Submitted by
David H. Kraus, Chief
October 19, 1990

PREFACE

Fiscal Year 1990 brought its share of accomplishments and a few disappointments to the staff of the European Division. Staff members made four acquisitions trips to central and eastern Europe and participated in as many international conferences. At home they prepared or participated in the preparation of displays and exhibits, welcomed several world political figures and royalty, and were recipients of five awards.

Two staffing problems were solved by assistance from another division, but several staffing problems remained due to a change of mind on the part of an appointee and to budgetary constraints.

Acquisitions also showed the balance of positive and negative, with positive news coming from new arrangements in the Soviet Union and Italy, and negative news from new copyright arrangements with France.

The startling changes that took place in Europe placed a great, but stimulating demand on the Division's staff in all its areas of activity, and brought to the Division its first intern from Eastern Europe.

I. MAJOR DEVELOPMENT

There were several developments in the division's activities this year that may be termed major, but that involving personnel will perhaps be the most significant in the long term.

Mr. Kenneth E. Nyirady was transferred to the European Division from the Federal Research Division, bringing with him reference, acquisition, and analytic experience, as well as fluent Hungarian and knowledge of publishing in Hungary. He has also opened the door to the acquisition of materials from libraries in the Finno-Ugrian autonomous regions of the Soviet Union. The division has sorely felt the absence of a specialist in this area since the retirement of Dr. Bako five years ago. Mr. Nyirady's experience as a reference librarian was immediately put to use in the European Reading Room.

We were equally fortunate to have the part-time services of the Federal Research Division's automation specialist, Mr. Stephen Cranton, who worked closely with the Chief, the European Reading Room staff, the American Bibliography project, and the area specialist staff in the planning and application of automation to the Division's bibliography, reference, and publication activities.

II. ACQUISITION OF MATERIALS

Acquisition trips by George Kovtun, Kenneth Nyirady, and Bohadan Yasinsky to Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and the Ukraine, respectively, and by Margrit Krewson to Austria, East Germany, and Switzerland, opened new sources of acquisition and provided insights particularly into dealing with institutions recently relieved of tight political control and with new personnel and options. In all cases, materials resulting from these trips began arriving this fiscal year, in a veritable flood from the Ukraine.

Landmarks in acquisitions arrangements were made in Italy and the USSR. The vexing problem of acquiring non-commercial Italian publications appears to have had a successful solution with the new bibliographic services contract with Giuliano Bottali, through blanket-order dealer Mario Casalini. The Library's Moscow Office opened in March, 1990, headed by Soviet citizen Mikhail Levner, who subsequently came to the Library for in depth orientation into the Library's needs and operations. Dr. Levner's efforts to acquire materials not available through the blanket-order dealer or by exchange have proved quite successful. Specialists Carol Armbruster and Harold Leich played significant roles in realizing these arrangements. Mrs. Rita Panourgia, whose bibliographic services contract for Greece served as a model for the Italian and Soviet ones, visited the Library and spoke on publishing in Greece and to acquisitions staff.

The Library's adherence to the Berne Convention has presented a serious problem: books previously received automatically from 32 major French publishers for copyright deposit are no longer being deposited. This has posed a large financial burden and significantly increased the French specialist's recommending load.

Sizable shipments of books as gifts were received from Austrian and Swiss sources and from Ukrainian sources before the acquisitions trips through the personal efforts of specialists Krewson and Yasinsky. Specialist Armbruster was instrumental in procuring for the Library the French Revolution Research Collection, (Bibliothèque nationale/Pergamon Press) valued at $65,000, offered as a gift by the Louis Vuitton Company. Specialist Kovtun solicited a gift of tapes from the Voice of America containing speeches of famous Czechoslovak political figures.

Some major acquisitions recommended by Division staff were the Bibliographie nationale française since 1975 on CD-ROM, the Archives biographiques françaises and the Archivio biografico italiano on microfilm, the complete documentation published on the Italian Parliament's investigation of Masonic Lodge P2 scandal, and the German and Scandinavian Biographical Archives.

Specialist Krewson conducted an extensive review of receipts from the Austrian blanket order and the Chief, the Greek blanket order, and conveyed their observations to the Order Division.

The Library's Archive of World Literature on Tape was enriched by the recordings of several authors sponsored by the European Division. Reading from their works were: Hugo Claus (Flemish), Mavis Gallant (Canadian), Ernst Schonwiese (Austrian), Ivan Klima (Czech), and Leo Vroman (Dutch).

III. ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT OF MATERIALS

Planning of space for the moves to temporary and permanent quarters, arrearages on Deck 13, and management of the materials in the European Reading Room dominated the Division's activities in this sector.

The Head, European Reading Room, Albert Graham, and Librarian Grant Harris reviewed the configurations proposed for the West and East European Reading Room and made suggestions for more effective use of the space. The Chief was given a tour of the site proposed for the temporary housing of the Division in Alcove 7 of the Main Reading Room, a desirable location, but detailed plans for allocation of space are not yet available.

Space is a problem in the European Reading Room as well, Sixty to seventy new titles are added each month, but approximately that number must be removed by the specialists to make room for the new. Meanwhile, work is proceeding apace to create a machine-readable record of the content of the reading room with indication of location within the room. Searcher Souders made considerable progress along that line with the West European countries, and Technical Information Specialist Nyirady with Hungary and Romania. We hope to have the task completed before the Division's move to new quarters scheduled for the first half of 1991.

Division specialists have worked with other divisions in collection management matters. There is the pervading matter of moving the remnant of the Yudin collection through the cataloging divisions. In the long run, perhaps the most important concern of the Division in the management of the collections in its custody is the elimination of the cataloging arrearage comprising thirty to forty thousand pieces of early Soviet periodicals and monographs.

Three displays were mounted in the European Reading Room this fiscal year. "Taras Shevchenko. National Poet of the Ukraine," by Specialist Yasinsky, was displayed in November and December, 1989, and temporarily transferred to the office of Congressman Annunzio, where it received press coverage. "Karl Capek: Czech Writer for Democracy and Humanism," prepared by Specialist Kovtun, was shown from January through March, 1990; and "Louis Kossuth: Founder of Hungarian Democracy," arranged by Elemer Bako was on display from April, 1990.

IV. REFERENCE SERVICES

The Division staff continued to meet heavy reference demands, answering more than 13,000 inquiries, and serving more than 10,000 individuals. The Librarian's Office was a frequent user in connection with the Librarian's trips abroad, particularly in connection with the Summit, and his many foreign visitors.

The Soviet Union and the forthcoming European integration (1992) continued to be major topics of reader interest, with the radical changes in Eastern Europe drawing many inquiries from Congress and the media. East European and Soviet representatives were interested in how our government works, and asked for concise and well written presentations in English or vernacular languages. We worked closely with the Congressional Research Service in this matter. Among the new areas of intensified reader inquiry was the French separatist movement in Quebec.

Although the topics cited above stood out, reader interest in Europe extended to all countries and cultures and to their history, covering the whole range of social sciences and humanities. The research services of the European Division in relation to the resources of the Library drew inquiries from members of the European Parliament, legislators from East Germany, graduate students from the Netherlands and Denmark, German military personnel, teachers of English from Hungary, specialists from the United States Army's Intelligence and Threat Analysis Center, and exchange students from the USSR, to name a few. Events in Washington also drew many reference inquiries and visitors – the Modern Language Association convention in December 1989, the visits of president Havel of Czechoslovakia and Premier Mazowiecki of Poland (see Section VI), the Library's Tocqueville exhibit, and the upcoming Columbus exhibit. Among the political figures who visited the Division were Friedrich Hoess, Austrian ambassador to the United States, Alain Plantey, former French ambassador and currently member of the Conseil d'État, and Darius Kuolys, Minister of Culture of Lithuania. Prominent library directors who visited the Division included Ana Maria Grasso, National Central Library of Sicily, Hasan Mekuli, National and University Library of Kosovo (Yugoslavia), Mykola Senchenko, Central Library, Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, Andris Vilks, National Library of Latvia, and Vasilii Leonov, Library of the USSR Academy of Sciences in Leningrad. The roster of prominent visitors, who cannot be named here for want of space, includes diplomats, writers, librarians, scholars, editors, and publishers. It was a banner year.

Two eminent scholars spent a prolonged period in the Division, employing the Library's resources in consultation with the Division staff – Dr. Marianna T. Choldin, Distinguished Professor of International Librarianship at the University of Illinois, who studied the history of Soviet librarianship, and Dr. Aurel Sasu, University of Cluj (Romania), a Fulbright scholar studying the cultural life of Romanian immigrants to the United States.

Division specialists worked with other divisions as well in resource matters, for example, Specialist Armbruster assisted the Prints and Photographs Division with its French WWI poster project, Specialist Krewson continued to assist the Geography and Map Division with its J.G. Kohl collection and was instrumental in gaining for that division the pledge of $100,000 from the German government for an exhibit of the Kohl materials, Specialist Leich consulted with the Microform Reading Room staff concerning the processing and cataloging of the Soviet microfilm backlog, and Mr. Nyirady reviewed the former Hungarian Research Library's materials held by the Manuscript Division and advised on their worth and disposition.

Translations for Congress reached a new high, more than doubling the number for last fiscal year. Additionally, Specialist Leich and Yasinsky interpreted for legislators who had Soviet visitors.

The expertise of the staff was acknowledged by the media in newspaper, radio, or television interviews. Specialist Armbruster was interviewed by Washington radio about her French cultural program at LC (see Section VI). Librarian Graham and Specialist Leich were interviewed by TASS on the European Reading Room and Division. Specialist Krewson was interviewed by Dutch television, and by the German radio and press on the history of the Dutch and German collections, respectively, and on her publications. Specialist Yasinsky was interviewed by the Ukrainian press and appeared on Ukrainian television concerning the Library and his mission to the Ukraine during his visit there in August.

V. BIBLIOGRAPHIES AND OTHER PUBLICATIONS

In its publication program, the Division attempts to meet perceived needs of a number of outside audiences, scholarly and popular, and to provide guides to the Library's collections that will save the reader time in using the collections and the reference librarian time in serving the reader.

Four Division manuscript were published this year: a brochure on the history of the Library's Dutch collections, a listing of exhibit catalogs (1958-88) in the Library from the German speacking countries, and a guide to the key reference works on the Soviet Union in the European Reading Room, and the American Bibliography of Slavic and East European Studies for 1988.

Two additional works were made available in manuscript form through the European Reading Room or the Division office, one on current, uncataloged Polish materials, the other on similar Ukrainian materials in the Division's custody. Such unofficial, uncensored, and sometimes short-lived publications are proliferating in Eastern Europe and invite the type of listing represented above.

Budget constraints have delayed the publication of the two substantial annotated bibliographies of Drs. Bako and Hoskins cited in Appendix B.

Worthy of special mention is the editorial expertise demonstrated by Specialist Armbruster in preparing for publication the papers presented at the Library's symposium on publishing and readership in revolutionary France and America. This task was nearing completion as the fiscal year ended.

The 1988 volume of the American Bibliography of Slavic and East European Studies appeared in August, 1990, one year after the 1987 volume. The additional two months on this volume permitted a 34% increase in entries, to accommodate the burgeoning publication in the field. This achievement represented a mighty effort on the part of Editor Dash and Bibliographic and Editorial Assistant Kantorosinski, including continual improvements of procedures and automation. The volume now in progress (1989) is the first to be compiled as a machine-readable data base that can be made available online.

Division staff contributed 10 articles to the Library of Congress Information Bulletin this year, including a lead article on the Division itself.

Division staff also published outside the Library. Some representative samples are: George J. Kovtun, The Spirit of Thomas G. Masaryk (1850-1937). An Anthology (St. Martin's Press, 1990); Margrit B. Krewson. "The Dutch Collections of the Library of Congress," Open, no. 22 (May 1990); Harold M. Leich. "Slavic Librarianship as a Profession: Past and Present Trends," Slavic and East European Newsletter (ACRL/ALA), no. 6, 1990.

The Division management and professional staff wish to express their appreciation of the skill and patience exhibited by the secretarial staff, Mrs. Janie Ricks and Mrs. Helen Saunders, who prepared for publication the complex language texts generated by the Division specialists.

VI. SPECIAL EVENTS

The specialist staff was intimately involved in the preparation for the visits of several world figures. Specialist Leich helped prepare a display in the Librarian's ceremonial office and the exhibit "Living Traditions of the Russian Faith," for Raisa Gorbachev's visit to the Library on May 31, during which she opened the exhibit. Specialist Kovtun and the Chief prepared a display for and participated in the reception of Czechoslovak president Václav Havel on February 20, and the Chief prepared a display for and participated in the reception of Polish premier Tadeusz Mazowiecki on March 22. Specialist Krewson and the Chief were among those who received Princess Margriet of the Netherlands and her son Prince Bernhard on November 2. The receptions for these celebrities were held in the Librarian's ceremonial office in the Thomas Jefferson Building. On September 17, Specialist Armbruster played a key role in the day-long orientation of six French senators charged with planning and financing the new French national library.

Specialist Krewson arranged for the Carl Schurz lecture, "Carl Schurz Today," by professor Hans L. Trefousse, Distinguished Professor of History at Brooklyn College. The lecture, presented on October 3, 1989, was cosponsored by the Library and the German American Cultural Fund. On December 7, Specialist Armbruster organized, "With Food We Celebrate; Joyeux Noël, a French Christmas Program," in the American Folklife Series, with the participation of the Capitol Hill French restaurant, La Brassiere. She was subsequently interviewed by radio station WMAL about the program.

VII. ACTIVITIES IN OFFICIAL AND PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

Four staff members participated in international conferences. Specialist Armbruster was an invited participant in the "History of the Book" symposium at the Max-Planck Institute of History in Gottingen, Germany, on September 6/7, 1990, Specialist Leich attended the Fourth World Congress of Soviet/East European Studies and the Third International Slavic Librarians' Conference at Harrogate, England, July 18-26, 1990, where he chaired a session on automation of Slavic bibliographic data. Technical Information Specialist Nyirady attended the Seventh Congress of Finno-Ugrists in Debrecen, Hungary, on August 27-September 1, 1990, where he delivered two papers on Finno-Ugrian linguistics, and a paper on the Finno-Ugrian collections of the Library of Congress. In August, 1990, Specialist Yasinsky attended the First Congress of the International Association of Ukrainian Studies in Kiev, and the 50th Anniversary Conference at the Stefanyk Library in Lviv. He addressed Ukrainian and Ukrainian-American library matters at both sessions.

The staff's activity in both professional and official organizations, despite the importance of each event, were so numerous that they can only be listed here, by staff member, with brief commentary in some cases.

Professional

Armbruster: 104th American Historical Association meeting, San Francisco, December 27-30, 1989; where she presented two papers; Council of European Studies Conference, Washington, D.C., March 23-25, 1990.

Dash: Annual Conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, Chicago, November 2-5, 1989. Reported to the Bibliography and Documentation Committee on the American Bibliography project.

Harris: Annual Conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, Chicago, November 2-5, 1989.

Kovtun: Conference on Czech Literature and Culture, 1890-1990, IREX, New York, N.Y., March 17-22, 1990; Voice of America and Radio Prague. "The Radio Bridge," a broadcast on the significance of T.G. Masaryk, March 7, 1990.

Kraus: Semiannual Meeting of the Bibliography, Information Retrieval, and Documentation Subcommittee of Joint Committee on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe (American Council of Learned Societies and Social Science Research Council), Washington, D.C., April 2, 1990.

Krewson: German Script Seminar. Moravian Archives, Bethlehem, Pa., June 11-22, 1990.

Leich: Annual Conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, Chicago, November 2-5, 1989. Chaired panel on Slavic collections and appointed chair of subcommittee on Access to Research Resources; American Library Association. Midwinter Conference, Chicago, January 6-11, 1990. Chaired Continuing Education Committee; American Library Association, Annual Conference, Chicago, June 22-26, 1990. Chaired Continuing Education Committee.

Yasinsky: American Association of Ukrainian Studies. Harvard University, December 7-9, 1989. Founding meeting. Appointed to two committees.

Official. Library of Congress

Staff members participated in other Library activities as well, for example, Specialist Armbruster was named chair of the LCPA Information Forum for West and North European Studies, Librarian Graham spoke on his INF experience at the Soviet and East European Study Forum of LCPA, and on his Soviet port visits (Sevastopol', Vladivostok) at the Russian Table. He also took part in the exchange of visits of librarians from the Library of Congress, the National Library of Medicine, and the National Agricultural Library. Specialist Krewson spoke at the German Table on her Austrian/German/Swiss acquisitions trip.

By way of outreach, Division specialists spoke on the Division's activities and the Library's resources to outside organizations. An example is Specialist Leich's orientation for IREX scholars about to depart for the Soviet Union. The specialists were also guests at embassy receptions, and at lectures and events sponsored by local cultural organizations and ethnic groups.

VIII. ADMINISTRATION, STAFF, AND FISCAL MATTERS

Three division staff members were recipients outstanding ratings with quality increases. Specialist Armbruster in recognition of her organization and execution of the French/American symposium held at the Library of Congress in May, 1989. Bibliographic and Editorial Assistant Kantorosinski in recognition of his initiative in mastering the automation system used by the American Bibliography Project, and Librarian Harris for management of the European Reading Room during the prolonged absence of the Head of that reading room.

Specialist Krewson was named Knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau by the government of the Netherlands in recognition of her contribution to Dutch scholarship and American-Dutch understanding.

Albert E. Graham, Head, European Reading Room, was awarded a 30-year service medallion in a ceremony presided over by the Librarian of Congress.

The Division staff was augmented by the transfer of Mr. Kenneth Nyirady from the Federal Research Division (FRD) and by the detailing of Mr. Stephen Cranton, automation expert, to the Division part-time from FRD (See Section I).

The Division also lost staff members. Senior Searcher Laura Souders resigned to accept an editorial position outside the Library. Maciej Siekierski, who was selected as Polish and East European Specialist, accepted the appointment then resigned without reporting when his employer made him a counteroffer he could not refuse. The position had to be reposted and at the close of the fiscal year had not been filled. On the current serials deck (TJB 13), Senior Processing Assistant Kim Moran resigned to accept an outside position and was replaced by previously part-time Processing Assistant John Michalski, whose position was filled on a temporary basis by Mrs. Kali Collins. Senior Processing Assistant Stephen Adams merits high praise for maintaining excellent service on and from the current serials deck during all these changes.

Albert Graham, Head, European Reading Room, spent several weeks (3/26-30; 6/16-22; 7/25-28; 9/3-4, 1990) on military and annual leave in his capacity as Captain in the Naval Reserve. He headed the interpreters group at the port visit of the Soviet fleet in San Diego (7/3-8/4, 1990) and the U.S. Navy port visit to Vladivostok (9/10-14, 1990). Librarian Harris headed the Reading Room in his absence.

The American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies contributed $6,000 to employ graduate students to work on the American Bibliography Project (see Section V). Ann Robertson and Karen Sherman, both students at George Washington University, were hired to work on the 1988 volume. Outside funding for the American Bibliography, with the exception of $4,500/yr from the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, was withdrawn as of June 30, 1990. However, a gift of $20,000 from the Social Science Research Council made it possible to continue Ms. Barbara Dash as editor; in the capacity of expert consultant, for the remainder of the fiscal year and somewhat beyond while the Library sought funding elsewhere.

The Division had two interns, Ms. Claudia Hopmann, of Essen, Germany, sponsored by the German Historical Institute; and Ms. Ewa Krysiak, deputy head of reference at the National Library of Poland in Warsaw, sponsored by the National Forum Foundation. Both interns worked under the direction of the Chief, Ms. Hopmann, on German immigrant culture and Mrs. Krysiak in a general orientation to the Library with emphasis on LC's Polish collections.

Work study student April Coleman worked briefly in the Division (July/September) and very well indeed, but she could not reconcile her work and study program and resigned shortly after the school term began.