Times articles dealing with Soviet and East European affairs was established and is maintained by the Slavic Room staff. This collection of clippings, dating from March 1971, is arranged by country, subject matter, and date of publication.

The Library of Congress has become one of the three repositories in the United States of a set of Samizdat materials (see Part I). Several volumes of these publications have been received and more are scheduled to arrive in the near future. The Slavic Room has been assigned their custody and servicing, and the organization of this collection has begun in order to meet effectively the anticipated demand for these important research materials.

Many of the older serials on Deck 8 have become brittle. Accordingly, arrangements have been made with the Preservation Office for the microfilming of selected items, and the preliminary sorting of the material for filming is now under way. Slavic Room staff members continued regularly to screen duplicates of Soviet and East European publications in the Shared Cataloging, Descriptive Cataloging, and Subject Cataloging Divisions, handling over 10,000 duplicates during this fiscal year. As the space situation in the Library became more critical, policies were reviewed regarding retention of Slavic duplicates for the general collections; essentially, only duplicates of basic reference publications are to be retained.

In a detailed memorandum, the Division set forth the reasons why the collection of current Slavic and Baltic periodicals and newspapers, at present in our custody, should not be merged with other serials in the Library. It was pointed out that the Division has succeeded in training an efficient, competent and devoted deck force which has turned this custodial area into a model deck of the Library. Their proximity and instant availability under present conditions are of fundamental importance to the Division because these serials are an integral part of our reference service and recommending activities. Even more important, in a few years' time the Library's general serial collections will move to the Madison Building, while our Division is expected to remain in the Annex Building. Should this be the case, Slavic Room readers and the Division staff would be separated from normal access to these vital serial resources, being able to use them only at immense cost in time and great inconvenience.

On Several occasions the Division offered suggestions and observations concerning Library-wide processing activities. For example, with regard to a new card catalog, several Division staff members suggested solutions from the viewpoint of our own recommending and reference responsibilities.

The Library adopted a new Greek Romanization table which incorporated changes suggested by the Division last year.

It is hoped that various suggestions made by the Division aiming at the improvement of readers' facilities, such as painting the Slavic Room, lighting, and space, will be implemented.

III. USE OF MATERIALS

Reference Services

The reactions of the Division staff to their countless searches and voyages of discovery though the Library's resources are quite appropriately reflected in Keats' lines:

Much have I travell'd in realms of gold,
and many goodly states and kingdoms seen . . .

However, in the rush of daily business it is not always easy to assay the gold or, in some cases, brass that we have uncovered.

One golden opportunity came with the approval by the Librarian of Congress of our participation in preparing a Handbook of Library and Research Resources on East Central and Southeastern Europe, a project which is the result of several years of elaborate planning by the Joint Committee on Eastern Europe of the American Council of Learned Societies and the Social Science Research Council. The Chief, in his private professional capacity, was appointed to assume the overall direction of this cooperative effort to provide an urgently needed handbook for American scholars, librarians, students and researchers, surveying on a nationwide scale the most important collections in the United states and Canada in the humanities and political and socio-economic sciences for Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Yugoslavia.

The Library was found to be the only one among 39 participating major repositories with leading strength in each of the nine countries under purview; it was therefore invited to contribute nine detailed surveys of its pertinent collections. The execution of the task was assigned to our Division, and its specialists are to prepare surveys for the East German, Hungarian, Greek, and Polish holdings. A gift made available to the Library by ACLS in recognition of the contribution will be used in furtherance of a program to review and strengthen LC's collections from the countries concerned. While other pressing responsibilities of the staff precluded the coverage of additional countries, ACLS was assured that our specialists would lend overall guidance and assistance to outside scholars whom ACLS would designate for this purpose.

This challenging enterprise is unprecedented in our experience, exacting, and ambitious; the task has been approached by our bibliographic sleuths in a spirit of intellectual exploration and discovery. The work involved encompasses numerous areas of the collections, sometimes uncharted territory, and requires the characterization, evaluation and exemplification of general monographic and serial holdings as well as of special materials — manuscripts, maps, prints and photographs, music, rare books, and law. Spirited cooperation has been received from the special Divisions, which are also bound to benefit from our area-oriented focus of inquiry. The participating specialists gained new insights and made unexpected finds — for example, Jefferson letters dealing with Greece, and a Czech incunabulum Bible, for a long time in the Library but only recently cataloged and pre-dating by some 40 years the Czech rare book hitherto believed to be our oldest. Last but not least, light was thrown on our collections by identifying areas for future developmental action.

In May and June, our Division played host to four scholars designated by ACLS to survey collections not covered by our staff members. They received generous help from our specialists in tackling the complexities of LC's catalogs and collections and in finding shortcuts enabling them to use their brief two-week stays as economically as possible.

The first drafts of our Division's surveys are now nearing completion, and we expect them to be complete by the end of September, the stipulated target date. We believe that the end product of these labors will be of vast utility — not only because information about the profile and location of our holdings is needed by the scholarly and library communities, but also because it will be of great benefit for in-house purposes to readers and our staff.

In reference and bibliographic work, a major element of the Division's activities during fiscal year 1972, there was no limit to the curiosity and variety of the Library's clients. It may be the Presidential advisor, wondering about the physical dimensions of the Kremlin, or the eager young cook, wanting to study the secrets of German pastry cooking, who asks the assistance of the staff. The Division's responses to these requests ranged from a simple definition of a foreign word to complex studies requiring detailed research in specialized and often obscure foreign sources. Were a description of the Division's reference inquiries limited to two words, those words would necessarily be depth and diversity.

As in years past, inquiries were primarily concerned with Russia and the Soviet Union. This emphasis results not only from the significance of US-Soviet relations during the past quarter century, the trends of American scholarship, and the importance of Russian literature and culture, but also from the President's visit to the Soviet Union in May 1972. A question may be as simple as a request for a rendition of specific Russian military terms into English, or it may relate to a deep study of Soviet press reaction to the President's visit. The range of topics included the organization of Soviet archives, biological data on generals of the Imperial Army, Russian views of American literature, works on major Russian shipwrecks, and Soviet statistics on foreign trade. The most frequently requested information during FY 1972 was clearly that relating to the records of the Russian Orthodox Church in Alaska. These church records, held by the Manuscript Division, consist of parish registers of births, marriages, and deaths for the years 1816–1936, and many descendants of these Russian Orthodox natives of Alaska have been seeking proof in the parish registers of their right to participate in the distribution of some $925,000,000 and 40 million acres of land appropriated as compensation to Alaskan natives. The servicing of such inquiries became so time-consuming during FY 1972 that the Chief of the Division recommended that the Alaska Bureau of Vital Statistics, the originator of most of these inquiries, be asked to use the microfilm of the parish registers to deal with these inquiries locally.

Some of the questions on other areas directed to the staff drew answers which were, perhaps, more widely publicized than were those relating to Russia and the Soviet Union. A prime example is to be found in the April 1972 issue of the National Geographic magazine which contains an article on the colorful Easter eggs of Americans and Canadians of Ukrainian origin, and an article on Poland, both prepared with the assistance of the Slavic and Central European Division. As another example, Macedonian language publications selected by the staff from the Library's collections were on view in a distant corner of Europe as a result of having been filmed here by a television crew from TV Skopje in Yugoslavia.

Germany was the subject of many inquiries concerning such matters as the holdings of East German archives, elections under the Weimar Republic, comparisons of the civil service in Germany and in the United States, and German missionary activities in Africa.

For the rest, one can only cite a small selection of topics upon which the Division was called to provide assistance. The 750th anniversary of the Golden Bull (Bulla Aurea), the Hungarian counterpart of the English Magna Carta, brought a number of questions, including some from Members of Congress. A graduate student asked for information on the Lithuanian national movement in the years 1864–1904, and historians, information on diplomatic relations between the Baltic States and the Soviet Union in 1939–40 and the current state of economic affairs in Albania. The Division's Polish area specialist provided to a student of Franco-Polish cultural relations information about Polish translations of the works of Victor Hugo, and when the president of Kraków University visited a college in the Midwest, the Division was asked to provide the words and music to Kraków University's school song.

The Division's specialist on Czechoslovakia answered questions on subjects ranging from the status of women workers in Czechoslovakia today to early Czech inventors. The Vice President of the United States was provided with an etymology of his ancestral name "Anagnostopulos," and a French genealogist was aided in a study of medieval Serbian kings.

As in previous years, the Division's staff provided a number of translations for Government agencies. The Division's Greek specialist translated a wide variety of materials for some 30 members of Congress; other translations were prepared from items in Hungarian, Finnish, Russian, Serbian and Slovenian.

November 11, 1971, marked the 150th anniversary of the birth of Fedor M. Dostoevskii, and the occasion was observed by a divisional exhibit in the Rare Book Room. On display were first editions of Dostoevskii's works in Russian, as well as some examples of noteworthy translations, the writings of eminent critics concerning Dostoevskii's place in literature, and his works as used in the performing arts. The exhibit attracted widespread attention and was extended two months beyond its scheduled closing date.

During FY 1972, the Slavic and Central European Division provided frequent assistance to other units within the Library. The Children's Book Section of General Reference and Bibliographical Division have regularly consulted the Division in connection with the preparation of an exhibit and catalog of children's literature around the world.

The Latin American, Portuguese, and Spanish Division obtained the Division's help in translating and annotating Russian titles for inclusion in the Handbook of Latin American Studies. The Polish specialist has supplied the Geography and Map Division with lists of forthcoming maps to be issued in Poland so that they may be secured for the Library before they are out of print. Staff members also assisted in the work of, among other offices, the Rare Book Division, the Genealogy Room, the Orientalia Division, and the Prints and Photographs Division.

A record number of letters of appreciation were received during the fiscal year by the Division. One of the numerous testimonials came from a student of German history who wrote: "I just want to thank you very much for your kind and valuable assistance . . . and I hope that my finished product measures up to your standard of quality."

Bibliography

In Spring 1972 the Library published The Federal Republic of Germany: A Selected Bibliography of English-Language Publications With Emphasis on the Social Sciences, compiled and annotated by Dr. Arnold H. Price, area specialist for Central Europe. This bibliography was made possible by a grant from the National Carl Schurz Association and by the encouragement and support of the Conference Group on German Politics. It is a highly selective work of about 700 entries, and is addressed to the general reader as well as to the specialist and librarian. Reactions to the publication have been highly gratifying. Professor Louis F. Helbig, Director of the Institute of German Studies, Indiana University, has written: ". . . There is no question in my mind that this work will turn out to be immensely useful to all interdisciplinary scholars and teachers in this field. . . the increasing trend toward an interdisciplinary approach in German studies has become apparent. I am delighted to see that the most important library in the country is aware of this trend." A number of other specialists in Europe as well as the United States have praised the usefulness of this first inventory of English-language publications on the subject.

In Fall 1972 the first proof sheets arrived for the text of Yugoslavia: A Bibliographic Guide, compiled by Professor Michael Petrovich of the University of Wisconsin in cooperation with the Division's staff, and yet to be published by the Library. In the 15th century Christine de Pesan, a popular French author, wrote a book on the rules of war which Henry VII commissioned William Caxton, the first English printer, to translate and print; six months later the book was ready. We contemplate wistfully this 15th century speed, after noting that the manuscript for Yugoslavia was at the printer's a year and a half before the first proofs were delivered.

At the request of the editors of the Association for Research Libraries' Foreign Acquisition Newsletter, the staff has continued to compile semiannual lists of noteworthy reference works on Eastern Europe, for publication in the Newsletter.

There exists a possibility that the bibliographic activity of the Division may be considerably expanded. The American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (AAASS), the national organization in both the United States and Canada for learning and research on the USSR and Eastern Europe, is the sponsor of the annual American Bibliography of Russia and East European Studies. Founded in 1956 and published first by Indiana University and later by Ohio State University, this bibliography has suffered considerable publication delays in recent years because of a lack of qualified manpower and adequate funding. To ensure the competent, speedy, and regular compilation of this vital research tool, the Association's Library and Documentation Committee, of which the Chief is a member, suggested in May that the Slavic and Central European Division, in view of the availability in the Library of the pertinent materials and the necessary bibliographical skills, would be the logical place to compile the bibliography. Subsequently, in preliminary talks between AAASS and Library representatives, it was determined that this task could be absorbed by the Division's full professional staff, provided that adequate funding for the hiring of a bibliographic secretary and for reimbursement of other incidental costs would be forthcoming, and that the Library's commitment would end with the preparation of the manuscript — publication and distribution remaining a responsibility of AAASS and Ohio State University. With these provisos, the Librarian expressed his approval in principle, subject to final negotiation. If the Association's pending efforts to secure funding proves successful and final agreement is reached, the Division would gain the status of the country's formally recognized bibliographic center for Russia and East European Studies.

Ad hoc bibliographies prepared in connection with reference inquiries represent a broad diversity of subjects for an equally diverse group of readers and correspondents. Among the bibliographies compiled on request was a list of 86 entries on Hungarian-German relations, 1918–1938, for a Canadian Professor about to leave for an extended stay in Central Europe; a basic bibliography of books in the Library pertaining to the Czech legions (56 titles), compiled for a scholar in the West writing a book on the subject; and two bibliographies on one of the Yugoslav Federated Republics, Slovenia — one for the National Geographic magazine, for the preparation of a feature story on the Julian Alps, and one for the USIA, for the preparation of Foreign Service Officers.

A special request came from the Publications Committee of the AAASS, which has undertaken a program to improve the knowledge of new American publications in Eastern Europe, in most of the countries covered by the Division. In pursuit of this program, the Division was requested, and has agreed, to draw up annotated lists of Eastern European scholarly journals which might review American publications in the humanities and social sciences. To date, a list of Yugoslav journals has been compiled, and others will be prepared as time and previous commitments allow.

The bibliographic area files, specialized reference files organized by country and by broad subject heading, were increased by 8,525 entries during the year; these continue to be invaluable guides for both staff and readers, as they gather together both recent and important sources of all kinds, and cover, for example, such frequently consulted topics as statistics, labor, archives and education.

During the year the Division continued to follow developments in Automatic Data Processing activities in the Library, with special attention to retrieval problems.

IV. PERSONNEL

The Division has, as directed, drawn up and presented to the Director of the Reference Department its Program Statement for long-range space planning for the Main and Annex Buildings, setting forth in detail its preferences for future location and work space.

Dr. Paul L. Horecky was appointed to the position of Chief of the Division as of April 3, 1972, succeeding Dr. Sergius Yakobson.

The Division gave full cooperation to the Classification Office in the conduct of the Maintenance Review of Positions. As a result of this review, the following actions were taken: the Head of the Slavic Room and Area Specialist (Greek) was promoted to GS-13; the Assistant Division Secretary was promoted to GS-6; and the Senior Searcher to GS-8.

Miss Anita R. Navon, formerly with the Slavic Bibliographic and Documentation Center in Washington, D.C., was appointed to the position of Area Specialist (Czechoslovakia and Eastern Europe) succeeding Mr. Robert G. Carlton, who retired on disability.

Mr. Andrew Fessenko was awarded a 20-year pin for services in the Library of Congress. The vacant position of Assistant Chief and East European Specialist (GS-15) was reclassified to Area Specialist (East European) and Assistant to the Chief (GS-14). Following an intense search, a candidate with an impressive record of much experience and achievement in the academic, documentation, and library spheres, has been recommended at this writing for appointment to the position.

The Chief, the Area Specialist (Russian and Soviet Union), and the Head of the Slavic Room participated in a variety of orientation programs, briefing groups of new library recruits and visitors to the Library.

Staff members also availed themselves of the opportunity of in-house training programs. Mrs. Helen E. Saunders, Assistant Division Secretary, took the Library's "From Nine to Five" course and received a certificate.

V. EXTERNAL RELATIONS

The Division's activities in acquisitions, processing and reference are not limited to the library tasks involved; important to our effectiveness in all fields are the contacts between staff members and outside agencies and individuals. Participation in professional and scholarly organizations, contacts with scholars and officials, and travels abroad all contribute to the current awareness of the staff members, to making known in the library and academic communities the Library's services and facilities, and, increasingly, to the development of cooperative projects in the field.

The chief, who serves on the Joint Committee on Eastern Europe of the American Council of Learned Societies and the Social Science Research Council, is also Chairman of the ACLS Research and Library Resources Advisory Committee for East Central and Southeast Europe. In these capacities, and as member of the Library and Documentation Committee of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, he has maintained liaison with scholars and librarians in the field, and has contributed to a number of cooperative endeavors (see Part III).

Activities of the staff continue to be as varied as their interests; for example, Dr. Hoskins participated in the annual meeting of the American Library Association Rare Book Section held in Chicago in June 1972, and Dr. Bako, as chairman of both the Hungarian Library Association and the National Cultural Committee of the American Hungarian Federation, initiated several programs and projects to promote Hungarian studies in the United States. For the Voice of America, Dr. Bako taped an interview on the Hungarian collections of the Library.

Visitors to the Division are as windows on the world, and they continue to provide a view of all corners of the globe, from Guyana to Finland, South Africa to Kansas. Among the year's foreign visitors was a group of 30 Russian exchange students, who were given a tour of the Library by Dr. Allen; five Romanian mayors, also hosted by Dr. Allen; and 24 Finnish librarians who had Dr. Bako as their guide.

This year marked the first official visit to the Division by an East German scholar, Dr. Claus Montag of the Institute for International Relations in Potsdam. Dr. Montag was especially interested in establishing exchange arrangements with the Library.

Other visitors from abroad include Dr. Walter Braun, Minister of Culture of Schleswig-Holstein, Mrs. Margarita Jovanović of the University and National Library in Skopje, Yugoslavia, Miss A. Sheehy of the Central Asian Research Center in London, and Professor A. Popescu, Deputy Minister of Education of Romania.

Area specialists almost by definition are, or ought to be, travelers; travel abroad offers an invaluable opportunity to keep current and to broaden and deepen the specialist's knowledge. During the year, Dr. Hoskins visited Poland, primarily in connection with acquisitions, and Mr. Perry, during his vacation in Greece, used several days of official leave for acquisitions purposes for the library. Mr. Perry's trip has also made possible more effective contacts on behalf of the Library with the Greek and Cypriote missions in Washington. Ties with the other East and Central European embassies remain active; several newly arrived cultural attachés have had personal tours of the library.

VI. PROFESSIONAL BUT UNOFFICIAL ACTIVITIES

Work with organizations, lecturing, publication, and graduate study occupied extra-curricular time of the staff members this year, as seen in these few examples from the impressive catalog of their activities.

Dr. Robert V. Allen continued to serve as section editor of The American Historical Review, providing bibliographies of current articles on Russian history. Dr. Elemer Bako compiled for publication by the American Institutes for Research a comprehensive bibliography of the Warsaw Pact States, Yugoslavia and Albania, and spoke at two meetings commemorating the millennium of the birth of St. Stephen, King of Hungary. Dr. John P. Balys prepared the compilation on Lithuanian folklore, 1969/70, for the International Folklore and Folklife Bibliography, and presented an address at the Second Baltic Information Conference of North America. Dr. Paul L. Horecky spoke at the AAASS meeting in Dallas, at Carlton University in Ottawa and at Yale on East European librarianship and library resources. Dr. Janina W. Hoskins is preparing for publication by G. K. Hall an annotated bibliography of rare Polonica in the United States. Mr. George E. Perry, in connection with the forthcoming Bicentennial celebrations, has been asked to serve as Chairman of the American Revolutionary Bicentennial Committee of the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association. Dr. Arnold H. Price remains a section editor of the American Historical Review, contributing the bibliography of current articles on German, Austrian and Swiss history, and presented a lecture on historical method at University of Southern Illinois.

During the year, Mr. Albert E. Graham and Miss Anita R. Navon worked toward their graduate degrees in library science at Catholic University.