Slavic and East European Studies Collection - Collections

I. Collection Description

Purpose:

The primary focus of the Slavic and East European Library’s collection development and acquisitions efforts is on publications from Russia, the U.S.S.R., and from Eastern Europe in the vernacular languages of these areas. The purpose of these collections is to support instruction and research in Russian, Soviet, and East European studies, with particular emphasis on social science and humanities disciplines. In addition to serving a large number of local users, the Slavic and East European collection serves a large number and variety of off-campus users, including faculty and students from other educational institutions, government agencies, and private corporations.

History of Collection:

While publications in Russian had been selectively acquired in certain fields since at least the 1920s, extensive collection-building for Russian, Soviet, and East European studies began only in the late 1950s with the establishment of the University’s Russian & East European Center. A separate administrative unit in the Library, the Slavic Section, was established in 1960 and given responsibility for acquiring and cataloging materials in the languages of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. In the early 1960s, exchange relations with Soviet and East European libraries were expanded, and several comprehensive blanket orders and approval plans for current monographs instituted. In addition, many large purchases were made, as well as some retrospective purchases, and certain Soviet exchange partners were able to supply many older materials. The Slavic Library was selected by the Library of Congress as a depository for Yugoslav publications (1965-1971) and Polish publications (1971-1977) under terms of its Special Foreign Currency Program. Also noteworthy is the large number of microform holdings of Slavic materials, perhaps the largest in the U.S.

Estimate of Holdings:

568,000 volumes, consisting of 360,000 in Slavic languages; 36,000 in non-Slavic area languages (e.g., Hungarian, Romanian); 92,000 area-related volumes in Western languages (primarily French, German, English); and 80,000 equivalent volumes in microform in Slavic languages. In addition, there are 15,000 volumes in the uncataloged backlog.

State, Regional and National Importance:

The UIUC Slavic collection is the largest in Illinois and the Midwest, and at any state-supported U.S. university. With the collections at the Library of Congress, Harvard, and Columbia, Illinois’ Slavic collection ranks among the largest in the country. The collection is important not only because of its size, but also for programs (such as the Slavic Reference Service and the Summer Research Laboratory) that provide access to its collections to researchers worldwide.

Unit Responsible for Collecting:

Slavic and East European Library.

Location of Materials:

The Slavic and East European Library Room houses major reference works, current issues of about 900 important newspapers and journals, many microforms, and a small circulating collection. Most Slavic and East European materials are housed in the Bookstacks, while some departmental libraries (chiefly History, Law, Commerce, and Education) have important collections also.

Citations of Works Describing the Collection:

Ash, Lee. Subject Collections. N.Y.: Bowker, 1978, p. 1004. (Extensive revisions and corrections have been sent to the editors for the sixth edition of Subject Collections, forthcoming, 1984).

Choldin, M. T. and L. H. Miller. “Slavica,” Non Solus no. 6 (1979): 20-25.

“Description of Slavic and East European Holdings, University of Illinois [Library],” annual informational flyer distributed to users.

Downs, pp. 210-211.

Leich, H. M. “Resources for Slavic and Eastern European Studies at the University of Illinois.” 1977 (unpub.).

Leich, H. M. and June E. Pachuta. “Resources for Southeastern European Studies at the University of Illinois Library,” Newsletter of the American Association for the Advance of Southeastern European Studies, special supplement I (1977).

Miller, L. H., and K. Hitchins, “University of Illinois” chapter in: Horecky, Paul L. and David Kraus, eds. East Central and Southeastern Europe: A Handbook of Library and Archival Resources (Santa Barbara: Clio Press, 1976).

II. General Collection Guidelines

Languages:

Slavic languages: Russian, Ukrainian, Byelorussian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Bulgarian, Lusatian, Old Church Slavonic; Non-Slavic East European languages: Hungarian, Romanian, Albanian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian; Non-Slavic languages of the Soviet Union [Soviet Asian languages]: Armenian Azerbaijani, Georgian, Tajik, Uzbek, Tatar [numerous others], English and other Western European languages.

Materials in non-area languages (primarily in English and the languages of Western Europe) are acquired in the subject areas of language and literature; materials in other disciplines, especially bibliographies and other reference works, are occasionally purchased on Slavic funds.

Chronological Guidelines:

No exclusions or restrictions.

Geographical Guidelines:

Soviet Union, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Albania; also the former Russian Empire and relevant areas of the former Ottoman, German, and AustroHungarian empires. In addition, works concerning all other countries of the world published within the Soviet Union in Russian and English are acquired.

Treatment of Subject:

Standard statement. The Slavic Library selects and acquires materials with primary focus on some aspect of the languages, literatures, cultures, peoples, and societies of the Soviet Union, Russia, and Eastern Europe.

Types of Materials:

Standard statement.

Date of Publication:

Standard statement.

Place of Publication:

Most material acquired is from the major publishing centers of the Soviet Union and of the East European countries.

III. Collection Responsibility by Subject Subdivisions with Qualifications, Levels of Collecting Intensity, and Assignments

The Slavic & East European Library has primary selection responsibility for materials in Slavic and East European languages (see list in General Collection Guidelines-Languages) in all social science and humanities disciplines. In addition, for relevant reference materials and for the subject areas of Slavic/Soviet/East European languages and literatures, the Slavic Library has primary selection responsibility for materials in all languages. Having stated these collecting responsibilities, there is no need to include the assignment column in the following chart. A further deviation from the normal format of this section is required to indicate the different levels of collecting in each subject area for the twelve geographical regions covered in Slavic and East European studies.

Below is a table that lists specific subject subdivisions within the collection. Each row in the table lists a specific subject subdivision, followed by three columns noting: Collection Strength, Primary Assignments and Secondary Assignments. The Existing Collecting Strength column notes how well the existing collection covers that topic on a 1 to 5 scale with 5 being very strong. The Primary Assignments column lists departmental libraries that have the greatest collection intensity of subject materials, respectively. In the case of 2 or more libraries listed, the collection intensity is comparable. The Secondary Assignments column list departmental libraries where additional materials may be found.

Version Date: November 2005