For fourteen years during the 1940s and 1950s the Slavic Room, at the time an administrative entity separate from the Slavic and Central European Division, produced its own annual reports which were incorporated within the annual reports for the General Reference and Bibliography Division. Although the Slavic Division was re-established in 1951, it took until 1958 for the oversight of the Slavic Room to be transferred to the greatly expanded Slavic and Central European Division. The reading room still exists today and is now called the European Reading Room.
After 1958 information about reference and binding activities is incorporated within the Slavic and Central European Division annual reports.
The full contents of the Slavic Room Annual Reports have been extracted from the reports of the General Reference and Bibliography Division and are transcribed from the original copies held in the Library of Congress Archives, located in the Manuscript Reading Room.
John Dorosh with portrait of Gennadii Yudin, 1946. Library of Congress Manuscript Reading Room.
Luther Evans with portrait of Gennadii Yudin, 1946. Library of Congress Manuscript Reading Room.
In the process of reorganization of the Reference Department the Slavic Division was discontinued, and in April 1944 the Slavic Room was set up pending the establishment of the Slavic Center. For the time being the reference service rendered by the Slavic Room is under the direction of the General Reference and Bibliography Division.
The Slavic Room is ideally situated in the northwest alcove off the Thomas Jefferson Room and with its collections on decks 7 and 8, conveniently accessible by two stack elevators. The room is spacious and pleasant and is provided with the necessary apparatus to render service to its readers and research students. The built-in book shelves around the four walls are stocked with encyclopedias, dictionaries, directories, yearbooks, handbooks, bibliographies, biographies, etc. not only in the Slavic languages but in English as well. Two sections of shelves contain a selection of the most important current Slavic periodicals and newspapers published in the United States and abroad. Two other sections are provided for the material reserved for the use of students engaged in serious research, many of whom are able to use the facilities of the Slavic Room only in the evenings and on Sundays. On a large table in the center of the room are displayed the latest publications dealing with the Slavic world, for examination by the reader.
Due to this strategic location of the Slavic Room a more diversified type of reader is attracted, and better service is rendered. There is now available not only our cataloged and uncataloged material in the Cyrillic print, but also books on Slavic subjects in other languages. That this has been a decided improvement in making these collections available to the greatest number of Slavic students can be seen from the following statistics of the activities of the Slavic Room for the past year.
During the fiscal year 1944–45, [the] Slavic Room had 5,621 readers using 4,758 books, 5,726 volumes of periodicals and 11,743 issues of current newspapers. These figures include Sundays.
The Sunday attendance has been much better than had been expected. The fact that an average of 15 readers for each Sunday have used the facilities of the Slavic Room proves that it fills a particular need, for it makes the Slavic Room available not only to those who are unable to use our collections during the week, but also to out-of-town investigators who are able to pursue their studies during every day of their stay in Washington.
As to the type of reader of the Slavic Room an interesting fact that has been revealed is that not less than 50 percent of the readers were not of Slavic origin, but either of the Anglo-Saxon or Oriental, and most of them native born. This fact is significant in planning the future activities of the Slavic Room, for it must be kept in mind that there are numerous language classes, especially in Russian, scattered throughout the city of Washington, and it is only reasonable to expect that the demands on the Slavic collections will become greater in the years to come.
The primary interest of the average reader of the Slavic Room is mostly linguistic, though histories, current events and economics are also given attention.
The number of inquiries answered by the Slavic Room during the year are as follows: 373 by personal interviews, 110 by letters, and 3,063 by telephone.
Growing interest in the problems and culture of the Slavic peoples is unquestionably the cause of the continually increasing number of inquiries pouring into the Slavic Room. This growth, no doubt, is a result of the recent European War and the part played in it by the Slavic nations. These inquiries come from members of Congress, government agencies, schools, clubs, churches and newspapers. They range from simple factual questions which can be answered immediately to problems requiring lengthy research.
The following are but a few of the specific questions which were answered: "How far back in history do the Slavs date?" "Name several good histories on the Slavs." "Who are the Slavs?" "What is the difference between the Ukrainians and the Ruthenians?" "Name the capitol of Carpatho-Russia." "What was the total production of oil in Poland before the Second European War?" "When was the first occupation of Berlin by the Russians?" "Name some works in English on recent discoveries in science and medicine in the U.S.S.R." There were also many requests to identify authors and titles, and also many geographical and historical names which appeared in the American press.
The most important service of the Slavic Room has been rendered to numerous groups and research students pursuing research of the most serious nature. Not less than 18 groups and 36 individuals representing various government agencies, universities, libraries, and manufacturing companies, utilized our facilities and source material. Those representing the government were engaged in research of strictly secret nature which, for obvious reasons, cannot be disclosed for the present. The non-governmental research workers represented the following institutions: Crown Cork and Seal Company; Dumbarton Oaks Library; Catholic University; Cornell University; General Electric Corporation; Johns Hopkins University; Northwestern University; Oklahoma University; Soviet Purchasing Commission.
The subjects investigated have been varied and in some cases the results of the research have been published. The following list is of some of the most important subjects investigated: Father IUvinalii, the early Russian missionary to Alaska; Russian immigration; life and customs of the Don Cossacks; the first Slavic settlers in California; Fort Ross California; the frozen soils of Yakutia; Russian religious architecture; Russian iconography; experimental agriculture in the Arctic; and experiments in growing cork trees in the U.S.S.R.
One other function of the Slavic Room which is steadily growing in importance is the translating service. During the year 21 translations were made from practically every Slavic language, for members of Congress; 5 for government agencies; 6 for various divisions of the Library of Congress; and numerous translations of titles and passages from books and newspapers for the readers of Library of Congress. Several translations of quotations from the works of Slavic writers were rendered over the telephone for teachers and clergymen.
All indications are that with the increasing interest in the Slavic peoples the demands on this particular function will be on a still larger scale, for the Slavic Room is looked upon as sort of a "clearing house" on all questions pertaining to Slavs.
In the course of the year the Slavic Room has received visits from several distinguished Slavic scholars and writers such as: Prof. V.N. Ipatieff, of Northwestern University; Prof. Paul Haensel, of Northwestern University; Prof. S. Golubinsky, of Academy of Science U.S.S.R.; Prof. S. Krylov, of the Higher School of Diplomacy and other Judicial Sciences, Moscow, U.S.S.R.
An opportunity for discussing common library problems in the field of Slavic Culture, and closer cooperation between libraries interested in this field, came with informal visits from the following librarians: Miss Sina Fosdick, American Russian Cultural Association, Inc., New York, N.Y.; Miss Sonya G. Mechelson, American Cyanamid Company, Stamford, Conn.; Miss Anne Cohen, American Soviet Medical Society, New York, N.Y.
The primary objective of the Slavic Room is to help to establish closer understanding between the people of the United States and that of the Slavic world by providing expert guidance to the students of Slavic culture and by making available to them accurate information on the cultural, scientific and educational activities of the Slavs.
In reviewing the records of the activities of the Slavic Room for the past year it must be noted with regret that not all objectives have been attained, because of the difficulties under which the Slavic Room has had to function. One of its major difficulties was the condition of the collection, which in the process of moving to its present location had suffered a certain amount of disarrangement and, therefore, required more effort to find the material needed. Limitations in shelving space has also added to the burden of locating material, as it became necessary to maintain 3 different sections, each with a separate arrangement in alphabetical order. Recently, however, this condition has been remedied. With the aid of the staff of the Slavic Cataloging Project, under the supervision of the Curator of the Slavic Room, not only the cataloged material was arranged in satisfactory order, but also the great bulk of the unprocessed material was arranged alphabetically and thus made available to the public. The other problems were: lack of sufficient personnel, making the service possible by day only; lack of complete catalogs of holdings of Slavic materials in the Library of Congress and other American libraries; absence of its own temporary catalog and the Union Catalog, both of which have been transferred to the Slavic Cataloging Project; serious gaps in the non-Russian Slavic reference works of importance; and great gaps in the representative works in all fields of the most important non-Russian Slavic writers.
Some of these problems are now receiving careful attention and it is hoped that the gaps in the reference works especially will soon be filled. With the completion of cataloging of the arrears in the Slavic Collection, the bibliographical apparatus in a more complete form will be returned, which will add considerably to the efficiency of service of the Slavic Room.
Respectfully submitted,
Curator, Slavic Room,
[Signed by John T. Dorosh, Ed.]
During the fiscal year the Slavic Room recorded 28,531 books, pamphlets, periodical and newspaper issues issued to 5,144 readers of all classes. Demands for aid came regularly from the Bureau of Mines, the Department of State, the Board of Geographic Names, the Army Map Service, the Geological Survey, Naval Intelligence School, Department of Agriculture, National War College, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Surgeon General's Library, Department of Justice, and the Dumbarton Oaks Library. For several of these extensive research was pursued in the unclassified Slavic materials. Other less constant users of the Slavic Room included members of the staffs [of] the Interior Department, the War Department, the Department of Commerce, Bureau of Standards, Weather Bureau, Bureau of Plant Industry, Atomic Energy Commission, Patent Office, the Department of Labor, the Interstate Commerce Commission, and the Bureau of the Census.
The Curator assisted in the selection of materials for the writing of text-books in the Russian language for one of the Federal Agencies and of materials for study curricula. He was called into consultation by the Department of State in checking the text of an agreement between the United States and Bulgaria, and on another occasion to review the examination papers of applicants for the position of Bulgarian translator.
In work for the Congress the Curator has served chiefly as translator of documents, letters, and press articles in the Slavic languages. Of all translations prepared seventy per cent were from the Polish, followed in order by Russian, Bulgarian, Czech, Croatian, Slavonian, Slovak, and Ukrainian. A few translations were made into Slavic languages.
Students and faculty members of universities and colleges received help in discovering sources for dissertations and for new courses in Slavic studies. Represented in this group were the American University, Harvard University, University of Colorado, the University of Chicago, Columbia University, the University of Southern California, Georgetown University, George Washington University, the University of Nebraska, University of Maryland, Notre Dame University, and the Catholic University of America. Although major emphasis was in the field[s] of Russian economics, science, and technology, there was a marked interest in the history, culture, and economic and social life of the ancient Slavs.
The difficult problems of service in the Slavic Room have been lessened in some degree by the transfer to the custody of the Curator of the unbound files of all non-official periodical and serial publications, except those in the Law Library and the Music Division. Their availability to readers has been increased and the Curator is able to complete searches for readers and for the Photoduplication Service with greater facility than before.
Progress on the Slavic Cataloging Project is bringing under some control in the author catalog many volumes hitherto unlisted; nevertheless the subject control of this large collection remains a matter of wide knowledge and great resourcefulness on the part of the Curator, and the difficulties of his position are second to none in the Division. He is performing single-handed a far more efficient and extensive service today than could be claimed when the Slavic collection and staff had division status.
The Slavic Room's 3,255 readers created problems for the lone Curator which were solved by the transfer from the Public Reference Section of one assistant with a fair working knowledge of Russian. The success of this move and the continued need for service and supervision in the Room at night resulted in extending the hours of opening to those of the general reading rooms.
The anticipated acquisition of microfilm copies of current Russian publications from other government agencies led to the installation of a microfilm reading machine and pointed to the need for further reinforcements to the staff. Inasmuch as the Reference Department was lightly staffed with experts in the Russian language the most logical solution appeared to be the assignment of Mr. George Novossiltzeff from the Government Publications Reading Room, together with the transfer of the current government serial publications in the Slavic languages to the Slavic collections in the Annex. The move was made in the Spring of 1948 and the services of Slavic materials were integrated under the direction of the Curator of the Slavic Room. The disadvantages formerly experienced because of the separation of current Russian newspapers and periodicals from other Slavic materials were quickly eliminated.
The accelerating demand for materials and service emphasize the urgent need for development of the catalog of Slavic materials and for full processing of important Russian materials in the Library's collections. At the present much of the staff's time must be spent in searches which would be greatly simplified if the materials were given subject cataloging. The Curator is besieged with assignments in translating letters and documents from the Polish and Russian for Members of Congress and much of such work must be done out of hours.
Because of additional staff in the Slavic Room, Mr. John T. Dorosh, the Curator, was able to engage more actively than in the past in recommending acquisitions of materials in the Slavic languages. He has given particular attention to completing broken sets through the procurement of volumes wanting or through the acquisition of microfilm copy of unprocurable volumes. He has undertaken a daily examination of duplicates in the Exchange and Gift Division to designate extra copies for addition to the Library's permanent collections of Slavic materials, and has scrutinized book lists in current publications and recommended the purchase of new books thus identified. The Curator's contacts with scholars who have visited the Slavic Room have resulted in gifts to the Library, of which the most striking example is the gift of several hundred publications of or associated with the activities of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. A founder of that society had learned, upon visiting the Slavic Room, that the Library was entirely wanting in the publications of the Academy. . . .
The custodial responsibility for the Slavic collection on deck 8 of the Annex falls to the staff of the Slavic Room. A large portion of the Yudin collection housed there is only partially processed, having been given temporary author entries and preliminary classification. Another group of publications numbering some 20,000 volumes which have been given temporary cataloging but no classification is shelved by date of cataloging, a device which, in some instances, brings together as many as one hundred titles under one date. The Slavic pamphlet collection contains for than 15,000 items which have escaped any form of processing treatment and are shelved according to no plan. Bound volumes of official and non-official periodicals which have not been fully cataloged are organized in title alphabets under major language groups. Unbound government serial publications are grouped by country of issue and alphabetically by title within each. Non-official serials, other than periodicals and newspapers, are grouped alphabetically by city of publication and under each city alphabetically by the issuing corporate body. Some 300 current official and non-official periodicals and 60 current newspapers are shelved in title alphabets under major languages in the Slavic Room for ready access by readers. . . .
During fiscal year 1947–48 the CIA project for microfilming current Russian periodicals brought to the Slavic Room more than 125 reels of film with copy of over 1,600 periodical issues. These are housed in cabinets in the Room where they may be used in a reading machine.
. . . The Curator of the Slavic Room prepared nearly fifty pages of translations from Slavic languages for Members of Congress and constituents.
Last year's report recorded service to 3,255 readers in the Slavic Room and the transfer thereto of one professional librarian to relieve the Curator of a share of his tasks. During the year under review, two additional assistants were provided: one by transfer of a position and its incumbent, Mr. George Novossiltzeff, from the Government Publications Reading Room, together with the collection of Slavic language documents and the responsibility for servicing it, and the second a deck attendant, in a position from savings, to aid in the custodial duties. Reader attendance advanced to 6,651, and statistics of materials served record 7,444 bound volumes (incomplete count), 28,189 unbound units, and 11,615 withdrawn for loan, chiefly to branches of the Government. The added function of servicing official government publications and the first full year of night service in the Room accounted for much of the increase in reader use. An integral part of this unit's work is the development of special subject indexes and bibliographies of references identified in the course of service to readers and correspondents and in the examination of incoming materials. The responsibilities embrace problems not present in the collections of fully cataloged books and demand these additional controls over the unclassified Russian collection. Some lists thus developed will be expanded for presentation to the Bibliography and Publication Committee which has already approved preliminary projects for lists on the natural resources of the U.S.S.R., Slavic reference books, and Russian language dictionaries in the Library of Congress. These are mentioned at this point as examples of special aids available to the public in the Slavic Room. . . .
During the year under review the Slavic Room staff serviced 8,298 readers (an increase of 25% over the 6,651 readers serviced in 1949/49). In at least 200 instances such services during the year involved extended conferences and research assistance. Books made available to the Loan Division upon request received from outside the Library of Congress amounted to 13,299, marking a 15.7% increase over the 11,490 books handled in the past year. Other data significant in appraising the function of this Section for the fiscal year include 29,235 units (books, periodicals, newspapers) issued to readers, 587 volumes prepared for bindery, the sorting of 79,300 periodicals and newspapers (including about 50,000 which were part of a collection of about 93,000 items in a collection of Russian materials received from the former United States Legation at Riga).
The Slavic Section was compensated for the loss of shelf space to the Manuscript and Orientalia Divisions by the erection of temporary shelving on Deck 8 of the Annex. By virtue of shifting the collections an additional space increment was secured so that at present there is available shelving to provide only for normal growth of the collection in the custody of the Section.
The activities of the Section contributing to the acquisition efforts of the Division have been described above (See Acquisition of Materials). It is well worth indicating that the routine examination of materials achieves significant scope when viewed over the period of a year. Seventy-five book dealers' lists were checked in four months, approximately 300 titles were examined each month in the Serial Record Section of the Order Division, and about 200 books are checked each month for determination regarding advisability of their being added to the collections as second or third copies.
The Slavic Section has continued to maintain four card catalog: 1) catalog of printed cards of finally processed books, 2) catalog of printed cards of partially processed books, 3) catalog of non-official serials, and 4) catalog of official serials. It is viewed as desirable and as the ultimate intention of the Section to combine these catalogs into a functional unit, but the current demands which press upon existing staff facilities permit only a necessary minimum of service to these valuable bibliographic tools.
During the year under review John T. Dorosh, the Curator of the Slavic Room has completed, and the Library of Congress has published the Guide to Soviet Bibliographies. A Selected List of References. (Washington, 1950. 158 p.) This work, indexed by author and subject, designed to serve as a guide to separately published bibliographies issued in Russian or relating to Russia and available in the Library of Congress, demonstrates the value which may be derived from systematic collection and organization of informational references which, in this instance had served as a daily working reference tool and demonstrated their usefulness before the idea of publication as an end product was conceived. Mr. Dorosh also contributed to the series covering Current National Bibliographies in The Library of Congress Quarterly Journal of Current Acquisitions (v.7, May 1950, p.14–21). In this work, in which he was aided by Elizabeth A. Gardner (now Mrs. Dorosh), he provided coverage of national bibliographies of Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and Yugoslavia. "Slavic," an annual report of the most important acquisitions appeared in the same journal in February 1950 (v.7, no.2, p.43–57). Currently in process of preparation by Elizabeth A. Gardner is a bibliography to be entitled, "Fuel and Power Resources of the USSR."
During the course of the year the work of this Section proceeded at a modestly accelerated pace. Service to readers was recorded in 11,494 instances (although the actual number of readers served was 6,892 — an increase of 4% over the number served the preceding year). Materials issued to readers, including books, pamphlets, periodicals, and newspapers, amounted to 39,403 pieces. This is a 35% increase over the number of similar items issued last year. The 1.738 volumes of periodicals and newspapers prepared for binding and which were delivered to the Binding Office represent an approximate three-fold increase in this area of the Section's operation. The Section's reference service also included response to more than 2,200 inquiries received by telephone.
Decreases in service were noted with respect to the number of pieces received, sorted, and distributed (77,673 in 1950/51 against 79,300 in 1949/50 — a 2% decline, probably a chance fluctuation), and with respect to books and other materials issued to the Loan Division for interlibrary loan, or to research workers or units within the Library. The latter decrease stands at 7.6%, reflecting a change from 13,299 items so issued during the previous year to 12,285 items issued during the course of the year under review. These figures do not disclose the actual use of materials in the custody of the Slavic Section. The very large volume of circulation of these materials to some of the governmental agencies has resulted in their assigning individuals to represent them at the Library. These representatives now do the checking and selection of materials directly and in many instances secure the final identification of desired items through the assistance of the Section's Curator. They inform their agency library of the titles indicated as a result of such investigation and the consequent inquiry from the agency library to our Loan Division includes direct request for such materials. The result is that the Section's statistics do not include these items. Similar relationships have developed with the expansion of study activities in the Slavic field within the Library of Congress itself. Although such expansion increases the pressure on the custodial activities of the Section, and the reference functions directly related to such custodial activities, the actual clerical work involved in charging out materials is diminished and the statistical record is observed as a decrease.
Up to the time of the formation of the Slavic Division, in January, the Section contributed markedly towards the Library's acquisition program with recommendations for the purchase of some 1,466 books and the preparation of the report on Slavic materials for the Quarterly Journal of Current Acquisitions. Cooperation in the Departmental bibliographic program was rendered with contributions to the compilations on Korea, Indochina, and Manchuria. A bibliography on the Fuel and Power Resources of the U.S.S.R. and Their Utilization continued to be prepared. At the close of the fiscal year it was delivered in part to the Air Information Division for the attention and review of its specialist on natural resources.
The establishment of the Slavic Division has brought about adjustments on the part of this Division's procedures which have special reference to the Slavic Section. Reference correspondence is now routed to the Slavic Section directly in those instances where the subject of the inquiry pertains to aspects of the collection, identification of specific sources or materials, etc. Other inquiries of a broad reference character are referred to the Chief of the Slavic Division. The latter also has principal responsibility for guidance of the Library's acquisitions program in the fields of Slavic literature. Current arrangements in the channeling of national bibliographies, dealers' lists, etc., do not include the Slavic Section. The Section will, however, continue to advise on the needs for reference copies, required number of duplicate copies of new materials, and other items that may be indicated as necessary and desirable for the more efficient performance of the Section's own activities.
The Slavic Section is also pleased to report the reading and rearranging of the Slavic collection on Deck 8 of the Annex, which had been badly disorganized largely because of repeated shifts in its location. The increased attention to custodial activities which was a precondition to the satisfactory progress on the rearrangement of the collections on Deck 8, derived much help from the extra man-power made available to the Section by the Reference Department administrative working funds. In addition to the GS-4 deck attendant already serving in the Section, another position at this level was made available. We have been fortunate in securing young but relatively good people to fill these positions. Our use of the plural derives from the turnover we have experienced. Work in these positions, which requires a good knowledge of Slavic languages, also provides the incumbent with valuable experience in Library of Congress practices and procedures. The combined knowledge and experience makes such individuals attractive candidates for better positions in other activities in the Library.
The Slavic Section, with a stable professional staff throughout most of the year, and only minor turnover in the staff concerned with its custodial services, stabilized its services to readers at a highly increased level, and undertook new custodial responsibilities — representing a marked step forward in the work and accomplishments of that section.
Increased emphasis on the responsibility for the Slavic materials on Deck 8 of the Annex as an immediate tool for effective reference service resulted in less time for bibliographic compilation and greater emphasis on serving the readers in the Slavic Room and others requiring Slavic materials. The number of readers assisted rose from 6,900 in 1951 to 10,400 in 1952, representing an increase of just a little over 50 percent. An even larger increase, of about 66 percent, is noted for the actual services rendered to readers, which mounted from 11,500 in 1951 to 19,100 in 1952. This does not include the nearly 6,000 reference inquiries received and answered by telephone.
Another increase to be noted is represented by the 16,000 Slavic books and other materials issued by the Slavic Section to the Loan Division for interlibrary loan, or to research workers or units within the Library, compared to some 13,300 items issued in the preceding year — an increase of 20 percent.
Approximately 56,700 pieces of current serials, periodicals, and newspapers, comprising over 1,500 titles, were received, sorted, and collated. In addition, a considerable number of non-Russian Slavic serials, 6,000 pieces comprising some 467 titles, from the Serials Division and a large number of microfilm reels from the Microfilm Reading Room were transferred to the custody of the Slavic Section in order to achieve a concentration of these related materials under one jurisdiction.
A valuable addition to the Slavic Room collection was a card index to the Communist Party newspaper Pravda. The index is arranged by subject and covers the period 1939 to 1947.
The work of preparing Slavic serials, including both Russian and non-Russian titles, for binding was previously accomplished in cooperation with the staff of the Serials Division. Subsequent to the transfer of non-Russian Slavic periodicals from the Serials Division, the responsibility for collating these newspapers, official and other serial publications fell completely upon the staff of this section. The present task is to prepare for binding all materials which have accumulated as an arrearage on Deck 8, and provide for this work on a continuing and current basis.
The professional staff of the Slavic Section has prepared about 37 pages of translations into English from various Slavic languages for members of Congress and government agencies. On 72 occasions, brief oral translations were provided to readers and research workers who experienced difficulty with the language at hand, and in 35 other instances translations were given over the telephone to government agencies.
The responsibility of the Curator of the Slavic Room to select from among duplicate materials those deemed valuable for addition to the collection resulted in selection of 400 volumes for accessioning by the Library.
Mr. Dorosh is continuing to compile material for a supplement to the Guide to Soviet Bibliographies.
One of the major accomplishments of the year is represented by a thorough overhauling of the reference collection in the Slavic Room. Outdated reference books were replaced with more recent imprints. With additional space allotted to the Slavic Room it was possible to add over 200 new titles. This additional space also made it possible to rearrange the entire collection in a more logical manner, facilitating the efficient use of the reference collection and enhancing the appearance of the Slavic Room.
As part of this general overhauling, but with more particular reference to the annual "housecleaning," the materials on Deck 8 were rearranged, reshelved, and generally placed in a more accessible and controllable order.
The attempt to maintain a dictionary card catalog of Slavic publications was recognized to be futile. The pressure of reference and custodial activities on the available staff resulted in a constant increase of cards waiting to be filed and space in the room did not permit the addition of the required cabinets. Instead, a catalog which will include one card for each Slavic title in the Library, to be arranged by call number, thus providing subject access is being prepared.
At the end of August, Mr. Boris Gorokhoff was transferred to the Slavic Room from the Descriptive Cataloging Division to serve as Slavic Reference Librarian. Mr. Andrew Fessenko was appointed to the Section as Deck Attendant in September to replace Mr. George Bogounoff, upon the latter's transfer to the Air Research Division. Mr. Norman Henley is the most recent addition, also in the capacity of Deck Attendant.
The record of service rendered by the staff of the Slavic Room has continued to show a steady increase. The number of readers counted in the Slavic Room during the year increased 46 percent, from 10,383 in 1951/52 to 15,135 in 1952/53. This increase was accompanied by a corresponding increase in services rendered to readers which increased 44 percent, from 19,100 in 1951/52 to 27,550 in 1952/53. In addition, more than 6,500 telephone inquiries were received and serviced, mostly from agencies of the Federal Government.
The increased reference service is explained in part by the continued occupation by Russia and peripheral areas of a central position in the scholarly and day to day research and fact-finding carried on in governmental circles, and the related emphasis on Slavic studies in research centers and universities. This expanded interest cannot help but be reflected in the demands placed upon the resources of this Library and the staff of the Slavic Room, which provide access to collections that are unique in many respects, including their distinguishing characteristic of size alone. To round out the explanation for the increase in service, we would point to the continued implementation of the directive given by the Director of the Department that the servicing of the collections, in order to place them at the primary disposal of the reference operations, was to maintain a high priority on the part of the available staff. As an additional result, more serial publications have been prepared for binding than heretofore. An increased intake of current Slavic serial pieces (65,822 periodicals, newspapers, and other serials as compared with an intake of 56,700 pieces during the previous year) resulted in the collation and preparation for binding of 1,423 volumes of serials and newspapers. The binding effort has been directed toward maintaining currency over incoming materials, with the result that serial sets received for the completed calendar year 1952 have been fully processed for binding, and others are being treated as they are received.
Another aspect of intensified work related to reference service is the examination of materials currently arriving in the Library and their addition to the reference collection maintained in the Slavic Room. The development of this collection, of necessity limited in its size by the confines of the Slavic Room, has required cooperation and advice from the Slavic Division. At the Director's request, recommendations for additions to the reference collection have been screened by Dr. Yakobson, Chief of the Slavic Division. Natural differences of opinion between individuals recommending and screening, have not always been resolvable to every one's satisfaction. But our endeavors to develop satisfactory cooperation between the Slavic Room and Slavic Division are being praised. It is not always easy to develop clear lines of demarcation between interests and responsibilities, and this type of difficulty has been reflected in occasional divergent approaches and attitudes manifested on the part of the Curator of the Slavic Room and the Chief of the Slavic Division. In the long run, however, the overriding need to provide optimum service will, in our opinion, prevail in enlisting cooperation towards mutually desired goals.
It would appear unnecessary to describe in detail the work and accomplishments which have entered into the above record of service. Suffice it to mention that over 300 new reference works were selected from copyrighted or other Slavic acquisitions; that more than 400 volumes were selected for addition to the collections from among the 1,200 duplicates examined by the Curator; that the expanded collection of Slavic and Eastern European (including Baltic) serials were arranged in serviceable order on Deck 8 to facilitate their current use as well as their processing for binding; that measures were instituted, such as providing a gate at the south-east entrance to Deck 8, which permit control over persons requiring access to the varied collections housed there; and that the carrier on Deck 8 was put into service in order to provide more rapid transmission of materials to the Slavic Room upon request by its readers.
The staff of the Slavic Room has had to provide seven-day a week service on occasions during the year, frequently at personal sacrifice due to the turnover in personnel of its staff. Mr. Gorokhoff was promoted during the year to become head of the Slavic Language Section in the Descriptive Cataloging Division and was replaced after considerable delay, and with temporary substitution through service of Mrs. Elizabeth G. Dorosh, by Miss Julijona Lissyte. Turnover of Deck Attendants has also made necessary extra effort on the part of the available staff to maintain its customary level of service. This extra effort has frequently necessitated intramural substitution of staff members, each one doing another's work at one time or another, and each one serving at highest possible level of competence.
These activities, and the overall changed emphasis of service, have required attention to the organizational relationships within the section, and have resulted in the transmission to the Classification Office of redescriptions of the positions assigned to the Slavic Room.
The Slavic Room has continued to emphasize service to readers and its custodial responsibilities during the past year. The record of service can be summarized in the following brief table:
| 1953/54 | 1952/53 | |
|---|---|---|
| Number of readers | 18,775 | 15,135 |
| Services to readers | 20,687 | 27,550 |
| Materials issued | 33,505 | 43,023 |
Although the actual number of readers counted as using the facilities of the Slavic Room increased since last year, the factor of changed basis for enumerating services to readers is adduced as the reason for the decline in the number of readers. Perhaps of greater interest is the explanation offered for the decline in the amount of material issued. Mr. Dorosh indicates that the preparation of serials for binding is proceeding on a current basis with the result that proportionately more of the needs in this area are being satisified from the Library's regular classified collections.
In addition, service was rendered in 14,958 instances via telephone, of which 2,319 were recorded as services to government agencies. The overall increase in telephone reference service from 5,228 in 1952/53 to 14,958 in 1953/54 is attributed primarily to the removal of the Air Information Division from the Annex to the Main Building of the Library and the consequent need to conduct much of the routine business by telephone rather than by personal contact. The staff of the Slavic Room also replied to some 172 letters containing reference inquiries; issued 10,277 items for interlibrary loan; and combined approximately 17,000 individual serial pieces into 1,646 volumes which were appropriately recorded and prepared for binding prior to being transmitted to the Bindery. Translation service involved the preparation of twenty-seven translations on forty-five pages from various Slavic languages into English. These requests were received from members of Congress and agencies of the Government. Mr. Dorosh also reports that on thirty-seven occasions brief oral translations were provided in response to telephone inquiries.
Mr. Dorosh's activity in completing the supplement to this earlier Guide to Soviet Bibliographies has already been mentioned. His first draft was reviewed by Dr. Epstein of the Slavic and East European Division. A briefer bibliography, comprising 130 titles of Russian satirical journals published from 1905–1908 was compiled for J.S.G. Simmons, Taylor Institution, Oxford, England.
Acquisitions to the reference collections in the Slavic Room were developed through examination of incoming materials at the several points of entry in the Processing Department, as well as through aforementioned perusal and recommendation from lists received from blanket order dealers. In addition, Mr. Dorosh examined over 1,000 volumes of duplicate materials from which over 700 copies were selected for the collections by virtue of their apparent value for research purposes.
The control over the unbound serials in the custody of the Slavic Room was also facilitated during the year by the development of a visible file. This was organized in coordination with the Processing Department so as not to duplicate the function of the Serial Record Division.
The service in the Slavic Room continues at a high level, and in fact reached a point at which the request for additional sub-professional assistance could be justifiably granted. Over 21,000 readers used the facilities of the Room as compared with nearly 19,000 readers last year. The attendant use of books and unbound materials remained at its previously high level. The flow of material to the custody of the Room was marked by notable increases (although direct comparisons cannot be made since the statistics were altered to follow more closely the pattern developed in the Serials Division). We can report, however, that 86,304 items were sorted upon receipt in the Slavic Room, and that a total of 183,537 pieces was shelved and reshelved subsequent to use. Reference work by telephone remained at the level of 15,000–plus. Some 1,400 volumes of serials were forwarded for binding. The preparation of newspapers for binding appears to be excessively slow and is attributed to the inability of the staff at this time to complete current runs. The situation with respect to the preparation of current Slavic serials for binding is reported to be excellent. Older materials representing incomplete files, discontinued files, etc., continue to require extended research to permit the preparation of binding arrangements and continue to move very slowly from the shelves on Deck 8.
The visible file maintained in the Slavic Room has been the subject of a special study, which revealed that it has served the function originally conceived of eliminating the need for lengthy searches for materials sought in the Slavic Room and in addition has developed into a specialized reference file which is much used by the Air Information Division and the Photoduplication Service, among others.
The preparation of appropriate records covering the negative microfilm in the custody of the Slavic Room has been completed and these films are ready for final transfer. In fact, the films representing monographs were transferred in the Spring of the year. Films containing reproductions of serials and newspapers involved special problems because successive issues were to be found mixed on different reels, and the reels had to be examined individually in order to achieve accurate retrieval records. The completion of the requisite file should facilitate the positive copying of these films and do away with the need for elaborate editing prior to splicing different sections of the reels in order to secure unbroken runs.
A word is in order with respect to the possibility of securing the transfer of the Cyrillic Union Catalog to the custody of the Slavic Room. Such transfer is very desirable and will facilitate the work of the Slavic Room staff during the work week and on week ends, as well when access to the Catalog is completely shut off.
Relationships between the Slavic Room and the Slavic and East European Division appear satisfactory and harmonious. The staff consults the specialized competence available in the Slavic and East European Division when necessary in their judgment. Correspondence prepared in the Slavic Room is post audited by Dr. Yakobson and has not evoked significant criticism, and at times inquiries have been referred by that Division to the Slavic Room as appropriate to its operations.
The general trend of the year's work in the Slavic Room is one of marked increase in processing activities, stability in circulation of materials, and apparent decrease in reference activities.
During the year, about 500 volumes were added to the reference collections as compared with 355 volumes the year before. Two hundred seventy-six dealers' lists were scanned for reference works as compared with 163 last year. The examination of 12,924 duplicates in the Processing Department led to the selection of 7,129 volumes for addition to the Library's collections; last year's figures were 6,540 and 4,356 respectively. Over 190,000 units of current serials and newspapers were received as compared with 108,000 last year. Five hundred seventy-four microfilm reels were received, the majority for processing and forwarding to the Photoduplication Service.
The shelf list of the reference collection has been improved and is now accurate on a current basis. The visible file for current Slavic serials has continued to expand in size and usefulness. Eight hundred ninety-nine cards for new titles were added during the year as compared with 471 new cards the year before.
In December the staff started to organize the older Cyrillic corporate-entry serials on Deck 8. Previously arranged only by author, the volumes were difficult to locate and serve. Under the system now in process of development, each title is given a consecutive number (i.e., fixed location), the key to which is an author catalog. This catalog consists of preliminary cards prepared by the Slavic Cataloging Project in 1946–47, and of simple author-title entries now being prepared by the Slavic Room staff. A total of 1,604 volumes have been processed to date.
The largest group of unsorted material remaining on Deck 8 consists of approximately 10,000 pieces in the southeast corner. A special project was undertaken this Spring to organize this material. Compensated for overtime work by the Reference Department, Mrs. Anna Smislova of the Descriptive Cataloging Division began to sort this material into approximately thirty categories such as duplicates, translations, reprints, maps, Church Slavic, medicine, agriculture, etc. Serials which have been sorted out by this means have been integrated with the regular serial collection on Deck 8. Measures will be taken to review the categories for variable disposition such as disposal by exchange, disposal by pulping, suitable for regular cataloging, etc.
The completion of these two projects and the completion of arrangements for receipt of microfilm to replace the United Nations documents in Russian on Deck 8, will find the "unprocessed" collection here in essentially useful arrangement with ancillary controls wherever needed, and will also generate space in which we can integrate the remaining Slavic newspapers currently in the custody of the Serials Division.
Binding activities have achieved a new peak for the Slavic Room staff. A total of 2,301 volumes of serials and 74 volumes of newspapers were prepared for the Bindery, compared to 1,402 and 10 volumes last year. This signifies that the arrearage of material requiring attention for binding has been virtually eliminated and that during the forthcoming fiscal year we should reach complete currency in the binding work despite the fact of increase in incoming material. Incidental to the work in arranging material for binding, the staff forwarded 50,841 duplicate pieces to the Exchange and Gift Division.
The increase in the effort devoted to organizing the collections on Deck 8, requiring the presence there of staff normally on duty in the Slavic Room to serve readers and respond to telephone calls, may be the reason for the significant decrease in reference services which were marked by a drop in the case of personal assistance from 19,320 to 15, 803 this year, and in the case of telephone assistance from 15,483 to 10,999. Another factor, very subjective however, is adduced by the members of the staff in that they believe more of the steady users of the Slavic Room are familiar with its facilities and collections and require less individual assistance than formerly. The decrease in translations has an obvious explanation which derives from the fact that in prior years many requests came from the Exchange and Gift Division which now has personnel able to translate incoming Russian letters. Replies to written reference inquiries stayed at the same level, 137 reference letters this year against 133 the year before.
Material circulated for use in the Slavic Room amounted to 25,247 volumes and units, compared to 27,858 the year before. Material charged for use outside the Slavic Room (within or outside the Library) amounted to 16,099 volumes and units, compared to 15,198 the previous year.
The major special effort during the year involved the organization of the so-called Plotschew Collection of some 800 19th-century Bulgarian imprints. A bibliography of Bulgarian works of this period, compiled by Pogorielov, was annotated with respect to the items in the Plotschew Collection and is now available for consultation in the Slavic Room. The collection itself is kept in the locked enclosure on Deck 8. Suitable entries have been prepared by the Descriptive Cataloging Division so that information about the collection is accessible in the Library's general catalogs.
The continuing reference services provided by the staff of the Slavic Room, under the direction of its Curator, John T. Dorosh, require no special comment except to say that the same level of service was maintained despite serious interruptions in the steady staff complement due to resignations and other causes of staff turnover. Approximately fifteen thousand reference questions were answered; more than seventeen thousand readers availed themselves of the facilities of the Slavic Room during the year, and more than 10,000 inquiries were answered by telephone. The principal emphasis during the year was placed on the improvement of the processing operations and the organization of the collections on Deck 8.
Nearly 150,000 units, including unbound serials and newspapers, were received in the Slavic Room during the year. An innovation was introduced in the utilization of the visible file in which all incoming serials are recorded. The effect was to note the number of duplicate copies of individual serial issues received in order to avoid forwarding copies to Deck 8 for shelving if such copies are in excess of a predetermined number. Instead the surplus copies are forwarded immediately to the Exchange and Gift Division for further disposition. Together with the pieces found to be duplicates as a result of the collation effort for binding, a total of 51,479 pieces were discarded as surplus to the collections of the Slavic Room.
Extensive inroads were made into the unorganized collection of corporate serial publications on Deck 8, through brief cataloging and assignment of fixed location numbers. The present organized collection of this type of material now comprises nearly seven thousand volumes. The collection has increased through the addition of some 6,000 pieces as a result of a sorting project which eliminated from Deck 8 many hundreds of miscellaneous pamphlets, translations, and others items which were first screened by the staff of the Slavic and Central European Division before they were given final disposition by the Library's Selections Officer. Progress was also noted in reducing the collection of United Nations documents issued in the Russian language as a result of the receipt and acceptance of microfilm copies of these documents purchased from the United Nations Library.
The binding effort remained at a high pitch, recording 2,154 volumes forwarded to the Bindery. The concentration during the present and immediately prior year has been on the binding of Russian serials with the result that currency was achieved. A further consequence was noted in the decrease of requests for these materials in interlibrary loan and from study rooms and other divisions of the Library. The permissible presumption is that more of this type of material is now to be found in the organized collections of the Library, thus testifying to the value to be gained from the investment in this type of effort.
In order to assess the further requirements for currency of binding of the remaining language and area materials on Deck 8, a piece-by-piece count was undertaken of the unbound collection in the custody of the Slavic Room. The earlier estimate of a collection of approximately 30,000 pieces was modified by the surprising count of 127,000 pieces. A considerable portion of this number will not be destined for binding, but will eventually be discarded as unsuited to the organized collections. The sheer effort required to review the material leading to such decision is one which the present staff is not capable of producing. It is an effort which will ultimately have to be expended and which will also pay for itself in terms of space economies, and reduced manpower requirements to service the collections when found in their proper organized locations.
The reference collection in the Slavic Room also came in for its due share of attention. A thorough inventory of the reference collection, checking the individual volumes against its shelflist record and securing printed cards where they were needed, improved the controls to a measurable degree. Considerable weeding will be required since space must be provided for the continuous influx of new reference materials of a high order of excellence. The alternative is the development of additional space for this collection.
There is ample evidence, and representations have been made, that the addition of a subprofessional assistant at the GS-4 level would aid the Slavic Room staff in its drive to perfect the organization of the collections in its custody. The goal is to develop a self-liquidating situation in which an adequately organized service would require less staff than it now possesses. This would assume a continuation of reference demands at the present level. Such assumption can only be tested in time. We do maintain that the reference service which is now provided, regardless of its excellence, is less efficient than would be the case if it were rendered in connection with a current and properly organized collection of unbound serials and newspapers. The proposed investment of one additional GS-4 position would contribute significantly to the desired improvement.
The continuing emphasis in the work of the Slavic Room, whose primary responsibility is to provide reference services to the bulk of the readers in the Library using both the organized and unprocessed Slavic and East European collections, remains on the custodial and organizational aspects of the collections in its care on Deck 8 of the Annex. Reference and custodial responsibilities have an intangible way of merging into each other. The Deck Attendant must be able to know materials in ways and manners other than the alphabetic signal arrangement used for their shelving, and frequently is called upon to search for specific items identified in a variety of fugitive methods. Organizing materials in these collections is directly oriented to the known use made in the Slavic Room for a large portion, since much of the present unprocessed collection is destined to remain indefinitely on Deck 8 until some future date when it will again be possible to consider it as a cataloging arrearage. The reference staff concerns itself with the proper flow of materials, the processing of microfilms, the processing of special groups of materials, the accuracy of records of use and of loans, to ensure that needed but unavailable materials can be accounted for and can be retrieved for immediate use if the situation is pressing. These are the activities which are described below:
Acquisition of Materials: Unprocessed Slavic and East European serials reach the Slavic Room through normal acquisitions channels after they are recorded in the Serial Record. During the year, approximately 190,000 serial and newspaper pieces were received. All of these were sorted and added to the unbound collections with the exception of those that were considered surplus to its requirements at the time of receipt. The following tabulation shows the developing status of this unbound collection of Slavic and East European serials and newspapers:
| Status as of end of Fiscal Year 1956/57 | 127,000 pieces |
| Received during 1957/58 | 189,324 pieces |
| Less pieces combined in binding | 38,343 |
| Less surplus pieces | 95,314 |
| Less newspapers taken by Serial Division | 90,000 |
| TOTAL: | 223,546 |
| Net reduction in collection | 34,222 pieces |
| Status as of end of Fiscal Year 1957/58 | 92,778 pieces |
This result is due in large measure to the concentrated effort to handle current acquisitions as promptly as possible and to process the receipts for optimum service while still in their unbound state. The assistance provided through the funds made available for a Deck Attendant by the Air Information Division was very material in producing this result and needs to be acknowledged.
The Slavic Room reference collection was increased by 750 titles, continuing the pressure on the available shelf space. The Curator examined approximately 18,000 Slavic duplicates in the Processing Department and recommended the addition of 6,900 to the Library's collections. This represents an increase over last year when 13,000 volumes were examined and 4,300 were marked for retention. Also to be noted is the addition of 600 reels of microfilm contrasted with 250 reels during the preceding year.
Organization of Materials and Status of Collection: Considerable progress has been made in organizing a group of serials issued by corporate agencies in the Soviet Union. Including the effort of the preceding year, a total of 4,000 preliminary catalog type entries have been prepared, and the issues for the same titles[s] have been collected and have been given fixed location numbers which are noted on the catalog card. Approximately 10,000 pieces are now organized and are found to be increasingly called for and used under conditions of organized accessibility.
The binding effort has been maintained at as high a pace as was recorded last year with more than 2,000 volumes forwarded to the Bindery. This year, with the availability of a Deck Attendant conversant with the languages and publications of Yugoslavia, the serials of that country have been given attention with the result that some knotty binding problems were disentangled and the materials for this area put in serviceable arrangement. Also, the entire backlog of scattered unbound issues of serials with call numbers — some 2,000 — have been eliminated through binding and other appropriate disposition.
The final note is that the Slavic Room has now reached a point at which all bindable issues of the preceding calendar year are bound or in process of being bound during the first half of the year following.
The program for the next year envisions an attempt to weed the collection of unbound serials for disposal of useless materials, transfer of items better housed in other centers, microfilming of unbindable material, etc. The successful pursuit of this program will generate much needed space and will ultimately permit the organization of Slavic and East European serials and newspapers in one location within the Library instead of the present scattered pattern.
Use of Material: The Slavic and East European collections in the Library of Congress are undoubtedly unparalleled with respect to their concentration in one place and at one time. The current emphasis on Slavic and East European studies requires such collections and is reflected in the continuing increase in use as evidenced by the readers served in the Slavic Room. Increases were noted across the board. Readers numbered 18,300 as compared with approximately 17,000 in the previous year. A total of 17,300 reference questions were recorded as compared with 15,000 the year before. Telephone inquiries reached an all-time high of more than 14,000 in comparison with 10,000 in 1956/57. The largest portion of service to readers, and other inquirers was rendered through the current, unbound collections of serials and newspapers. Translation service has more than doubled with 142 written and 143 oral translations provided to Members and staff of Congress, Government agencies, staff of the Library, and the public.
Over 45,000 volumes and other units were issued to readers and sent out on interlibrary loan as compared with 30,428 during 1956/57. This increase may be attributed very immediately to the improved status of the collection noted above.
