National Bibliography
The National Library of Albania in Tirana was founded in 1922, but it did not begin to produce an official national bibliography until 1959 when a section for bibliography was established within the Library. This section serves as the national bibliographic center for Albania. In addition to producing the current national bibliography it also works on selected retrospective bibliographies and bibliographies of works in Albanian, but published outside the borders of the country. It also is responsible for the bibliographic serial Albanica which is a bibliography of Albanica, or foreign works about Albania [U of I Library Call Number: IASL Albanian Reference 016.94965 AL132 v. 1-2].
For more information about bibliography in Albania, the introduction to Albania: A bibliographic Research Survey with Location Codes (German title: Albanien: ein bibliographischer Forschungsbericht: mit Titelübersetzungen und Standortnachweisen,) pp.41-46 [U of I Library Call Number: International & Area Studies Albanian Reference (Slavic) 016.94965 H479a], provides a short, but helpful survey. Below are annotated the national bibliographic sources for Albania that are held by the University of Illinois Library.
Online Resources
COBISS (Co-operative Online Bibliographic Systems and Services)
Serving countries in the Balkans, COBISS provides an international service that gives access to national union catalogs that cover Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Montenegro, Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia.
COBISS.net is an established international development cooperation project for the development of national library information systems and current research information systems. Linking between the two systems is crucial for managing researchers’ bibliographies and evaluating research results. Previous collaboration has yielded positive results, and we trust that that COBISS.net is of great importance for the development of the region and for its successful integration into the EU.
-COBISS.net
As of 2020, there were 32 libraries in Albania that had joined COBISS. COLIB.AL contains databases from Albanian libraries that participate in COBISS. AL.COBISS contains materials in Albanian libraries that participate in COBISS. Below is an example of a record for Bibliografi Shqipe: (29. XI. 1944-31. XII. 1958) from COBISS.
National Library of Albania
The National Library of Albania provides access to online catalogs, catalogs of digitized materials, a digital e-library, a digital reading corner, and a unique collection of e-Bibliographies. These bibliographies include Bibliografia e librit shqip, Autorë të huaj për Shqipërinë dhe Shqiptarët, and Bibliografia e përkthimeve në Shqipëri 2003-2018 (Index Translationum). Below is an example of a record for Bibliografi Shqipe: (29. XI. 1944-31. XII. 1958) from the electronic catalog at the National Library.
Bibliographies
Bibliografia Kombetare e librit qe botohet ne Republiken e Shqiperise = National Bibliography of Books Published in the RA
Tirane: Biblioteka Kombetare, Sektori i Bibliografise, 1960- .
U of I Library Call Number:
Main Stacks
- 015.4965 B471 [v.9-17] (1968-1976);
- 015.4965 B4711 v.18-26 (1977-1985);
- 015.4965 B4712 v.28-31 (1987-1990);
- 015.4965 B47121 v.33-45 (1992-2004).
This section of the Albanian national bibliography which covers books has been published since 1960 and is still being produced today. It is issued four times per year and is based on what the National Library receives via legal deposit. The entries are arranged by subject classification with indexes in each issue for author, translator, personal name, title, and publisher. The list of subjects appears at the end of each issue. This serial has changed title a few times over the years with its earliest title being Bibliografia Kombetare e Republikes Popullore te Shqiperise. Libri shqip. See the entry below from the 1994:3-4 issue under the heading of “Albanian Literature.”
Bibliografia kombetare e Republikes së Shqiperise. Artikujt e periodikut shqiptar = National Bibliography of RA. Articles of the Albanian Press
Tirane: Biblioteka Kombetare, Sektori i Bibliografise, 1961- .
U of I Library Call Number:
Main Stacks
- 016.05991991 B471 v.8-16 (1968-1976);
- 015.4965 B47 v.17-31, 42 (1977-1991, 2002);
- 015.4965 B47a v.31-43 (1991-2003)
International & Area Studies Albanian Reference (Slavic)
- 015.4965 B47a v. 41-43 (2001-2003)
This section of the Albanian national bibliography which covers articles from Albanian periodicals has been published since 1961 and is still being produced today. It has been issued on a monthly basis since 1966. The entries are arranged by subject classification with indexes in each issue for names, names as subjects, places, and titles of periodicals analyzed in each issue. Cumulative annual indexes for the same categories are published very year. The list of subjects appears at the end of each issue. The serial has changed title over the years. It was also called Bibliografia kombëtare e Republikës Popullore së Shqipërisë. Artikujt e periodikut shqip. See the image below from the 1994:5 issue for two citations that appeared under the heading of “The Military.”
Before the above-noted official national bibliographic serials began to track Albanian publications, there were a few other sources that can serve as national bibliography for the pre-1960 period in the absence of a true retrospective national bibliography. Some of them are glossed below.
Bibliographie Albanaise. Description raisonnee des ouvrages publies en Albanais ou relatifs a l’Albanie du quinzieme siecle a l’annee 1900
Legrand, Emile. ; Guys, Henri. Paris: Librairie Universitaire, 1912. 228 p.
U of I Library Call Number: Main Stacks 015.4965 L52b 1973
HathiTrust full text
The following description of this important bibliography is quoted from page 41 of Albania: A bibliographic Research Survey with Location Codes: “Legrand, who apart from being distinguished as a Greek scholar, was the very first person who provided a chronological bibliography; in addition to supplements supplied by Guys, this included all original publications written in Albanian or on Albania until about the time the country achieved its independence.” (Albania became independent from the Ottoman Empire in 1912). Although this reviewer claims this bibliography contains all such publication, in truth it is selective in nature. This volume contains over 700 entries in various languages arranged chronologically by date of publication. Below the bibliographic citations are lists of libraries that hold the title. There are indexes for author, editor, library, engraver, and subject. Guys supplement that covers 1900-1910 was published in Tirana in 1938, but U of I lacks this volume. See the entry below for a religious work from 1872.
Shkrimet Shqipe ne vitet 1332-1850 (bibliografi)
Shuteriqi, Dh. Tirane: Shtepia Botonjese “Naim Frasheri”, 1965. 233 p.
U of I Library Call Number: International & Area Studies Albanian Reference (Slavic) 016.891991 Sh9s
Tirane: Akademia e Shkencave e RP Te Shqiperise, 1976. 2nd expanded ed. 314 p.
U of I Library Call Number: International & Area Studies Albanian Reference (Slavic) 891.99109 Sh9s
Originally published serially in Buletin i Universitetit Shteteror te Tiranes from 1962-1963, this volume and its subsequent editions contain citations for both published and unpublished works in Albanian from 1332-1850. The compiler intends his work to be comprehensive and since he also includes unpublished materials, it is more comprehensive than the Legrand/Guys work annotated above except that its coverage extends only to 1850, not 1900. The entries which are displayed in chronological order are extensively annotated. In the second edition items not included in the first edition are marked with an asterisk in the initial listing on pp.13-24, but are not marked in the body of the bibliography. The second edition contains 459 entries while the first has only 293. Both editions have indexes for author/translator, archives/libraries, printer/publisher, author of cited reference work, place, and subject. Illustrations appear only in the second edition. See the entry below for a grammar from around 1750.
Bibliografi Shqipe (29.XI.1944-31.XII.1958)
Kastrati, Jup. Tirane: N.Sh. Botimeve “Naim Frasheri”, 1959. 498 p.
U of I Library Call Number: International & Area Studies Albanian Reference (Slavic) 016.891991 K15b; Also available at Oak Street Facility
Containing citations for approximately 2400 Albanian books from 1944-1958, this work also shows the contents of anthologies and collected works. The citations are arranged into 8 subject chapters such as history, Marxism-Leninism, Albanian literature, literary translations into Albanian, etc. The volume opens with a brief overview in Albanian of the history of Albanian bibliography. See the entry below for a collection of poetry by the Albanian author Ismail Kadare and its contents.
