Submitted by
David H. Kraus, Chief,
October 31, 1991

MILESTONE

The European Division turned 40 in 1991. Founded in 1951 as the Slavic Division, it expanded rapidly in the 1950s to become the Slavic and East European Division, then, in 1956, the Slavic and Central European Division, which it remained until 1978 when it was expanded to include western Europe and became the European Division. The Division chiefs have been Sergius Yakobson (1951–1971), Paul Horecky (1971–1977), Clara Lovett (1982–1984), with David Kraus as Acting Chief or Chief (1977–1982), (1984–).

SPECIAL INITIATIVES AND PROGRAMS

Arrearage Clearance: The Division launched two cooperative projects to dispose of its uncataloged arrearages. A program was begun in May, 1991, with the Serial Record Division, to organize, catalog, and eventually film the Division's early Soviet serials collection. More than 1,000 of the estimated 3,000 titles were prepared for inputting into OCLC by the Serial Record Division this fiscal year. The second project, begun in June, 1991, with the Preservation Microfilming Office, was designed to organize, classify, and collate for filming 6,200 Russian and Ukrainian pamphlets. The organizing and classifying work has been completed, and 1,000 titles have been collated. A combination of contractors and staff was used for these projects.

Automation: The Division's automation program, led by Automation Specialist Cranton with support from Librarians Kantorosinski and Neubert, was greatly expanded to include Cyrillic alphabet capabilities using WordPerfect 5.1, ProCite for Division bibliographies, OCLC access for the arrearage clearance projects, GenBib for recording the European Reading Room holdings, and JANUS for acquisition, bibliographic, and reference purposes.

Foreign Interns: The Chief and specialists were active in attracting foreign interns with outside financing. Ms. Ewa Krysiak of the Biblioteka Narodowa in Warsaw was sponsored by the National Forum Foundation, Ms. Alina Obadia from the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris came at her own expense, Ms. Halyna Teodorovych of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences was sponsored by the Academy and the Ukrainian American Professional Association. They served internships of one to three months intended to give them a broad view of the Library's facilities and activities. Specialist Leich and Librarian Neubert were appointed to a Library committee to bring Soviet and East European scholars, including librarians, to the Library.

ACQUISITIONS

Acquisitions played a very large role in the Division's activities with special attention paid to the changes and anticipated changes in acquisitions sources in all of Europe, and to evaluation of the quality of the collections. The Division was deeply involved in seeking solutions to the acquisition problems resulting from the collapse of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe and the vast changes in the Soviet Union. Publishing and distribution of printed matter in these regions went from tightly controlled to open and disorganized. Several tacks were taken to ensure acquisition of research materials. Division specialists and librarians worked closely with the Library's Moscow Office in a highly successful effort to obtain the independent press from the Soviet Union. For acquiring conventional materials, the Victor Kamkin Bookstore in Rockville, Maryland, was chosen tentatively as a replacement for the Soviet blanket-order dealer of many years, who went bankrupt. Trips abroad were made to examine the situation on the spot, and meetings with LC staff were held to access the situation for the individual countries and several of the Soviet republics. Specialist Leich worked with the Order and Exchange and Gift Divisions to eliminate duplications of receipts. Specialist Kovtun recommended that the Library's mini-blanket order for Czechoslovak émigré materials be canceled and the one for samizdat materials be renegotiated for retrospective materials because now anything can be published in Czechoslovakia. Specialist Yasinsky helped negotiate a blanket order for the Ukraine, but as yet this has not produced results. At the close of the fiscal year solutions were still being sought for efficient and reliable acquisition sources from the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

The Division is playing a key part in the Library's experiment with direct order versus blanket order in the case of Austria. The Chief serves on the Management Team and Specialist Krewson on the Technical Team to implement and monitor the program.

To expand the acquisition of noncommercial literature from Italy, Specialist Armbruster recommended that Palermo and Naples be added to Rome in the Giuliano Bottali bibliographic services contract, which has proved so successful. She visited Bottali during her September, 1991, trip to Italy, and convinced Casalini, our blanket-order dealer for Italy, to sponsor a visit by Bottali to the Library in the next fiscal year. Specialist Armbruster and the Chief serve on a committee to monitor receipts from Bottali. The Chief serves on a corresponding committee to monitor receipts from Rita Panourgia, the Library's bibliographic services contractor for Greece – a contract that has also proved highly successful.

The Chief and Specialist Armbruster served on the Committee to Examine Declining Receipts from Europe to determine whether this decline affected the quality of the collections. RLIN comparisons with other libraries were made for several countries but the results were uneven and require further study. The Chief also served on the Foreign Newspaper Arrearage Committee which reviewed the present LC filming situation, set criteria for retention and filming of foreign-language newspapers, and requested specialists' decisions on retention of titles.

Acquisitions Travel Abroad: Division staff made acquisitions trips of two types: extensive planned trips, and acquisition visits while on private or other business. Two extensive trips were made. Librarian Pajic went to Yugoslavia, Albania, and Bulgaria in August/September, 1991, to assess the publishing and distribution situation in those countries under the new regimes. His trip to Albania was the first ever for an LC staff member and a breakthrough in formerly inaccessible Albania. He was able to visit all the republics of Yugoslavia but Croatia, which was under siege. In a trip that will run into the next fiscal year, Specialist Armbruster traveled to Italy and to determine whether the present blanket-order dealer for France will be able to continue to function effectively under anticipated new management or whether we must seek alternatives.

While on private trips to Europe, Specialist Yasinsky strengthened LC's exchange capability with the Ukrainian Academy Library in Kiev and the Stefanyk Library in Lvov. Specialist Kovtun spent two days at the National Library in Prague, following up on earlier trips to improve exchanges, and to discuss with national library administrators their most pressing needs. He conveyed this information to the Czechoslovak Assistance group in the Librarian's Office. Specialist Krewson visited libraries in East Germany and made arrangements for LC acquisitions from the Saxon State Library. Librarian Nyirady, while studying at Debrecen University, made a record of its periodical holdings of interest to the Library for future exchanges, and in Budapest visited the National Széchenyi Library to discuss the new, independent Hungarian literature and how it may be obtained. He evaluated our present blanket-order dealer's ability to serve our needs, and concluded we should continue with that dealer. Librarian Kantorosinski, with the blessing of the Prints and Photographs Division, made arrangements with the Poster Museum in Warsaw to provide or exchange posters for the Library's collections.

Some fruits of previous acquisition trips were harvested. A large number of series volumes and periodical issues were received as a direct result of Specialist Yasinsky's several trips to the Ukraine. The exchange of films of periodicals with the national Czech and Slovak libraries, arranged by Specialist Kovtun, has begun to function. Librarian Nyirady's initiative to fill the gaps in the Library's holdings of Hungarian Academy publications has brought more than a hundred volumes to the Library. Specialist Krewson's efforts brought gifts of reference works from the governments of The Netherlands, Germany, and Austria. A major gift from the German government was microfilm of the "Bibliothek der deutschen Literatur vom Barock bis zum neunzehnten Jahrhundert" [Bibliothek der deutschen Literatur] Another acquisition of note, "Documenti diplomatici italiani," came through the intiative of Specialist Armbruster. Armbruster also promoted the acquisition of CD-ROM indexes to French-language newspapers and periodicals to supplement the microfilm.

READER AND REFERENCE SERVICES

This was a particularly interesting and challenging year for the Division's reference staff. Specialists Kovtun, Krewson, and Yasinsky were consulted by the White House staff in connection with the President's trips to Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands, and the Ukraine. The Division specialists and librarians were called upon by the Librarian's Office to supply biographic, reference, and logistic information for the Librarian's trips to Austria, France, and the Soviet Union, and to assist visitors. The Division's contact with Congress increased following the listing of Division specialists in the Congressional Research Service's Subject Directory. In addition to the standard written translations for Congress by staff, this year Specialist Armbruster acted as interpreter on several overseas conference calls, and Specialists Leich and Yasinsky interpreted in person for congressmen and their visitors. Space does not allow us to give details of the questions asked by our readers and the spate of visitors, but suffice it to say that they covered the whole range of the social sciences and humanities and represented all the countries of our responsibility. Group researcher briefings included IREX scholars about to leave for dissertation research in the Soviet Union, the House Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Senate Subcommittee on Administration.

Preparation of Finding Aids for readers was partially important this year because the Division's reading room will be relocated early in the next fiscal year and access to the research materials will be less convenient. The dominant project was to put the content of the European Reading Room and the location of each item within that room into GenBib, from which can be generated shelf-list, author, and subject indexes. Division staff listed all titles by card number as of July, 1991, but there was a long delay in getting permission to use the system so that by the end of the fiscal year only 3,000 of the 7,500 titles had been entered into GenBib. Further finding aids are the guide to Russian and Soviet address and telephone directories, prepared by Librarian Neubert, and the several guides to Polish, Ukrainian, and Soviet independent literature held by the Division that are listed in Appendix B. Attention to reader needs was met by Librarian Harris' guide to U.S. information brokers with access to the Soviet Union and his list of dealers in foreign books. Care for readers was further ensured by Librarian Graham's participation in the Reference Roundtable and Librarian Nyirady's membership in the National Reference Service Committee.

PUBLICATIONS, BIBLIOGRAPHY, EXHIBITS

The American Bibliography of Slavic and East European Studies, an annual compiled in the European Division since fall 1972, will move to the University of Illinois beginning with the 1990 volume. Meanwhile, the 1989 volume is being completed in the European Division. The date for closing the 1989 volume was extended through October, 1991, to produce a respectable volume of 5,000 main entries. This is an accomplishment since the project has only one full-time staff member, Librarian Kantorosinski, one part-time, Specialist Kovtun, a volunteer editor, and occasional contributions from other staff specialists.

The division publications that have been or are scheduled for publication by the Library are listed in Appendix B. They present a spectrum of countries: France, the German-speaking countries, Poland, the Baltic States, the Soviet Union, Finland, Czechoslovakia, the Ukraine, Romania; subject: publishing and readership, immigration, history, art; and type: proceedings of a symposium, reference, bibliography, indexes, and biography. In addition, the specialist staff has published elsewhere: Specialist Armbruster in Euro-librarianship and The Bibliographical Foundations of French Historical Studies, Specialist Kovtun in the Czechoslovak and Central European Journal, and Czechoslovakia, 1918-88: Seventy Years from Independence, Librarian Nyirady in Canadian-American Slavic Studies and Hungary: A Country Study.

Exhibits: Division staff participated in two exhibits celebrating the relationship between our and foreign constitutions: Specialist Krewson helped plan "Switzerland: 700 Years." Librarian Kantorosinski selected materials and advised on the presentation of the exhibit by the Law Library on the Polish constitution of the Third of May (1791). Both these exhibits were displayed in the Madison Building. The Chief is working with the Interpretive Programs Chief, the Finnish Embassy, Helsinki University Library, and the curator (Professor A. William Hogland of the University of Connecticut) on an exhibit to open in May 1992 on the literary expression of Finnish immigrants in the United States. Specialist Leich and Librarian Neubert are preparing an exhibit of independent Soviet newspaper and periodical publications to be presented next fiscal year in the Current Events display area of the Madison Building.

ADMINISTRATION, PERSONNEL, SPACE

This fiscal year saw a substantial strengthening of the East European staff of the Division. In June of 1991 the Division gained two staff members, Michael Neubert and Paul Pajic. Mr. Neubert, upon completion of his Library of Congress internship, joined the European Division staff as Serials Reference Librarian and was assigned primarily to the Early Soviet Serials arrearage project. Mr. Pajic transferred from the Shared Cataloging Division to give us much needed South Slavic expertise in the position of Reference Librarian (Bulgaria, Yugoslavia). In September 1991, Ronald Bachman joined the staff as Area Specialist for Poland and East Europe. He brought with him a doctorate in linguistics from the Ohio State University and more than 16 years of experience as analyst in the Federal Research Division and the Pentagon. Zbigniew Kantorosinski was appointed Automated Bibliographic Resources Librarian in October, 1990. Kali Collins, Processing Assistant, was promoted from GS-5 to GS-6 and changed from part-time to full-time in September, 1991, and in that same month Librarian Neubert was promoted from GS-9 to GS-11. Shaunetta Workman, who began as a Work Study in November 1990, was promoted to GS-3 Office Automation Clerk in August, 1991. Stephen Adams, Senior Processing Assistant, transferred to the Order Division, where he assists with Slavic and East European acquisitions at a higher grade level. Helen E. Saunders, Assistant Division Secretary, retired on November 30, after more than 30 years of federal service.

The Division's interns included Eric Johnson and Michael Neubert from the Library of Congress Intern Program, who spent the month of March, 1991, in the European Division working mainly with Specialist Leich on the Soviet independent publications, arranging and recording them. The foreign interns were cited in Section I of this report. Undergraduates Bradley Wright, from Hope College, and Joel Tesoro, from Yale University rounded out the Division's intern program. Both Mr. Wright, who was interested in current Soviet affairs, and Mr. Tesoro, who concentrated on the Russian author Mikhail Bulgakov, worked under the general direction of the Chief.

The Division engaged two contractors to help dispose of the arrearages in its custody. Natasha Bekman, who holds a degree in Library Science from the Soviet Union, is working on the Early Soviet Serials project with Michael Neubert. Natalya Zanegina, who has a doctorate from Moscow State University, is preparing the Russian/Ukrainian pamphlet collection for filming. Both contractors have excellent English and have proved to be splendid choices for these projects.

Space. A great deal of time was expended by the Chief and Librarians Graham and Harris in planning the Division's temporary move to the Main Reading Room (MRR) area. This will involve placing the Division staff and facilities on three levels off the MRR and the loss of a separate area for the European Reading Room. The present reading room facilities will be replaced by a European Reference Desk in the MRR with the bulk of the reference collection on a deck (16, TJB) at some distance from the reference desk. Librarians Graham and Harris, in cooperation with the area specialists, have selected a sizable ready reference collection (approx. 1,000 volumes) for the Reference Desk. Space on the Gallery, Second level off the MRR, is designed for division staff who deal directly with the public, and the Gallery, Third level, for staff whose duties do not bring them into regular contact with the public.

PROFESSIONAL AND STAFF ACTIVITIES

The Division staff was active in many professional organizations and affairs. Specialists Armbruster and Leich regularly attended and presented papers at American Library Association conferences and conventions. The Chief, Specialists Kovtun, Leich, Yasinsky, and Librarians Graham, Harris, Kantorosinski, and Nyirady attended meetings of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (AAASS). The Chief and Leich are members of or chair committees of the AAASS, and Specialist Leich chairs a committee of the American Library Association. Specialist Leich and Librarian Neubert (in absentia) presented papers at the Conference on Soviet Unofficial Literature at Oxford in September 1991. Specialist Kovtun attended and presented a paper at the World Congress of the Czechoslovak Academy of Arts and Sciences held in Toronto on October 10-14, 1990. Under the auspices of USIS libraries in Italy, Specialist Armbruster spoke on the national services of the Library of Congress at the Biblioteca nazionale di Napoli (9/11/91) and at the USIS Library in Milan (9/25/91), and about the research services of the Library of Congress at the Camera de Deputati Library in Rome (9/20/91). Specialist Krewson attended the Symposium, "Woman in Austria," sponsored by the Austrian Studies Center at the University of Minnesota (4/17/91). The Chief is a member of the Bibliography, Information Retrieval, and Documentation Subcommittee of the Joint Committee on the USSR of the American Council of Learned Societies and the Social Science Research Council.

Education and Training: Librarian Nyirady attended the Summer Language School at Lajos Kossuth University in Debrecen, Hungary, in July/August, 1991, to augment his knowledge of the Hungarian language and culture. Librarian Harris served a part-time, six-week detail in the Microform Reading Room to gain a better knowledge of its European resources. Librarian Kantorosinski is working with the curator of the poster collection in the Prints and Photographs Division to learn more about that division's resources for our work and to lend his language and cultural knowledge to their efforts to catalog their collection of pre-World War II Polish posters. The Chief began a series of management courses given by HR solutions that are designed specifically for the Library of Congress.

Honors and Awards: Specialist Kovtun was awarded a doctorate by the Faculty of Law, Charles University, in September, 1991. He was appointed a member of the Editorial Committee for the Czechoslovak History Conference activities for 1992-1994. Specialist Krewson was awarded the Grand Decoration of Honor of Austria in a ceremony at the Austrian Embassy on April 16, 1991. While visiting the Ivano-Frankivs'k Institute of Pedagogy in the Ukraine on October 3, 1991, Specialist Yasinsky was presented the V. Stefanyk Medallion for his bibliographic accomplishments. During this fiscal year, Specialist Yasinsky was invited to become a member of the Bibliographic Committee of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences and of the Archeographic Committee of the International Association of Ukrainian Studies.

The Chief, Specialists Kovtun and Leich, and Librarians Nyirady and Graham were given Meritorious Service Awards for their linguistic assistance to the Congressional Research Service during visits by Soviet and East European parliamentarians. Librarian Harris received a Meritorious Service Award for his part in the librarywide Reading Room Survey.

Special Events: Specialist Armbruster's translation of a letter in Middle French from Queen Elizabeth I to Catherine de Medicis concerning Mary Queen of Scots, together with a facsimile of the letter, were presented to Queen Elizabeth II on the occasion of her visit to the Library. Librarian Graham headed the interpreters unit of the U.S. Navy during port visits of the Soviet fleet to Mayport, Florida and San Diego, California. Librarian Pajic served as an expert on the panel, "Civil War in Yugoslavia?," at the Press Conference of Democracy International on July 1, 1991, and was interviewed by TV Fox 5, the Yugoslav Television Company, and the Voice of America on the same subject. Specialist Krewson was interviewed by German national television concerning the German collections of the Library of Congress and participated in a panel discussion on German unification at the Johns Hopkins University. The Division was cosponsor, with the Center for the Book, of the lecture, "Children's Books in the Soviet Union," given by Nina Demurova at the Library on October 23, 1990. Professor Demurova is the foremost translator of English-language children's books in the Soviet Union.

Service to the Library and Staff: Janie M. Ricks, Division Secretary, served as key worker in the Bond Drive and United Federal Appeal. Librarian Pajic was a member of the Dispute Resolution Team, and led the AFSCME LOCAL 2910 negotiation team on smoking policy in LC and the changes in security procedure. He also participated in the Collection Access Program and headed the Guild Committee for a Secure Environment. He is currently a member of the Collection/Constituent Services Labor Management Consultative Group.