College and Research Libraries
March 2004, Vol. 65, No. 2
Book Review
Libraries in Open Societies: Proceedings of the Fifth International Slavic Librarians’ Conference. Ed. Harold M. Leich. Binghamton, N.Y.: Haworth, 2002. 264p. alk. paper, $39.95 (ISBN 078901968X). LC 2002-5936.
This volume of twenty-two papers from the Fifth International Slavic Librarians’ Conference, held in Tallinn, Estonia, in July 2000, provides an overview of a field that has changed dramatically in the past three decades, especially since the fall of the Soviet Union. Meticulously edited by Harold M. Leich, Russian Area Specialist in the European Division of the Library of Congress, these essays address a multitude of topics in Slavic and East European librarianship, ranging from traditional ones such as collection development to the opportunities afforded by new technologies. The essays likewise reflect the ongoing political and economic transformations of the countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. As Marianna Tax Choldin points out in the opening essay of the volume, the international networking of Slavic librarians today is a far cry from the early efforts of a handful of librarians to attain an international presence in 1974 as part of the newly formed International Committee for Soviet and East European Studies.
The contributors to this book, published simultaneously as a special issue of Slavic & East European Information Resources (vol. 3, no. 2/3, 2002), represent librarians, scholars, and other Slavic and Eastern European studies specialists from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, England, Estonia, France, Germany, Latvia, Russia, and the United States. The essays are organized into six sections: collection development, full-text databases, electronic information delivery, preservation of Slavic collections, journals in Slavic and East European librarianship, and Baltic collections outside the Baltic countries. Most of the articles are short, only a handful of them longer than fifteen pages. The volume includes an index, and each article is well organized with a summary, ample headings, and extensive bibliographical and explanatory notes.
Although several of the authors describe various collections and address traditional topics such as collection-building and preservation, a larger proportion of the articles is devoted to various facets of electronic information-sharing and delivery. Among these are discussions of several digitizing projects, such as the efforts to reconstruct the collections of the National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina by creating digital archives and a project at Indiana University to convert the primary index of Soviet serials to a word-searchable database that can be mounted on the Web.
As in all other fields, the Internet and the Web have opened up an array of possibilities for information and resource-sharing, and offerings on the Web continue to grow daily. Several of the authors speak to the possibilities offered by the Web, including creation of an international online bibliography of Slavic and East European studies and the many networks of libraries that have developed in Russia resulting from the rapid growth of the Internet. This volume itself is a testament to the growing role of the Internet for Slavic and East European librarianship, with its numerous references to Russian, Latvian, and other Web sites, and e-mail addresses for all but one of the contributors to this collection. And much to the credit of the editor and my delight, all the interesting sounding URLs that I tried actually worked!
As someone who has worked for many years in a library with a strong exchange program, I was particularly interested in the two papers that posed arguments against exchanges as a primary means of acquisition from the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, as well as the ensuing discussions of reasons and alternatives. Without a doubt, for many libraries and collections exchange is no longer the cost-effective acquisitions tool that it once was. Not only has there been widespread growth in commercial vendors able to supply materials more efficiently than through exchange agreements, but Western researchers themselves are now able to visit areas formerly closed to them and provide their institutions with materials not available elsewhere. However, there remain those institutions and specialized libraries for which limited exchanges make sense, especially with countries still lacking firmly established vendor sources.
Perhaps because this conference was held in one of the Baltic countries, five of the twenty-two papers cover Baltic topics. This was especially welcome to someone who has spent half a century explaining just exactly what and where Latvia, the country where I was born, is. Three of the articles address Baltic collections in North America, Germany, and the United Kingdom. One describes a project to compile a database of Latvian calendars, or almanacs, from 1750 to 1919. Another traces the history of an Estonian library journal.
Libraries in Open Societies presents an excellent overview of a rapidly changing area in international librarianship. The topics and concerns addressed by the authors illustrate both the challenges and solutions offered by technology and their application to specific projects and needs. Although the volume relates specifically to Slavic and East European librarianship, many of the articles would be of interest to anyone engaged in digitizing efforts, resource-sharing, bibliographic projects, or international cooperation.—Maija M. Lutz, Harvard University.