College and Research Libraries B y C H A R L E S J E L A V I C H Slavic Studies and Library Acquisitions TH E A M E R I C A N P U B L I C recently has been made aware directly of the deep significance of developments in eastern E u r o p e f o r their own i n d i v i d u a l inter- ests and security. Hitherto, many Amer- icans have been relatively complacent concerning their moral and physical su- periority over the Soviet U n i o n . P o p u l a r accounts and widely publicized statistics seemed to indicate clearly that the U n i t e d States was f a r ahead of the Soviet U n i o n and w o u l d maintain that suprem- acy f o r years to come. T h e confidence which was shared by most Americans was suddenly and dramatically destroyed by the sputniks which enabled each of us in- d i v i d u a l l y to see that although the Rus- sians might lack chrome and fishtails on their cars, or might even lack private cars at all, they could still obtain tremen- dous successes in the scientific field, and in an area of great military significance. T h e advent of the sputniks has caused not only a reappraisal of our o w n edu- cational system, but it has again brought to the fore the vital necessity f o r the continuation and r a p i d expansion of the study of the Slavic w o r l d by Americans and of the need f o r the continued ac- quisition of research materials which will enable us to j u d g e accurately l i f e and society in that area. I n view of the reawakened interest in Slavic studies and with the hope that the obvious challenge of Soviet p o w e r w i l l Dr. Jelavich is Associate Professor of History, University of California, Berke- ley. This paper was presented before the meeting of the ALA Resources and Tech- nical Services Division, Acquisitions Sec- tion, July 17, 1958, San Francisco. provoke the A m e r i c a n public to extend their facilities f o r the acquisition of knowledge concerning their competitors, the f o l l o w i n g pages w i l l be devoted to a discussion of some of the problems at present connected with R u s s i a n and East E u r o p e a n studies and the library re- sources which are available on the sub- ject. T h e basis f o r the f o l l o w i n g observa- tions is some of the problems encoun- tered, first, d u r i n g the course of the sur- vey at present being conducted by the Sub-Committee on the R e v i e w of Rus- sian Studies under the auspices of the J o i n t Committee on Slavic Studies, and, second, on the simultaneous survey of the Slavic materials available in Amer- ican libraries, which has been carried on by the Committee on Slavic and East E u r o p e a n Studies of the Association of Research Libraries. T h e s e comments will probably be of interest primarily to the universities and libraries which at pres- ent do not have extensive library col- lections in the Slavic field but which are contemplating possible expansion. It should be emphasized immediately that at present the level of A m e r i c a n re- search on the basic subjects in the Slavic areas is very high indeed. T h e past years have produced a great expansion in the number of students interested in Slavic studies and an impressive number of publications in the field have recently appeared. A m e r i c a n weakness is chiefly shown in the fact that study in the Slavic field has concentrated in a few disci- plines and in relatively few centers. A well-known E u r o p e a n scholar w h o came to the U n i t e d States several years ago was tremendously impressed with the scholarly and scientific knowledge avail- able concerning R u s s i a and eastern Eu- 118 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES- rope, but he was astonished by the al- most negligible impact which this has had on A m e r i c a n p u b l i c opinion. It is therefore the recognized task of those in the Slavic field to try to introduce Slavic studies on a more extensive basis throughout the country and to make the results of scholarly research available to a wider public. Despite the present high level of ac- complishment, Slavic studies in the U n i t e d States are of relatively recent growth. Prior to 1 9 1 4 only three or f o u r A m e r i c a n scholars were interested in Russia and only two or three libraries concerned themselves seriously with the collection of materials f r o m that part of the world. A l t h o u g h f r o m 1 9 1 9 to 1939 an increasing number of scholars became interested in the Soviet U n i o n , only a few of them were able to travel in eastern E u r o p e or carry on serious research. Very little was accomplished as f a r as disseminating information on the area to the A m e r i c a n electorate. T h e period between the wars did, never- theless, bring to the U n i t e d States a large n u m b e r of political refugees, among whom were some excellent schol- ars who contributed to our knowledge of the Soviet U n i o n . W i t h i n the State Department several individuals, among them, best known to the public, George K e n n a n and Charles B o h l e n , became vitally concerned with R u s s i a n prob- lems. However, despite certain advances, Slavic studies by 1939 had not progressed to a satisfactory degree. T h u s in 1945, when the U n i t e d States assumed its pres- ent position of international power and responsibility, both the government and the universities were in a difficult situa- tion. T h e government agencies were so desperate f o r Slavic specialists that some of them were willing to accept those with even a meager knowledge of eastern E u r o p e . T h e universities also realized that they w o u l d need to accelerate the training of specialists in this significant part of the world. E v e n those connected with radio and the newspapers suffered f r o m the lack of competent observers and analysts. It was also p a i n f u l l y obvi- ous that with the exception of the na- tive Russians there were f a r too few in the U n i t e d States w h o knew the Rus- sian language. U n d e r the impetus of the new position in which the U n i t e d States now f o u n d itself, a n u m b e r of the universities acted quickly to provide facilities f o r f u r t h e r training in the Slavic area. Institutes and centers were established at Califor- nia, C o l u m b i a , H a r v a r d , and Washing- ton. Despite their size and importance universities were immediately faced with serious problems concerning personnel and library acquisitions. I n addition to the financing of the centers devoted to R u s s i a n and East E u r o p e a n studies, ap- propriations had to be made to cover expansion w i t h i n the existing depart- ments. Fortunately, the universities re- ceived considerable encouragement and support f r o m the foundations, in partic- ular, f r o m Ford, R o c k e f e l l e r , and Carne- gie. A s a result of the initiative taken by the universities and the financial contri- butions of the foundations a remarkable degree of success was achieved during the succeeding decade. I n 1948 the A m e r i c a n Council of L e a r n e d Societies and the Social Science Research Council organized the Joint Committee on Slavic Studies. T h e pur- pose of this g r o u p was to study the prob- lems connected with Slavic studies and to provide guidance in f u t u r e research. T h e committee eventually obtained f u n d s which enabled it to publish the excellent collection of extracts f r o m the R u s s i a n newspapers and journals en- titled Current Digest of the Soviet Press, to hold scholarly conferences on sub- jects of particular interest in the Slavic field, to subsidize publications, and to offer grants-in-aid f o r research purposes. I n 1957 the J o i n t Committee decided MARCH 1959 119 that a survey should be made to deter- mine w h a t had been accomplished in the past and what should be done in the f u t u r e . Some of the m a j o r questions ex- amined were the f o l l o w i n g : H a d the needs of the Slavic field been met? W a s the research w h i c h h a d hitherto been conducted properly focused? W h a t fields of investigation still h a d to be ex- amined? S h o u l d there be more research centers f o r the training of f u t u r e schol- ars? Should more Master's and doctoral candidates be trained and w o u l d these individuals obtain positions once they had completed their work? W o u l d the administrators continue to provide f u n d s f o r Slavic studies or w o u l d the contri- butions of the past and the present sup- port eventually cease? W o u l d the Amer- ican libraries continue to be p r o v i d e d with the f u n d s necessary to acquire in- dispensable research materials? T o conduct this survey a committee was organized under the chairmanship of Professor C . E. B l a c k of Princeton, with M r . J o h n T h o m p s o n of the Social Science Research Council as staff. Other members of the committee included rep- resentatives f r o m the universities of Cali- f o r n i a , C o l u m b i a , H a r v a r d , I n d i a n a , a n d Washington and a representative f r o m the library field. A f t e r c a r e f u l l y studying the problems involved, the committee agreed u p o n five m a j o r steps. First, it was decided that on each of the ten m a j o r disciplines a recognised scholar in the field should be asked to write a report of f r o m twenty-five to thirty pages appraising the accomplishments of the past within his own field and indicat- ing what areas of research still h a d to be investigated. T h i s report was in turn sent to two outstanding scholars in the same discipline, one specifically not in the Slavic field, f o r their observations and comments. T h e ten disciplines cov- ered were economics, geography, history, political science, literature, social rela- tions, linguistics, philosophy and reli- gion, science, and the fine arts. Second, the committee decided to investigate the library holdings and the problems re- lated to the acquisition of Slavic ma- terials and the financing of the collec- tions. Since it was clearly realized that the success of Slavic studies and, in par- ticular, research in the Slavic area w o u l d depend directly on the materials avail- able in A m e r i c a n libraries, the commit- tee obtained the cooperation of the As- sociation of Research L i b r a r i e s which agreed to oversee such a study. T h e r e - after, M e l v i l l e R u g g l e s of the C o u n c i l on L i b r a r y Resources and Vaclav Mo- stecky, then of the Catholic University School of L i b r a r y Science, conducted a survey of library resources in the Slavic field. I n the course of their investigations they visited over forty libraries and sent detailed questionnaires to approx- imately five h u n d r e d others. T h i r d , ques- tionnaires were sent to all former stu- dents of the various R u s s i a n area centers and institutes to gather their views con- cerning their training and experiences and to request suggestions f o r the im- provement of the training of R u s s i a n specialists in the f u t u r e . Fourth, a ques- tionnaire was distributed to the m a j o r universities concerned w i t h the Slavic field asking f o r certain statistics and in- f o r m a t i o n on graduate education in Rus- sian studies. F i f t h , Professor B l a c k and M r . T h o m p s o n visited j o i n t l y or sep- arately more than fifteen of the m a j o r A m e r i c a n universities w o r k i n g in the Slavic field to ascertain what programs the universities were offering, what inter- ests the f a c u l t y had, w h a t plans were being f o r m u l a t e d f o r the f u t u r e , and what were the problems confronting the universities. T h e results of the survey, which was begun in the f a l l of 1957, were discussed in three meetings held by the committee: in December in N e w Y o r k , in J a n u a r y at H a r v a r d , and in March at the University of C a l i f o r n i a , Berkeley. A majority of the scholars in 120 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES- the U n i t e d States interested in Slavic studies were able to attend at least one of these meetings. Discussions were held concerning the preliminary findings and d r a f t reports were examined. T h e re- sults of these meetings and of the work of the committee as a whole w i l l appear d u r i n g 1959. T h e preliminary unofficial statistical results of the survey indicate that in the postwar decade the m a j o r work in the Slavic area has been accomplished at five major centers: C a l i f o r n i a , Colum- bia, Indiana, H a r v a r d , and Washington. Seventy doctoral candidates have been produced and over seventy more are now working toward this degree. T h e r e have been also over five hundred Master's degrees. Of the doctoral candidates 25 per cent have been in history, 25 per cent in the languages and literature, and 19 per cent in economics. W i t h respect to placement, 20 per cent are now teach- ing, 25 per cent are in government and academic research, and 27 per cent in operational government positions. T h e remainder have gone into the fields of radio, newspaper, business, law, and ad- ministration. I n addition to a study of the reports, the committee has discussed the ques- tion of the f u t u r e direction of Slavic studies. T h e immediate postwar pro- grams were inaugurated w i t h the princi- pal purpose of providing f o r the de- mands of the government a n d the aca- demic community. A l t h o u g h these de- mands have not been completely filled, the need is not as acute as before. How- ever, in many respects the problem has now become more complex. N o longer can R u s s i a n and East E u r o p e a n studies be regarded as esoteric subjects of inter- est only to the Department of State and university intellectuals. Instead, R u s s i a n and East E u r o p e a n studies are clearly of interest and importance to all Amer- icans. T h e challenge of Russia as a great power and in the scientific field has made it urgent that subject matter pertaining to the Slavic area be introduced into the undergraduate level at all colleges, not in just those specializing in the Slavic field, and even into the high school cur- riculum. T h e analogy of the scientist is here clearly appropriate. T h e scientist demands that the student learn mathe- matics at an early age; the social scien- tist, the humanist, and now, too, the sci- entist wish him to know R u s s i a n as soon as possible. I n order to determine how material on the Slavic w o r l d could be introduced into the colleges a n d how the problem was to be dealt w i t h on the local level, the committee undertook a pilot survey of undergraduate education in I n d i a n a in cooperation w i t h I n d i a n a University. T h e purpose of this study was to bring together representatives of the thirty-four universities and colleges in I n d i a n a to discuss the problems of area studies and the interest of these institutions in this field. It is hoped that the results of this study w i l l provide a guide f o r the universities and colleges in other states. I n addition, the com- mittee, d u r i n g the academic year 1958- 59, plans to investigate the question of Slav studies at the high school level, in- cluding the problem of language train- ing. T h r o u g h o u t this review of the Slavic field in the U n i t e d States it was clearly apparent that the success of Slavic stud- ies now and in the f u t u r e w o u l d de- pend largely on the library resources available. T h e research scholar, the gov- ernment worker, the teacher, are all de- pendent on the willingness and ability of i n d i v i d u a l libraries to develop and enlarge their collections. A s Slavic studies are of necessity extended into lower edu- cational levels it is important that all libraries, whether connected with educa- tional institutions or with the cities, rec- ognize the necessity of acquiring the standard works in the field. T h e survey on library resources, which w i l l be pub- MARCH 1959 121 lished in the winter of 1958-59,1 b r o u g h t to light the u n f o r t u n a t e fact that Slavic materials are concentrated in the U n i t e d States in a relatively few centers and that even these are not able to cover the field. M r . R u g g l e s and M r . Mostecky received 545 replies to their questionnaires f r o m libraries h a v i n g some Slavic materials; they conducted forty-six interviews with librarians and users of libraries through- out the U n i t e d States. A s a result of their study it appears that in the U n i t e d States there are a p p r o x i m a t e l y 1,500,000 mono- graphs, 70,000 periodicals and 3,000 news- p a p e r holdings. Of this material nearly 60 per cent is in the R u s s i a n field, which indicates that there must be an expan- sion in the acquisition of materials f r o m non-Russian eastern E u r o p e a n states. Of the materials available over 40 per cent are to be f o u n d in university libraries, over 25 per cent in government libraries, about 1 5 per cent in special libraries, such as the H o o v e r L i b r a r y in P a l o A l t o , and over 1 5 per cent in p u b l i c li- braries, such as the N e w Y o r k P u b l i c L i b r a r y . T h e s e figures sound impressive, but they really are not. It is obvious that A m e r i c a n libraries cannot a f f o r d to pur- chase everything, nor is it desirable that they do so. However, the survey clearly indicates that o u r acquisitions could be improved in quality and coverage. I n the choice of materials to be purchased it was revealed that very f e w universities have a systematic process of selection, whereas most purchases are made on a haphazard basis, usually u p o n the rec- ommendations of i n d i v i d u a l faculty members w h o are chiefly interested in material in their field of research. Only a h a n d f u l of A m e r i c a n libraries use as a guide to book selection the comprehen- sive Soviet publication Knizhnaia Leto- pis, which lists the trade and society publications. Almost all of the East Eu- 1 A brief summary of the survey, written by Mel- ville Ruggles, appears in the October 1958 issue of The Library Quarterly. ropean countries have similar bibli- ographies, as f o r instance, the J u g o s l a v Bibliografija Jugoslavije. It should be noted here that these publications re- m a i n the best source f o r new material published in the Slavic countries. A s f a r as the acquisition of material is concerned the usual method of pur- chase and exchange has been f o u n d most satisfactory. F a v o r a b l e conditions have meant good acquisitions, but a period of political tension has resulted in a severe decline of deliveries of new material. B o t h purchase and exchange are affected in this case. A n o t h e r problem confronting librar- ians is that of cataloging. In fact, it has been a deterring factor in some univer- sities which w o u l d otherwise be inter- ested in acquisitions in the field. L i - brary of Congress cards have proved in- dispensable, but, at the same time, a cataloger must be available w h o can use the Slavic languages. L i b r a r y schools, to- gether w i t h the area centers and insti- tutes, should encourage more students to enter the field of Slavic bibliography. A n y i n d i v i d u a l w h o has command of the R u s s i a n language can with a little additional preparation handle any of the other Slavic languages w i t h the de- gree of fluency necessary f o r the catalog- ing of books. A f t e r a thorough study of the library facilities has been completed, it seems that it w i l l be possible to make some specific recommendations. F o r instance, the libraries should retain the p r i n c i p a l responsibility f o r selection of materials, thereby p r o v i d i n g the m a x i m u m degree of continuity in acquisitions. A l t h o u g h librarians should consult with faculty members, they should not rely exclu- sively on their recommendations. For those libraries which are interested in maintaining a strong Slavic collection, the two excellent monthly acquisition lists published by the L i b r a r y of Con- gress, The Monthly Index of Russian 122 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES- Accessions and the East European Acces- sions Index, should be followed as well as the bibliographies of the various Slavic countries. I n addition, each li- brary should have at least one bibli- ographer with a knowledge of a Slavic language, preferably Russian. A s f a r as acquisitions are concerned, each library must determine its own needs and the f u n d s which it believes should be spent. A l l libraries, however, whether they are university, college, or city libraries, should have at least some books dealing with R u s s i a n history, and printed in Russian, as well as grammars and other aids f o r the teaching of the R u s s i a n language. Every opportunity should be made available to the young A m e r i c a n to become acquainted with the Russian language and R u s s i a n history. I n addition to this, since it is clearly evident that all libraries cannot buy everything that is published, the major centers should undertake an extensive loan arrangement with other libraries. It is quite apparent that today many ex- cellent scholars teaching in colleges and universities away f r o m the large librar- ies are unable to continue their research in the Slavic field because of a lack of material. T h e libraries must be w i l l i n g to loan extensively and on a coopera- tive basis to those w h o are u n a b l e to use their facilities directly. I n order to assure that the libraries in the U n i t e d States as a whole cover all categories of R u s s i a n publications, particularly those in the less developed disciplines, it has been suggested that the universities adopt a system similar to the F a r m i n g t o n Plan. U n d e r this the libraries w o u l d agree to purchase books by disciplines. It appears that with the exception of economics, history, govern- ment, and literature, the current hold- ings are f a r f r o m satisfactory. T h e divi- sion of the less p o p u l a r subjects among the libraries w o u l d assure that we w o u l d have w i t h i n the U n i t e d States the maxi- m u m amount of research material on all phases of l i f e in Russia. T h e problems of the institutions which feel that they cannot make extensive pur- chases of Slavic publications and yet wish to give satisfactory courses in the area are very important. T o meet this need it has been suggested that the specialists in the Slavic field, as well as those f o r the F a r Eastern, Moslem, and A f r i c a n areas, which suffer f r o m similar conditions, draw u p a list of books whose total cost w o u l d be between $300 and $500 which every library should have as the indispensable m i n i m u m f o r the satisfactory education of our students as f u t u r e citizens. If the individual student is encouraged to become interested in the Slavic world, he will be influenced to continue his studies on the graduate level. It is to be hoped that the colleges and smaller universities will thus be- come a recruiting g r o u n d f o r f u t u r e scholars in the field. It is recognized that it is of the utmost importance that f u t u r e Slavic studies and interest in the subject be as widespread as possible throughout the country and not centered so completely in the present m a j o r in- stitutes. B o t h the surveys of Slavic studies as a whole and the libraries in particular have clearly revealed the importance of the attitude of the university and college administrator toward the expansion and development of Slavic studies. It is most important that the individual librarian and faculty member convince the univer- sity administrator with whom he is most closely concerned that it is of vital ne- cessity that the study of the Slavic w o r l d be expanded and developed. Certainly, the degree of accurate scholarship and intelligent knowledge reached by Amer- icans in the f u t u r e will be directly re- lated to the research materials and gen- eral works available in A m e r i c a n librar- ies. T h e demands of national security and the need of the i n d i v i d u a l w h o MARCH 1959 123 wishes to be better educated, and thereby become a more effective citizen, can be satisfied only if the libraries meet their obligations. It is to be h o p e d that in the f u t u r e the expansion in Slavic studies and the acquisition of material on the Slavic w o r l d w i l l not only continue in the large centers, but w i l l be recognized as a m a j o r task by the universities and libraries throughout all of the states. I n this matter the contribution of the librar- ian to A m e r i c a n security and the fur- therance of research and knowledge in this country can be more important and decisive than that of the military or the scientist. Micro-Publishing Projects A Sub-committee on Micro-publishing Projects was established at the 1958 San Francisco conference by the Resources Committee of A L A ' s R e - sources a n d T e c h n i c a l Services Division. T h e sub-committee w i l l serve "as a coordinating body to which publishers w h o wish to inaugurate micro-publishing projects may turn f o r advice f r o m librarians, and to which librarians may turn f o r advice when they are considering purchas- ing proposed micro-publishing projects." T h e sub-committee has requested R i c h a r d B. H a r w e l l , Associate Exec- utive Director of A L A , to provide a focal point f o r its activities. M r . Har- well will m a i n t a i n a file of proposed micro-publishing projects and will be in a position to coordinate work by i n f o r m i n g sponsors of projects whether or not similar projects are underway elsewhere. H e should be ad- dressed at the A m e r i c a n L i b r a r y Association, 50 East H u r o n Street, Chica- go 1 1 , Illinois. A note to him listing projects now active or proposed w i l l be of considerable help in establishing an effective record of current ac- tivities and available micropublications. I n his report f o r the Committee on Resources of R T S D at San Fran- cisco, C h a i r m a n R a l p h Ellsworth noted: " T h e sub-committee w i l l o f f e r to e x p l o r e with any sponsor or producer of microcopy the relative merits and potential market f o r any specific proposal, and advise as to whether a given project is really needed in its originally proposed scope and f o r m , or whether some more selective scope or different f o r m a t or other solution might be better. T h e sub-committee w i l l also serve as a channel f o r inviting the consideration of producers in discovering ways and means of bringing into being other worthwhile microcopy projects suggested by librarians and scholars, or developed f r o m studies of needs undertaken by the sub-committee itself." T h e sub-committee consists of the f o l l o w i n g individuals: E d w a r d B . Stanford, L i b r a r i a n , University of Minnesota L i b r a r i e s ; H e r m a n H . Fus- sier, Director of L i b r a r i e s , University of Chicago; George Schwegmann, C h i e f , U n i o n C a t a l o g Division of the L i b r a r y of Congress; R u d o l f Hirsch, Assistant Director, University of Pennsylvania L i b r a r y ; Frederick H . W a g m a n , Director, University of M i c h i g a n L i b r a r y ; M r . H a r w e l l ; a n d R a y n a r d C . Swank, S t a n f o r d University Libraries, w h o is chairman of this sub-committee. 124 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES-