Submitted by
Clara Lovett, Chief
October 18, 1982

Preface

FY 1982 was an important year, perhaps a turning point in the history of the European Division. After years of uncertainty, the issue of the Division's leadership was finally resolved. With the arrival of a new Chief in June and the subsequent recruitment of a French/Italian specialist major steps were taken toward implementation of decisions made by the Library's top management in the late 1970s.

These changes provided for all of us an opportunity to reflect on the expanded mission of the Division and on its strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, this Annual Report for FY 1982 is more than a compilation of statistics and a recitation of accomplishments. It is a summary of debates we have engaged in over the past several months about our current status and future prospects. In sharing this summary with others we hope, of course, for recognition of our many contributions to the Library; but above all we look forward to feedback and constructive criticism.

I. The European Division and the Library of Congress Collections

A. Acquisitions.

In this area the Division has been able for some time to fulfill successfully the major responsibilities it shares with other Area Studies Divisions. The Division's recommending officers made a total of 19,515 recommendations, mostly from national bibliographies and publishers' catalogs. These are impressive figures, especially if one considers that two out of the eight recommending officers did not serve for the full fiscal year. But the statistics tell only a part – and not necessarily the most important part – of the success story.

As in the past years, the Division's specialists, especially Allen, Hoskins, and Kovtun secured for the LC major acquisitions of retrospective material. Among the noteworthy additions to the LC collections in FY 1982 were photographs and other memorabilia from the estate of the Polish pianist and statesman Jan Ignacy Paderewski, two rare seventeenth century Polish works, several rare Czech works as well as literary material currently banned in Czechoslovakia, a complete microfilm set of the emigré newspaper Hungaria (1948-1958), some rare Serbian periodicals, and a complete microfilm set of Il Giornale d'Italia (1901-1922). Most impressive were the acquisitions of microfilm Russian materials on topics ranging from 19th century railroads to the Russian presence in the Pacific and the Russian theater of the 1920s and 1930s. It is surely no accident that this material began to come in at a steady pace after Allen's acquisitions trip to the Soviet Union in 1980. Unfortunately, no member of the European Division has had the opportunity since then to outdo, or at least to match, Allen in this area!

In the absence of funds for acquisitions travel, several members of the Division put their wits and their local and foreign contacts to good use on behalf of the LC. Thus, for instance, Assistant Chief Kraus persuaded the Romanian cultural attaché to donate 85 works on contemporary Romania, Yugoslav specialist Popovitch secured tapings by the Slovenian poet Veno Taufer and by the Theater Company of Zagreb, and ABSEES bibliographer Iovine secured works from Bulgaria. Chief Lovett persuaded the research office of the Istituto per lo sviluppo dell'Italia meridionale to donate a subscription to the journal Mezzogiorno d'Europa and several monographs. Also very helpful were specialist Krewson's visits to the LC's blanket-order dealers in the German Federal Republic and in the Netherlands during her one-year leave of absence. She also visited major libraries in German-speaking countries.

Other initiatives of this kind undertaken in FY '82 should bear fruit in the months to come. Kraus and Hoskins, for instance, have assisted in negotiations between the LC and the American Institute of Polish Culture for the acquisition of microfilm book and archival materials on Jewish communities in Poland up to World War II. If successful, these negotiations will result in a very significant addition to the LC's resources for historical and genealogical research.

Acquisitions trips to the Balkan countries and to Italy have been proposed for FY 1983. If these trips are approved, the focus will be on retrospective acquisitions of research materials and, in the case of Italy, on the resolution of vexing problems in the area of exchange.

Finally, it should be noted that the Division specialists are spending a significant amount of time screening shipments from European blanket-order dealers to insure compliance with LC policy. Several suggestions for modification of existing agreements or for improvements in service have originated from this particular activity.

B. Maintenance and Organization

In this second area of involvement with the LC collections, the Division's record is good overall, but there are problem areas that need attention.

Division members have been quite conscientious in spotting rare or very fragile items that need to be brought to the attention of other Divisions. During FY '82 an estimated 200 such items were taken off the shelves in the general collections and thus saved from irreparable deterioration.

Undoubtedly, however, the most important development in this area was the completion of the Russian brochure and pamphlet collection project. The temporary appointment of Mrs. Roberta Goldblatt for the period March 8 to September 3, 1982 made it possible for us to bring this little known LC treasure under bibliographic control. The collection is now in good enough condition that it can be made available to scholars. Unfortunately, it is still stored in the Northwest Attic; and service from there to the Reading Room presents awesome problems. Much more remains to be done with the uncataloged Russian materials in our custody, but since the end of Goldblatt's appointment only student interns have continued to work on those materials.

Another major concern of the Division is the state of the European Reading Room and of Deck 18. At the end of FY '82, the Division had made little progress toward the development of a reference collection worthy of its name. There are many reasons for this, some of which are beyond our control. But a very unpleasant situation is obviously emerging. The volume of reference questions about Western Europe (see section on Reference) has risen in recent months and will undoubtedly increase more sharply after the arrival of the new French/Italian specialist. Yet the reference librarians assigned to the Reading Room have neither the reference tools nor the background (both are Slavic specialists) to cope with the situation. As a result, they are left with little choice but to refer patrons back to GRR or to call one of the area specialists. In the first instance patrons are left wondering why the LC advertises a "European" Reading Room. In the second instance, specialists frequently are called to drop important projects to help out with the questions that the reference librarians could certainly answer if they had the proper tools.

These tools, for instance, the new Grande Larousse Encyclopédique, are trickling in ever so slowly. But we can make room for them only at the price of substantial pruning of the Eastern European reference collection. Understandably, there has been considerable staff resistance to this pruning. Even when it is completed, there simply will not be enough room for a Western European collection of comparable quality. After much discussion of this matter, we feel somewhat defeated, for the root of the problem is, of course, an inadequate Reading Room.

For years the Division has taken just pride in the service provided to the European Reading Room from Deck 18. From the point of view of maintenance and organization of the material in the Division's custody, nothing has changed. Library staff and other users continue to remark that Deck 18 is a model deck. Unfortunately, the high collection maintenance standards are no longer accompanied – as they once were – by consistently prompt and efficient service to the Reading Room. Occasional delays of as much as thirty minutes have been reported. This problem will have to be corrected, because such delays undermine our case for continued custody of current unbound Slavic and Baltic periodicals. The unfortunate resignation of one Processing Assistant after only two weeks on the job is another sign that not all is well on Deck 18 and that a thorough review of procedures and job assignments is overdue. Such a review will be a top priority for the Assistant Chief in FY '83.

C. Evaluation.

In this third area of involvement with the LC collections the Division has made significant progress over FY '81. Nevertheless, it still falls far short of where it would like to be.

The Russian brochure and pamphlet project discussed in the previous section was a major step not only in collection maintenance and organization but also in the evaluation of the LC's substantial Slavic holdings. Other steps were taken, informally, by Senior Specialist Allen for Soviet materials of the 1920s and 1930s, by Assistant Chief Kraus for Greece, and by bibliographer Iovine for Bulgaria. But these informal evaluations, conducted amidst the press of other business, are no substitute for systematic and comprehensive analyses which have not been done in many years, if ever.

Having used the LC collections for many years in connection with reference and bibliographic work, however, the Division's Balkan and Eastern European specialists at least have developed a general sense of the major strengths and weaknesses. The Western European specialists who have joined the Division recently or who may join it in the near future will not enjoy a comparable advantage.

There is, in fact, a grave need for evaluation of the Western European collections which are amongst the largest in the LC. Blanket-order and exchange arrangements with Western European countries are working rather well, perhaps too well. Western Europe produces a massive number of books and other collectible materials each year. Insofar as current materials are concerned, quite possibly the LC is acquiring too much and, given current cataloging priorities, it may not be making very good use of what it does acquire. Only systematic evaluations of the collections, especially urgent for the two Germanies, France, and Italy, can tell us whether this is indeed the case and what should be done to change our acquisitions policy. Evaluations of the collections are also urgently needed to determine the extent of the need for retrospective acquisitions. It is embarrassing to have to acknowledge, as unfortunately we must, that the greatest Library in the history of Western civilization currently does not have staff qualified to recommend retrospective materials for several major European countries.

The European Division is acutely aware of its responsibilities in this area, and it has struggled bravely, albeit not very successfully, to meet them. When the retirement of Dr. Jonas P. Balys made it possible for the Division to recruit a new area specialist, the Division opted for an expert on France and Italy. The need to continue Joan Higby's survey of French materials (see 1981 Report) and to undertake a similar survey of the Italian collection played a significant part in this choice. Unfortunately, the new specialist was not recruited for FY '82 and these tasks remained undone. The Division was able, however, to retain the services of German specialist Dornemann for one month beyond the expiration of his substitute appointment (see section IV). In September 1982, Dornemann made a good start on the evaluation of the German language collections.

The Higby and Dornemann projects were useful and highly instructive for all of us. The former project, which was done on two sixty-day details, taught us the hazards of overly ambitious plans. We tried to cover too much ground in too short a time, and the result was that neither the general nor the special collections received adequate attention.

Having learned that lesson the hard way, we designed Dornemann's thirty-day project along more modest and realistic lines, and we got a useful survey of humanities and social science classes. From the Dornemann project, however, we learned a sobering lesson about the need for competent retrospective acquisitions. One of the oldest and largest (ca. 1,500,00 volumes) LC collections, and one long taken for granted, turned out to have serious gaps, especially in the PT class.

Although very much aware of the need to evaluate the collections within our jurisdiction, we are pessimistic about our ability to accomplish this in the near future. Particularly in the Western European area, where the need is most urgent, we will not be able to divert staff resources away from other basic responsibilities. The Dornemann and Goldblatt projects, however, suggest that we may be able to do the necessary work in this area by securing the services of qualified temporary staff to augment our meager resources. To this end we would like to explore the possibility of joint ventures (and joint financing?) by the two LC units most directly concerned, the Collections Development Office and the Department of Research Services.

II. The European Division and Its Services

A. Reference Services.

The Statistical Report (see Appendix I) tells a story of steady growth in this area. The Division's correspondence and the reports submitted by individual members in preparation for this report show that growth in the number of inquiries handled has not occurred at the expense of quality. Indeed in FY '82 the Division may have surpassed its own fine record of rigorous professionalism and versatility.

The senior staff handled 38,660 reference inquiries concerning every European country except Great Britain, Spain, and Portugal and involving the use of materials in fifteen languages. The inquiries ranged from requests for relatively simple bibliographic information to more complex research problems, some of which are listed in Appendix III.

Two independent variables appear to determine the nature of the inquiries received by the Division. One is the unfolding of events on the European scene, and the other is the composition of the Division's own staff. During FY '82 the impact of these variables became especially obvious.

To no one's surprise, the Solidarity movement in Poland continued to generate many inquiries for Polish specialist Hoskins on the part of academic researchers and journalists. The decision of a Congressional committee to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Hungarian revolution of 1956 meant involvement by Finno-Ugrian specialist Bako in an exhibit that opened in November 1981. The foreign policy and military posture of the Reagan administration vis-à-vis the Soviet Union generated several inquiries for Kraus, Allen, and Graham. Interest in Czech samizdat publications remained strong as did interest in post-Tito Yugoslavia, the political system of the German Federal Republic, and European socialism in its many forms.

The arrival of a new Chief with an established reputation in Western European affairs called the staff to rise to new challenges. The Division handled some 15 inquiries about France in the period July-September 1982, in contrast to some 40 inquiries for the whole of FY '81. With regard to Italy (the Chief's scholarly specialty), inquires rose from about 12 in FY '81 to 36 for the period July-September 1982 alone. Obviously, the addition of a qualified specialist to the Division generates demand for that person's services.

Success brings rewards, but also problems. In our case, the Division's overall high productivity in this area is based on the special efforts, expertise, and dedication of a handful of people who are giving their all. This may be ethically admirable, but it is not fair; the Division's leaders will have to give more thought to an equitable distribution of workloads among the senior staff. Moreover, a solution will have to be found for logistical and equipment problems that create unnecessary stress for the staff and thus reduce productivity. Foremost among these problems is the need for constant travel among three buildings and the lack of even a single CRT in the Division offices. In order to do the necessary screening and searching, the Division staff must compete with lots of other users for access to the public terminals in the Jefferson Reading Room.

B. Bibliography and Publications.

The Division's recently completed projects and those still in progress are listed in Appendix II. The same general observations that were made heretofore concerning reference work can be made also about the Division's publication projects. Activity in Eastern and Central European topics remained strong, but there were also a few signs of the Division's expanded scope. Hoskins' biobibliography of Lafayette in America was one such sign, and another was Chief Lovett's bibliographic essay on Garibaldi and her article on the Opera Omnia di Sidney Sonnino for the LCIB.

However, the major bibliographic accomplishment of FY 1982 was the completion of the 1979 volume of the American Bibliography of Slavic and East European Studies. Assistant Chief Kraus did a major part of the editing with the help of the editor and assistant editor of future volumes. Substantial progress was made also on the selection of material for the 1980 and 1981 volumes.

In cooperation with the Executive Secretary of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, ABSEES editor Kohut and assistant editor Paczolt prepared a new application for funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities. They and other project staff are also involved in a special effort to explain to interested individuals and organizations the structure and purposes of the ABSEES. Editor Kohut did most of the "external" work at such places as the Kennan Institute of the Wilson Center. But bibliographers Dobczansky and Iovine helped, too, with talks, respectively, at ALA and at Yale and Harvard Universities. Their efforts were especially timely because we received disturbing news from the AAASS concerning its financial future. The ABSEES seems in danger of losing its primary sponsor just at the time when it is winning recognition and acclaim among researchers in academic and government circles.

There were other disappointments as well. Bako's long-delayed bibliography of Finnish reference works was not completed and administrative chores kept Allen from making much progress on his multi-media project, "Russians Look at America." And finally, all Division members, but particularly the ABSEES staff, were handicapped by the lack of basic equipment long available to other area studies divisions. Thousands of entries were prepared and filed manually. A Compucorp interactive word processor arrived too late, but we hope to use it for FY '83 projects. Bibliographer Dobczansky received special training in the application of automated systems; his expertise in this area should prove very valuable as we move away from our old-fashioned practices.

C. Translations

As in the past, the Division received several requests for translations from congressional offices, CRS, other units of the Library and the public. The most interesting items included family papers in German and Russian, a letter by a Polish citizen on the economy of the U.S., a Romanian inscription on a valuable objet d'art, the obituary of a Czech immigrant woman active in Masonic circles, and a letter of introduction to German politicians.

III. The European Division and the Government and Scholarly Communities

During FY '82 the Division strengthened already existing ties with the scholarly and government communities and developed some new ones. Several Division members received well-earned recognition for active involvement with scholarly groups and for assistance given to researchers.

Especially noteworthy were the Assistant Chief's continued involvement with the Bibliography and Documentation Committee of the AAASS and his participation in the Local Arrangements Committee charged with plans for the October 1982 meeting of that same Association. Three Division members attended the ALA meeting in Philadelphia in July; bibliographer Dobczansky presented a paper to an affiliated group, the Ukrainian Library Association of America. Specialists Hoskins and Kovtun continue to be called upon by scholarly societies dealing with Poland and Czechoslovakia respectively. Both reviewed manuscripts and served on advisory boards or prize committees. In addition to his contribution to a congressional commemoration of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, specialist Bako lectured to Finnish-language classes at the Department of State's Foreign Service Institute and he prepared a display for the European Reading Room on "Teaching English in Finland." Chief Lovett served on the Board of Directors of the Institute for Research in History, on the Executive Council of the Conference Group on Italian Politics, and on the Editorial Board of the Dictionary of Italian History, to which she contributed twenty articles and a bibliography on nineteenth century Italy.

In the area of direct involvement with scholarly societies the Division scored a historic first when Chief Lovett was invited to chair a symposium on "Western Europe and North American Research Libraries." The symposium is scheduled for May 1983 in Minneapolis; it is sponsored by the University of Minnesota, the Council on Library Resources, and the Western European Specialists Section of ALA. Funds are being provided by the University of Minnesota (from a Title VI grant), by the Rockefeller Foundation, and by the CLR for the publication of the proceedings. The sponsors invited Chief Lovett to chair the symposium (and to do a fair amount of work!) because they expect the LC's European Division to play a leadership role in the field of European Studies, not just in the field of Slavic Studies as has been mostly the case thus far.

Among the institutions and agencies that sought help from the Division were Radio Free Europe and the Voice of America, the Department of State and the USIA's office of European Affairs, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, the Wilson Center, the American Enterprise Institute, and many others. The pattern of requests that came from these agencies has already been described in the section on reference services. Particularly from State and USIA there was a substantial increase in inquiries concerning Italy which coincided with the new Chief's arrival. Also noteworthy were two interviews granted by the Assistant Chief to Voice of America (concerning Albania) and to the Swedish equivalent of our National Public Radio (concerning the Division as such).

Very distinguished scholars from every part of the United States and from 23 foreign countries worked closely with members of the Division on major projects during FY '82. Among the best known were Eastern European and Balkan specialists Richard Pipes (Harvard University), Harold Leich (University of Illinois Library), Stephen Fischer-Galati (University of Colorado), Riccardo Picchio (Yale University), Velko Tonev (Sofia University, Bulgaria) and Michael Confino (Tel Aviv University). But again, many new faces appeared alongside these friends of long standing. Among the Western European specialists given personal assistance with research projects were university librarians Louis Pitschmann (Cornell) and Charles Fineman (University of California, Santa Cruz), Richard Drake (University of Montana), Emiliana Noether (University of Connecticut), Jean Joughin (American University), Rosario Romeo and Sergio Cotta (University of Rome), Gianfranco Pasquino (University of Bologna), and Arturo Colombo (University of Pavia).

In addition to giving specialized help to researchers, senior staff members were called almost daily to explain the mission of the Division and the scope and organization of the LC's collections to European visitors. Approximately 150 Europeans visited the Division offices and/or the Reading Room in FY '82. Most of the visitors were sent to us via the Educational Liaison Office. Our relations with that office have been excellent, especially since the appointment of John Haas. His staff sees to it that we are not overwhelmed by a tidal wave we could not possibly handle. But the selected and usually high-powered European visitors who are sent our way receive exceptional attention. ELO seems pleased with our efforts.

European government officials who visited this Division in FY '82 included Helmut Kohl of the German Federal Republic's Christian Democratic Union Party, Kurt Nier, Deputy Foreign Minister of the German Democratic Republic, Erik Nessheim, Deputy Prime Minister of Norway, Oleg A. Troianovskii, USSR delegate to the United Nations, Monica Braw of the Swedish Broadcasting Company, and Olga Perović, a government official from Montenegro (Yugoslavia). Chief Lovett wrote to representatives from the Western European embassies in Washington, who had never been invited to visit the Division before. The response was very enthusiastic, and several visitors came in August and September 1982.

In addition to hosting government officials the senior staff met with numerous correspondents, free-lance writers, film and theater directors, and so forth. Most notable were the visits of Rudolf Jedlička, Director of the Czech National Theater, of Le Monde correspondent François Deschamps, and of a team from the Theater Company of Zagreb, Yugoslavia. Several of these talented and well-known visitors contributed to the LC's Archive of European Literature on Tape and were given detailed information about the LC's collections in their particular fields.

Except for Bako's contribution, mentioned earlier, and for several translations, there was very little interaction with Congress, even indirectly through CRS. This is a source of some concern for us. On the negative side, it must also be said that some Division members did not maintain a proper balance between their responsibility to host and assist European visitors and other, more critical responsibilities in the areas of reference and bibliographic work. This situation cannot be corrected at the expense of good relations with foreign governments, libraries, and universities (not to mention the LC's own ELO). Ideally, it should be corrected by putting more of the burden for external relations on the Chief and the Assistant Chief. Unfortunately, however, neither of them can converse in all twelve languages routinely used by the Division. And, more important, both are carrying a heavy load of reference and bibliographic work which at the present time cannot really be delegated to others. Hence, the Division's external relations, especially in the Western European field, are far from what they could and should be.

IV. Administrative and Personnel Matters

FY '82 was a very busy year in this area. Margrit B. Krewson returned on August 30, 1982 from a leave of absence in her native Germany. In addition to acquiring a new Chief, the Division was allowed to recruit a French/Italian area specialist in order to strengthen the Western European component. Dr. Carol Armbruster will report in January 1983. Her arrival will relieve the Chief of rather heavy reference and bibliographic responsibilities. The Division also acquired the services of bibliographer Dr. Micaela Iovine, who was assigned to the ABSEES project, and of Processing Assistant Sara Biro, who replaced Justyn Iwasechko. Unfortunately, Biro resigned after only two weeks on the job. Thus, the fiscal year ended with one GS-13 position filled but not yet claimed and one GS-5 position vacant. Moreover, the Division lost the very valuable services of specialist Dornemann, whose temporary appointment was not extended beyond September 30, 1982, and of bibliographer Goldblatt, whose appointment expired on September 3, 1982. Both were extremely able professionals, whose contribution to the Division was greater than their temporary status may suggest.

Again, in the area of administration and personnel the arrival of the new Chief provided opportunities for debate and reassessment of priorities and for a redistribution of workloads. The Chief's and Assistant Chief's position descriptions have been rewritten, making the former responsible for direct supervision of the office staff and of the area specialists and the latter responsible for the Reading Room, the Deck, and the bibliographic support staff. Official approval of these changes, which were discussed with departmental officers, is expected soon. A formal request for additional positions has been forwarded to the Department.

Among the Division's many needs two really stand out. A European Division worthy of its name must be able to recruit a Scandinavian area specialist, preferably someone capable also of helping the lone German area specialist. And, second, the Division needs a searcher capable of handling bibliographies in Western European languages and of retrieving computerized information.

Although the need for additional positions is obvious, the Division also needs to give more thought to staff development. Too many of its members, for instance, have not learned to retrieve basic information from the computerized system and are still working exclusively with printed and card catalogs. Thus, they make more trips to the Main Card Catalog and the NUC than would otherwise be necessary. Moreover, with the closing of traditional catalogs, the Division finds it necessary to maintain its own card files. And this, too, is leading to a significant waste of staff time. Yet the LC has not provided adequate training in the use of automated systems and within the Division itself we have been unable to release our best-trained staff member, Dobczansky, so he can help others.

In other areas of staff development, however, the Division is doing rather better. The Chief received an intense orientation to the LC during August and September. Senior reference librarian Graham and area specialist Kovtun attended a refresher course on reference resources at the Library and bibliographer Dobczansky attended an OPM course on automated data bases. Specialist Krewson was granted a special schedule so that she can complete a course of study leading to an MA in German Literature.

The Division's work was made easier and more pleasant by the presence of fresh young faces, student aides Cheryl Talley and Carla Cromer and student interns Daniel Donohue and David Kennedy. It goes without saying that half the Division's work would never have gotten done without the skill, experience, and patience of administrative secretary and editorial assistant Janie M. Ricks and of secretary Helen E. Saunders.

Much administrative time was devoted to plans for the future permanent quarters of the Division in the renovated TJ space. No progress was made either on short-term improvements in the Division's shabby offices and Reading Room or in plans for an interim move, which were discussed after a visit by the Librarian of Congress to the Adams Building.