- Email: [email protected]
Slavonic publications at the British Library Document Supply Centre
SLAVONICPUBLICATIONSAT THE BRITISHLIBRARY DOCUMENTSUPPLY CENTRE Kathleen Ladizesky and Ron Hogg The British Library Document Supply Centre (BLDSC) at Boston Spa in Yorkshire, England, currently provides information for over 15,600 customers worldwide. A specialized part of the service is carried out in the Slavonic’ sections, which are engaged in acquiring, processing, and disseminating publications from the ex-Soviet Union and countries of eastern Europe. Recent change in most of these countries has resulted in major adjustments in acquisitions procedure. This article gives an overview of the collections and procedures used for their acquisition. It also examines recent modifications that have been made with agents and exchange partners.
BACKGROUND
Ladizesky and Hogg are in Slavonic acquisitions, British Library Document Supply Centre, Boston Spa, Wetberby, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom.
-SLAVON~CPUBLICATIONS-
The concept of interlibrary lending was around in Britain as long ago as 1925 when S.C. Bradford, the keeper of the Science Museum Library in London, decided to create a national science libraryand also to lend from it.2 After the Second World War the need for loans increased and it became apparent that a library dealing exclusively with remote supply was needed. Thus, at Boston Spa, some 200 miles from London, on the site of a government-owned munitions factory, the National Library of Science and Technology was opened in 1962. In 1973 it was renamed British Library
!%JMMJXR1!@5 65
Lending Division; since 1985 it has been known as the BLDSC. At present, 744 staff are employed there. The largest part of the collections is scientific serials but many items in the fields of humanities and social sciences are also held as are monographs and other forms of published information. Two sections in the library-Slavonic acquisitions, with a staff of three; and Slavonic, with a staff of sixare responsible for dealing with Slavonic materials. Publications acquired are mainly in Cyrillic script, of which the largest part is Russian-language material. Other Cyrillic script languages received are Bulgarian, Azerbaijani, Byelomssian, Serbian, Ukrainian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tadzhik, Turkmen, and Tatar. The Slavonic acquisitions section is also responsible for obtaining items in the other principle languages of the former Soviet Union (Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Moldovan, Georgian, and Armenian). Materials are also acquired from other eastern European countriesAlbania, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic-and the countries of the former Yugoslavia (Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia), and the new Yugoslavia of Serbia and Montenegro. The collections in Cyrillic script and non-Roman script from the former Soviet Union are housed in a store by themselves due to the often inaccessible nature of the material for people who do not read the language. They are issued by staff from the Slavonic section. East European materials in Roman script are housed in the main run of materials and are dealt with in the same way as all other stock. The transliteration of Cyrillic script is a simplified version of the Library of Congress system, which copes better with computerized searchingfollowing a Cyrillic original than either IS0 or British Standard transliteration. Slavonic acquisitions obtains 2,000 Cyrillic serials and 250 cover-to-cover translations with over 1,750 non-Cyrillic script serial publications. There are more than 200,000 Cyrillic monographs. Ninety percent of the stock is of a scientific nature. mainly in Russian, but there are also items in humanities and social sciences and in other Slavonic languages. The British Library’s Humanities and Social Sciences Directorate in London is used as a backup for materials in these fields.
ACQUISITION Materials are acquired either by direct purchase, through an agent, or on an exchange basis. Exchange is initiated by separately negotiated exchange agreements with individual institutions, principally state libraries
66
SERIALS REVIEW
and universities, but also with a number of specialized institutions. Titles are selected from customer requests and from bibliographies, catalogs, publishers’ information, and online searches. Dictionaries, catalogs, and bibliographies are obtained mainly for use within the library as reference tools. Publications are obtained from 345 exchange sources in eastern Europe (excluding the former GDR) and the former Soviet Union. Relative extent of acquisition by purchase and exchange in each country is outlined in figure 1. As can be seen, in 1994 in all countries except Poland and the former Yugoslavia, more publications are obtained through exchange agreements than by purchase. Although exchange is a labor-intensive process, at the moment it is proving to be the surest way of obtaining materials. This would seem to be because we are dealing directly with the publishing bodies, who have our address on their files and manage to keep up supply of items as they are published. Although a few institutions and libraries have had to cancel their exchange agreements due to lack of finance, this has not been a significant factor in our business. When approaching a new agent for supply thereis invariably a delay before we receive anything and sometimes supply is not achieved. In this case the other sources have to be explored. The 246 titles purchased in the United Kingdom (U.K.) and United States are serials published in translation outside the former Soviet Union. The British Library is financed by a grant-in-aid from the government that covers the cost of acquisitions. The rest of the services have to pay for themselves.
DOCUMENT
SUPPLY
Users of the services supplied by BLDSC include libraries, institutions, businesses, and individuals. A number of bibliographic tools are available to help users locate publications. These include Current Serials Received, Keyword Index to Serial Titles, Boston Spa Serials on CD-ROM, Inside Information on CD-ROM, Inside Conferences on CD-ROM, and others. In 1993 the daily issue of Cyrillic scientific or technological serials averaged 63, with 67 requests for cover-to-cover translations and 9 for Slavonic books. Ninety percent of the serial requests and 50 percent of the Slavonic scientific book requests are satisfied from stock. Staff have access to these materials via BLDSC’s online serial file (SACHET), book catalog (MARS), and conference index. Periodical online Keyword Access
- KATHLEENLADIZESKYANDRONHOGG-
(POLKA) is the system detailing the British Library’s
periodical holdings. It includes other U.K. backup libraries. The computerized systems were tailor-made to suit the nature of publications that are held by BLDSC. The library also houses a Slavonic Union Catalogue of over three-quarters of a million cards supplied by academic libraries in the United Kingdom giving locations of Slavonic-l~~age publications. It does not, however, keep records of non-Slavonic language publications of eastern Europe (e.g., Hungary, Romania, Albania). Figure 2 illustrates the flow of requests for Slavonic and eastern European material in BLDSC. In addition to supply from stock, backup libraries in the United Kingdom are used. A request service via IFLA, formaterials from the national libraries of the exSoviet Union and of all eastern European countries, is in operation. In return BLDSC request forms are supplied for items successfully obtained and loaned by these countries. The success rate in most countries is about 30 percent but it reaches 80 percent for Russian supplies. Three main libraries are used-the Russian State (formerly Lenin) Library, Academy of Sciences Library, and Russian National (formerly SaltykovShched~n} Library-thus providing a form of backup service for BLDSC. RECENT CHANGES A recent article edited by Allan Urbanic3 provides an interesting view of the scene in Slavonic serial publishing since deunification of the U.S.S.R. and related changes throughout eastern Europe. A major problem for BLDSC, as for many other libraries, was the collapse of the U.K. subsc~ptions agent Collets, which gave rise to a considerable amount of readjustment. Early in 1993, serious difftculties were noticed with the supply of publications supplied by Collets. They supplied materials not only from the former Soviet Union, but from most other eastern European countries as well. We are aware that North American librarians experienced similar difficulties when other suppliers met with the same problems-in particular Les Livres Etrangers in Paris. In November 1993, when Collets ceased trading, a company in the United States-East View Publications (EVP)-presented itself fairly quickly as being a possible source of publications from the ex-Soviet Union. Their catalog is well organized and extensive with highly competitive prices. Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga (MK) the former Soviet monopolist book and serial supplier, which could be thought to be the obvious
-SLAVONIC~~BLICATIONS-
choice to supply Russian publications direct from Russia, did not offer a competitive service. MK has now established links with several book agents in the United Kingdom to replace Collets but these have not proved to be as reasonably priced or efficient as EVP Otherpossible suppliers that did not prove viable for BLDSC but that may be of interest to North American librarians are Russian Press Service (RPS) and Moscow Independent Press Publishing Company (MIPP). It is pertinent to note that MK has now ceased to be the state monopolistic book import and export corporation. Therefore each publisher is theoretically free to export elsewhere though few are in the position to do SO.~MK’s trade is now carried out through import of goods and the book trade has severely diminished. They have established printing and editing facilities and are developing as a rights agency. In 1991 the question of supply of Soviet serials was looked at by a subscriptions agent.’ The nature of pub~cation and distribution was examined and an explanation of the difficulties usually encountered in obtaining publications was put forward. At a recent conference,6 the U.K. representative of MK compared the earlier MK business under state influence and the new system of free enterprise, Many new publishers and distribution systems have also emerged. However, far from improving the flow of information, it can be seen that the publishing crisis now in existence in Russia, linked with Russia’s general economic problems, is making production and supply of information even more difficult. The problem of obtaining serials from all other countries with which Collets had dealt was more complicated. A general plan was used whereby titles with a publisher already supplying materials to BLDSC on exchange were asked to extend the exchange agreement. Large libraries with existing exchange agreements were also asked to extend these agreements. If there was a possible known agent, particularly if it had a catalog, it was sent a list of titles that could be considered for purchase after receiving a quotation. One country that was not mentioned in Urbanic’s article was Romania. BLDSC had previously obtained some titles from that country through Collets as well as some from exchange partners. The agent Rodipet, which has a good catalog, has now taken on all Rom~i~titles previously supplied by Collets. The use of fax, and in some cases e-mail, to establish the new arrangements has been a significant factor in effecting changes quickly and efficiently. We had thought that Collets was no longer a candidate for supply of documents, but in June 1994 it re-emerged
Sunm~~1995
67
, 400
440
400
360
320
260
274
240
200 166
160
120
60
40
/ 10 5
0
KO!
_.
.-
Albania
Former Czechoslbvakis
Hungary
Poland
Former Soviet Union
Former
UK
USA
Yugoslavia
Purchase Exchange
Figure 1:
68
SERIALSREVIEW
Number of Serial Titles Obtained by Purchase or Exchange
- KATHLEENLADIZESKYANDRON
HOGG-
REQWST
STOR@
* +-YES
NO
*
YES
SEND CHASER
NO,
CREATE ORDER
r-
INFORM CUSTOMER OF ACTION
-Th
PASSlT@M OR b INFORMATION TO CUSTOMER
L
Figure 2:
-SLAVONICPUBLICATIONS-
Flow of Requests for Slavouic and East European Material in BLDSC
%JMMER1%%
69
Country
Agent
AI&&a
Botimpex
Bulgaria
Hemus
Former Czechoslovakia Czech Republic Slovak Republic
Artia, PNS
Hungary
Kultura, Hungarian Book Agency (U.K.)
Poland
Ars Polona
Romania
Rodipet, Orion Press SRL
Former Soviet Union Co~onwealth of Independent States
East View Publications (U.S.) Liber Livonicus
Former Yugoslavia Belgrade Zagreb
Jugoslevenska Knjiga BTS, Markom
Figure 3:
Etrr~pe.~
Figure 2: Flow of Requests for Slavonic and East European Material in BLDSC Cover-to-cover translations are obtained from Swets, Blackwell, Faxon, Turpin, and Dawson, all of which have offices in the United Kingdom. Some publications are now being published much faster; companies such as Plenum and Consultants Bureau have made arrangements with Russian businesses such as Maik Nauka and Interperiodica for concurrent publication of original and translated journals. For a small number of titles exclusive distribution
rights have been given to companies outside the country of publication. Examples are Archiv orientali, published in Prague and distributed by John Benjamins in the Netherlands, and Sttcdia logica, published in P&and and distributed by Kuban & Sagner in Germany.
70
SERIALS
Slavonic librarians at BLDSC are active members of the U.K. library group Council of Soviet and East European Library and Information Services(COSEELIS). This group endeavors to form a network between members working in the field in the United Kingdom to help keep each other up-to-date and provide support if problems occur. Development of e-mail links through the Slavlibs Forum for Slavic Librarians in the United States and Russian Studies, the academic community mailinglist in the United Kingdom are providing further useful contact on a daily basis. The global network that has developed brings together and spreads ideas much speedier than was previously possible.
Agents Used for Purchase of Serials
with a U.K. ofGce.7 It remains to be seen if it will be able to re-coup any of the business it previously held. Untii 1992, a substantial number of Polish titles were supplied by Earlscourt ~bIi~atiuns in the United Kingdom. At this time a trial number were passed to Ars Polona in Warsaw. When in 1993 Earlscourt no longer continued with serial supply, the remaining titles previously supplied were easily transferred to Ars Pofona, which is now providing an efficient service. Only after the items have been posted are invoices sent. The agents that are now being used are listed in figure 3. Full contact details are to be found in Direcror?, of Libraries & Btwk Agents iit &heFomer Sovi~r Union atzd Eastern
COOPERATION
i&YJEW
This paper has looked at acquisition in a special area at BLDSC, examining the sourr~s of supply and some of the difficulties faced when dealing with materials in Slavonic languages. In addition it has noted some prubIems that BLDSC has encountered resulting Eromevents that occurred in the Soviet Union and Central Europe_ NOTES 1. “Slavonic” is the British term for what American libraries call “Slavic.” K.P Barr, “The BLLD at Boston Spa,” Journal ofthe of Engineers, Australia (November-December 1974): 13-16.
2.
Institution
3. Allan Urban& “Chaos by Subs~~ption~ Serials in Eastern Europe,” Serials Review 20, no. I (Spring 1994): 43-58. 4. E. Skelly and V. Stabnikov, Russia: A Survey @the Book Marker (U.K.: British Council, 1993). 5.
F.F. Clasquin, “A Russian Adventure in Serials,” Serials
Review 17, no. 3 {Fail 1991): 2I-24,66.
6.
V. Spiridonov, “On Russian Publishing,” in Emerging
Democracies & Freedom tember 1994 Proceedings
of Information
Oxford, 2-4 Sep-
(Oxford: International Group of the Library Association, in press).
7. Coltets the Intemation~ Booksellers, sales manager, John Laister, Collets House, Boulton Road, Salihull, West Midlands, B91 2JU, U.K.; 021 709 1053, fax 021 709 1054. 8. Ron Hogg and Kathleen Ladizesky, Directory ofLibraries d Book Agents in the Former Soviet Union and Eastern ~~~ope(Yo~shire, England: British Library Document Suppty Centre, 1994).
BACKGROUND
Ladizesky and Hogg are in Slavonic acquisitions, British Library Document Supply Centre, Boston Spa, Wetberby, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom.
-SLAVON~CPUBLICATIONS-
The concept of interlibrary lending was around in Britain as long ago as 1925 when S.C. Bradford, the keeper of the Science Museum Library in London, decided to create a national science libraryand also to lend from it.2 After the Second World War the need for loans increased and it became apparent that a library dealing exclusively with remote supply was needed. Thus, at Boston Spa, some 200 miles from London, on the site of a government-owned munitions factory, the National Library of Science and Technology was opened in 1962. In 1973 it was renamed British Library
!%JMMJXR1!@5 65
Lending Division; since 1985 it has been known as the BLDSC. At present, 744 staff are employed there. The largest part of the collections is scientific serials but many items in the fields of humanities and social sciences are also held as are monographs and other forms of published information. Two sections in the library-Slavonic acquisitions, with a staff of three; and Slavonic, with a staff of sixare responsible for dealing with Slavonic materials. Publications acquired are mainly in Cyrillic script, of which the largest part is Russian-language material. Other Cyrillic script languages received are Bulgarian, Azerbaijani, Byelomssian, Serbian, Ukrainian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tadzhik, Turkmen, and Tatar. The Slavonic acquisitions section is also responsible for obtaining items in the other principle languages of the former Soviet Union (Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Moldovan, Georgian, and Armenian). Materials are also acquired from other eastern European countriesAlbania, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic-and the countries of the former Yugoslavia (Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia), and the new Yugoslavia of Serbia and Montenegro. The collections in Cyrillic script and non-Roman script from the former Soviet Union are housed in a store by themselves due to the often inaccessible nature of the material for people who do not read the language. They are issued by staff from the Slavonic section. East European materials in Roman script are housed in the main run of materials and are dealt with in the same way as all other stock. The transliteration of Cyrillic script is a simplified version of the Library of Congress system, which copes better with computerized searchingfollowing a Cyrillic original than either IS0 or British Standard transliteration. Slavonic acquisitions obtains 2,000 Cyrillic serials and 250 cover-to-cover translations with over 1,750 non-Cyrillic script serial publications. There are more than 200,000 Cyrillic monographs. Ninety percent of the stock is of a scientific nature. mainly in Russian, but there are also items in humanities and social sciences and in other Slavonic languages. The British Library’s Humanities and Social Sciences Directorate in London is used as a backup for materials in these fields.
ACQUISITION Materials are acquired either by direct purchase, through an agent, or on an exchange basis. Exchange is initiated by separately negotiated exchange agreements with individual institutions, principally state libraries
66
SERIALS REVIEW
and universities, but also with a number of specialized institutions. Titles are selected from customer requests and from bibliographies, catalogs, publishers’ information, and online searches. Dictionaries, catalogs, and bibliographies are obtained mainly for use within the library as reference tools. Publications are obtained from 345 exchange sources in eastern Europe (excluding the former GDR) and the former Soviet Union. Relative extent of acquisition by purchase and exchange in each country is outlined in figure 1. As can be seen, in 1994 in all countries except Poland and the former Yugoslavia, more publications are obtained through exchange agreements than by purchase. Although exchange is a labor-intensive process, at the moment it is proving to be the surest way of obtaining materials. This would seem to be because we are dealing directly with the publishing bodies, who have our address on their files and manage to keep up supply of items as they are published. Although a few institutions and libraries have had to cancel their exchange agreements due to lack of finance, this has not been a significant factor in our business. When approaching a new agent for supply thereis invariably a delay before we receive anything and sometimes supply is not achieved. In this case the other sources have to be explored. The 246 titles purchased in the United Kingdom (U.K.) and United States are serials published in translation outside the former Soviet Union. The British Library is financed by a grant-in-aid from the government that covers the cost of acquisitions. The rest of the services have to pay for themselves.
DOCUMENT
SUPPLY
Users of the services supplied by BLDSC include libraries, institutions, businesses, and individuals. A number of bibliographic tools are available to help users locate publications. These include Current Serials Received, Keyword Index to Serial Titles, Boston Spa Serials on CD-ROM, Inside Information on CD-ROM, Inside Conferences on CD-ROM, and others. In 1993 the daily issue of Cyrillic scientific or technological serials averaged 63, with 67 requests for cover-to-cover translations and 9 for Slavonic books. Ninety percent of the serial requests and 50 percent of the Slavonic scientific book requests are satisfied from stock. Staff have access to these materials via BLDSC’s online serial file (SACHET), book catalog (MARS), and conference index. Periodical online Keyword Access
- KATHLEENLADIZESKYANDRONHOGG-
(POLKA) is the system detailing the British Library’s
periodical holdings. It includes other U.K. backup libraries. The computerized systems were tailor-made to suit the nature of publications that are held by BLDSC. The library also houses a Slavonic Union Catalogue of over three-quarters of a million cards supplied by academic libraries in the United Kingdom giving locations of Slavonic-l~~age publications. It does not, however, keep records of non-Slavonic language publications of eastern Europe (e.g., Hungary, Romania, Albania). Figure 2 illustrates the flow of requests for Slavonic and eastern European material in BLDSC. In addition to supply from stock, backup libraries in the United Kingdom are used. A request service via IFLA, formaterials from the national libraries of the exSoviet Union and of all eastern European countries, is in operation. In return BLDSC request forms are supplied for items successfully obtained and loaned by these countries. The success rate in most countries is about 30 percent but it reaches 80 percent for Russian supplies. Three main libraries are used-the Russian State (formerly Lenin) Library, Academy of Sciences Library, and Russian National (formerly SaltykovShched~n} Library-thus providing a form of backup service for BLDSC. RECENT CHANGES A recent article edited by Allan Urbanic3 provides an interesting view of the scene in Slavonic serial publishing since deunification of the U.S.S.R. and related changes throughout eastern Europe. A major problem for BLDSC, as for many other libraries, was the collapse of the U.K. subsc~ptions agent Collets, which gave rise to a considerable amount of readjustment. Early in 1993, serious difftculties were noticed with the supply of publications supplied by Collets. They supplied materials not only from the former Soviet Union, but from most other eastern European countries as well. We are aware that North American librarians experienced similar difficulties when other suppliers met with the same problems-in particular Les Livres Etrangers in Paris. In November 1993, when Collets ceased trading, a company in the United States-East View Publications (EVP)-presented itself fairly quickly as being a possible source of publications from the ex-Soviet Union. Their catalog is well organized and extensive with highly competitive prices. Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga (MK) the former Soviet monopolist book and serial supplier, which could be thought to be the obvious
-SLAVONIC~~BLICATIONS-
choice to supply Russian publications direct from Russia, did not offer a competitive service. MK has now established links with several book agents in the United Kingdom to replace Collets but these have not proved to be as reasonably priced or efficient as EVP Otherpossible suppliers that did not prove viable for BLDSC but that may be of interest to North American librarians are Russian Press Service (RPS) and Moscow Independent Press Publishing Company (MIPP). It is pertinent to note that MK has now ceased to be the state monopolistic book import and export corporation. Therefore each publisher is theoretically free to export elsewhere though few are in the position to do SO.~MK’s trade is now carried out through import of goods and the book trade has severely diminished. They have established printing and editing facilities and are developing as a rights agency. In 1991 the question of supply of Soviet serials was looked at by a subscriptions agent.’ The nature of pub~cation and distribution was examined and an explanation of the difficulties usually encountered in obtaining publications was put forward. At a recent conference,6 the U.K. representative of MK compared the earlier MK business under state influence and the new system of free enterprise, Many new publishers and distribution systems have also emerged. However, far from improving the flow of information, it can be seen that the publishing crisis now in existence in Russia, linked with Russia’s general economic problems, is making production and supply of information even more difficult. The problem of obtaining serials from all other countries with which Collets had dealt was more complicated. A general plan was used whereby titles with a publisher already supplying materials to BLDSC on exchange were asked to extend the exchange agreement. Large libraries with existing exchange agreements were also asked to extend these agreements. If there was a possible known agent, particularly if it had a catalog, it was sent a list of titles that could be considered for purchase after receiving a quotation. One country that was not mentioned in Urbanic’s article was Romania. BLDSC had previously obtained some titles from that country through Collets as well as some from exchange partners. The agent Rodipet, which has a good catalog, has now taken on all Rom~i~titles previously supplied by Collets. The use of fax, and in some cases e-mail, to establish the new arrangements has been a significant factor in effecting changes quickly and efficiently. We had thought that Collets was no longer a candidate for supply of documents, but in June 1994 it re-emerged
Sunm~~1995
67
, 400
440
400
360
320
260
274
240
200 166
160
120
60
40
/ 10 5
0
KO!
_.
.-
Albania
Former Czechoslbvakis
Hungary
Poland
Former Soviet Union
Former
UK
USA
Yugoslavia
Purchase Exchange
Figure 1:
68
SERIALSREVIEW
Number of Serial Titles Obtained by Purchase or Exchange
- KATHLEENLADIZESKYANDRON
HOGG-
REQWST
STOR@
* +-YES
NO
*
YES
SEND CHASER
NO,
CREATE ORDER
r-
INFORM CUSTOMER OF ACTION
-Th
PASSlT@M OR b INFORMATION TO CUSTOMER
L
Figure 2:
-SLAVONICPUBLICATIONS-
Flow of Requests for Slavouic and East European Material in BLDSC
%JMMER1%%
69
Country
Agent
AI&&a
Botimpex
Bulgaria
Hemus
Former Czechoslovakia Czech Republic Slovak Republic
Artia, PNS
Hungary
Kultura, Hungarian Book Agency (U.K.)
Poland
Ars Polona
Romania
Rodipet, Orion Press SRL
Former Soviet Union Co~onwealth of Independent States
East View Publications (U.S.) Liber Livonicus
Former Yugoslavia Belgrade Zagreb
Jugoslevenska Knjiga BTS, Markom
Figure 3:
Etrr~pe.~
Figure 2: Flow of Requests for Slavonic and East European Material in BLDSC Cover-to-cover translations are obtained from Swets, Blackwell, Faxon, Turpin, and Dawson, all of which have offices in the United Kingdom. Some publications are now being published much faster; companies such as Plenum and Consultants Bureau have made arrangements with Russian businesses such as Maik Nauka and Interperiodica for concurrent publication of original and translated journals. For a small number of titles exclusive distribution
rights have been given to companies outside the country of publication. Examples are Archiv orientali, published in Prague and distributed by John Benjamins in the Netherlands, and Sttcdia logica, published in P&and and distributed by Kuban & Sagner in Germany.
70
SERIALS
Slavonic librarians at BLDSC are active members of the U.K. library group Council of Soviet and East European Library and Information Services(COSEELIS). This group endeavors to form a network between members working in the field in the United Kingdom to help keep each other up-to-date and provide support if problems occur. Development of e-mail links through the Slavlibs Forum for Slavic Librarians in the United States and Russian Studies, the academic community mailinglist in the United Kingdom are providing further useful contact on a daily basis. The global network that has developed brings together and spreads ideas much speedier than was previously possible.
Agents Used for Purchase of Serials
with a U.K. ofGce.7 It remains to be seen if it will be able to re-coup any of the business it previously held. Untii 1992, a substantial number of Polish titles were supplied by Earlscourt ~bIi~atiuns in the United Kingdom. At this time a trial number were passed to Ars Polona in Warsaw. When in 1993 Earlscourt no longer continued with serial supply, the remaining titles previously supplied were easily transferred to Ars Pofona, which is now providing an efficient service. Only after the items have been posted are invoices sent. The agents that are now being used are listed in figure 3. Full contact details are to be found in Direcror?, of Libraries & Btwk Agents iit &heFomer Sovi~r Union atzd Eastern
COOPERATION
i&YJEW
This paper has looked at acquisition in a special area at BLDSC, examining the sourr~s of supply and some of the difficulties faced when dealing with materials in Slavonic languages. In addition it has noted some prubIems that BLDSC has encountered resulting Eromevents that occurred in the Soviet Union and Central Europe_ NOTES 1. “Slavonic” is the British term for what American libraries call “Slavic.” K.P Barr, “The BLLD at Boston Spa,” Journal ofthe of Engineers, Australia (November-December 1974): 13-16.
2.
Institution
3. Allan Urban& “Chaos by Subs~~ption~ Serials in Eastern Europe,” Serials Review 20, no. I (Spring 1994): 43-58. 4. E. Skelly and V. Stabnikov, Russia: A Survey @the Book Marker (U.K.: British Council, 1993). 5.
F.F. Clasquin, “A Russian Adventure in Serials,” Serials
Review 17, no. 3 {Fail 1991): 2I-24,66.
6.
V. Spiridonov, “On Russian Publishing,” in Emerging
Democracies & Freedom tember 1994 Proceedings
of Information
Oxford, 2-4 Sep-
(Oxford: International Group of the Library Association, in press).
7. Coltets the Intemation~ Booksellers, sales manager, John Laister, Collets House, Boulton Road, Salihull, West Midlands, B91 2JU, U.K.; 021 709 1053, fax 021 709 1054. 8. Ron Hogg and Kathleen Ladizesky, Directory ofLibraries d Book Agents in the Former Soviet Union and Eastern ~~~ope(Yo~shire, England: British Library Document Suppty Centre, 1994).