Virtual Slavica: Digital Libraries, Digital Archives

Citation

Seabrook, N. (2007), "Virtual Slavica: Digital Libraries, Digital Archives", Library Review, Vol. 56 No. 5, pp. 431-433. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242530710750680

Virtual Slavica: Digital Libraries, Digital Archives is a collection of 11 articles which together provide an excellent overview of the current state of Slavic librarianship. Of key interest is the insight given into the development of a number of digital projects which focus on making unique resources relating to the political history, literature, folklore, and geography of various Slavic and East European countries available. As the editor, Michael Neubert, points out, the world of Slavic Studies has been somewhat slower than its counterparts to move into the digital age, a fact which makes this volume all the more welcome both for those experienced in the world of Slavic studies librarianship and for those taking their first tentative steps in that direction. Neubert is the Digital Projects Coordinator at the Library of Congress with an extensive background in Slavic librarianship, and must be given credit not only for his selection of articles, but also for their arrangement, which flows very naturally from topic to topic.

One of the primary strengths of this collection lies in the breadth of topics discussed, a sampling of which includes the use of Cyrillic fonts, digital copyright issues, grant writing, detailed discussions of several digitisation projects, as well as an excellent discussion of the present state of Slavic reference librarianship and thoughts for its future development. While some of the articles tend towards the technical, they remain easily accessible even to those who are not technically inclined.

The opening article, by Kevin S. Hawkins, tackles the first and most fundamental hurdle that anyone approaching the task of cataloguing a Russian language work, or that of communicating with colleagues in Russian or another Cyrillic based language must face: when to transliterate and when to delve into the world of Cyrillic computing? The essay is written in a friendly frequently asked question (FAQ) style and answers many of the most basic questions that surround the use of Cyrillic characters, including font choice, display problems, character encoding, and the pros and cons of using Cyrillic in the OPAC. The article is well laid out as a quick reference guide, and does an excellent job of demystifying a topic which many may find daunting. Many of the more specific technical issues and practical challenges surrounding the creation of a Cyrillic OPAC are discussed in greater detail in a later article by Jane W. Jacobs and Malabika Das.

Following this opening, there are several articles outlining the progress of a number of Slavic digital projects which will be very exciting for academics, librarians, and students alike. Among the resources described is the Comintern Archives Database, to which two articles by Ronald Bachman from the Library of Congress and Tatyana Doorn‐Moisseenko of IDC Publishers, respectively, are devoted. The Comintern Archives Database is an international project which has succeeded in digitising over a million pages of the Comintern Archive in Moscow, which was declassified and opened to the public in 1991. Although only a fraction of the archive's 20 million pages has been digitised thus far, perhaps more importantly the entire catalogue of the Comintern collections is now available electronically, making it much easier for researchers to determine whether a trip to Moscow to view the archives is warranted. While there is perhaps necessarily some degree of overlap between these two articles, taken together they provide an excellent overview of the history of the project, the role of the Library of Congress in its development, and the overall structure of the database, including clear instructions on how to search it to maximum advantage.

Subsequent articles discuss the Fundamental Digital Library of Russian Literature and Folklore (FEB‐web) developed at the University of Wisconsin, and the Central Eurasian Interactive Atlas Project at the University of Washington. FEB‐web, since its launch online in 2002 has been recognised as the most promising electronic resource for the study of Russian literature by the Russian Academy of Sciences. As such, it fills an enormous gap in the availability of free online resources for scholars in Russia particularly, as well as elsewhere. Both articles give excellent overviews of the resources themselves, as well as providing very useful discussions of the projects’ development.

Following these project discussions are several articles which focus on a variety of issues facing the Slavic librarian: copyright law as it pertains to the digitisation of Slavic and East European materials, creating a Cyrillic OPAC, the influence of user surveys in the restructuring of text in the Meeting the Frontiers Project at the Library of Congress, adding value to Slavic electronic texts, grant writing and, as mentioned above, Slavic reference librarianship.

Janice Pilch's article on copyright law in the digital environment is written with specific reference to copyright laws as they pertain to material published in Slavic and east European countries, and provides an excellent overview and guide into this labyrinthine world. Particularly useful is the advice she gives on how to determine whether a work is covered under foreign copyright laws, and she helpfully provides numerous examples to illustrate the various intricacies and potential pitfalls.

Overall this collection is well thought out and well put together; it comes at the world of Slavic librarianship from several different angles and so provides something for everyone in the field. I would highly recommend this work to anyone involved in any aspect of Slavic librarianship – from cataloguing and digitisation to reference services or subject librarianship. It would also be very useful for those considering new digitisation projects in general, since much of the experience discussed can be applied on a broader scale.