UCL SSEES Library

• Reference works
• Bibliography
• Language and literature
• History, politics and social sciences
• Culture, intellectual history and the arts
• Periodicals & newspapers
• Special collections

The Russian collection currently contains upward of 100,000 books and 161 current periodicals, of which 25 are newspapers. It is by far the largest section of the Library and is one of the major resources for Russian studies in the United Kingdom. The collection began with the School's founding in 1915, but systematic collection only commenced in 1947. Hence the coverage of both books and periodicals since then has been thorough and consistent, at least within the acquisitions policy's subject profile (see below). Earlier materials are therefore less comprehensively covered, though runs of some important literary journals have been acquired retrospectively, for example: Sovremennik, 1833- 58; Sbornik Otdeleniia russkogo iazyka i slovesnosti Akademii Nauk, 1867-1928; Zolotoe runo, 1906-1909; Apollon, 1909-1917; LEF, 1923-25; Novyi LEF, 1927-1930). Current restraints on the budget, however, now preclude the purchasing of such retrospective and antiquarian materials.

Traditionally the emphasis of the Russian collection has been on history, language and literature, but recent changes in teaching patterns have caused the Library to acquire much more material in the social sciences, especially politics and economics. Special efforts have been made to cover the economic changes in Russia and the CIS. This has not meant, however, any cutback in coverage of the traditional core areas. In all these subject areas the acquisitions policy is as comprehensive as possible, encompassing all relevant materials of academic quality published in Britain and in Russia/former Soviet Union. Material is acquired on the Caucasus and Central Asia where these are treated as part of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union or the Commonwealth of Independent States; hence works covering the history and politics of these areas are bought selectively, but works on their languages, literature and culture are not bought at all (these are to be found in the Library of the School of Oriental and African Studies). The library does, however, have a very good collection on the history of Siberia. A large amount of material from American and Canadian academic publishers is also purchased, as are important monographs in French and German. The library also strives for comprehensiveness in the acquisition of reference materials in the Russian section.

The Russian collection is housed on the Second Floor of the Library. Books in this section have the classmark R. Enquiries should be directed to the Area Specialist for Russia and the former Soviet Union in Room 114 on the First Floor.

The library possesses both general and subject encyclopaedias, including all three editions of the Bol´shaia sovetskaia entsiklopediia (Moscow, 1926-48; 1949-60; 1970-81), its translation into English as the Great Soviet Encyclopaedia (New York: Macmillan, 1973-83) and important pre-revolutionary works such as the Brockhaus and Efron Entsiklopedicheskii slovar´ (St. Petersburg, 1890-1907), the Granat Entsiklopedicheskii slovar´ (St. Petersburg, 1913-Moscow, 1948) and the Russkii biograficheskii slovar´ (St. Petersburg, 1896-1918). Subject encyclopaedias, in both English or Russian, have been systematically purchased, especially in the core areas of history, language and literature, politics and economics. Particular emphasis has recently been on acquiring biographical dictionaries reflecting political change in Russia and the CIS.

Dictionaries constitute a large proportion of the reference section. These include multiple copies of Russian-English and English-Russian dictionaries; dictionaries of Russian with other European languages and some oriental languages; major Russian language dictionaries; specialist linguistic dictionaries covering all aspects of the history, etymology and grammar of the Russian language. The coverage of dictionaries is therefore designed to serve both undergraduates and readers researching all aspects of Russian linguistics. Subject dictionaries (monolingual, bilingual and occasionally polyglot) are acquired in all subject areas - including those which are not included in our subject profile for books, such as science and technology, medicine and law.

Bibliographies relating to Russia and the former Soviet Union are shelved in a separate sequence on the Second Floor. The library collects general bibliographies of both books and periodicals, as well as detailed subject bibliographies covering all the main areas included in the library's subject profile, but especially history and literature. This section also contains guides to archives, library holdings and other resources relating to Russia located both in Britain and in the former Soviet Union. Please note that bibliographies relating specifically to individuals (e.g. bibliographies of literary authors) are shelved with other works on them. General bibliographies that appear regularly in part form (Knizhnaia letopis´, Letopis´ zhurnal´nykh stat´ei) are shelved with Periodicals on the Lower Ground Floor.

There is excellent coverage of all aspects of the Russian language by both Russian and western philologists. Textbooks, general grammars and works on specific aspects of grammar are acquired for students, whilst detailed linguistic studies are collected for current and future research. The section includes works on such specialised topics as translation theory, dialectology, bilingualism in the former Soviet Union and language planning.

The Russian literature section forms the largest part of the collection in terms of volumes. It includes general histories, monographs on specific periods and movements, original works by individual writers, critical studies and biographies, literary and critical theory. Russian literature from medieval times to the present day is covered, including folklore. During the Soviet period both Soviet and émigré works were acquired. Acquisition of materials in English and Russian aims to be as comprehensive as possible; a selection of key critical works in French and German are also purchased.

The history section is a major resource for the study of imperial Russia and of the Soviet Union; it covers the history of Russia from the earliest times up until the present day. As with the literature section acquisition of scholarly works in both English and Russian has been thorough, and some works in French and German have also been purchased. The library contains a large number of published collections of historical documents. Politics, political thought and economics are also well covered, as are foreign policy and military history. Statistical yearbooks and relevant economic surveys are purchased. There are collections of reports and resolutions of the CPSU including the published reports of all the party congresses and the collected works of party leaders. Special efforts have been made since the introduction of Gorbachev's policy of perestroika to reflect political and economic change; these efforts have also been influenced and encouraged by the shift in emphasis in the School's teaching and research towards the social sciences. In particular the library has expanded its coverage of Russian newspapers since 1990 and possesses perhaps the greatest range of new titles available on open access in the country. A very large collection of 'informal' or 'unofficial' newspapers reflecting a vast range of political opinion has been built up; the cataloguing of these as a separate archive is making gradual progress but they may be consulted by applying to the Area Specialist in Room 114 on the First Floor. The break-up of the Soviet Union, the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States and developments in Russia itself all mean that recent history, politics and economics will remain a focal point for library acquisitions for some time to come.

The library has a good collection on religion, Church history and philosophy. Coverage of art and architecture, including histories and albums of both galleries and individual artists, is wide though not comprehensive; as the history of Russian art is now taught in the School, the section is added to more regularly than in the past. Ocasionally histories of Russian music and ballet are purchased, as are biographies of composers; sheet music and scores are not. Since 1990 the library has been building up an excellent collection of books on Russian and Soviet cinema. This has been achieved partly through acquiring some material retrospectively and partly by buying a large number of books left by the late Maria Enzenberger; it is hoped that the cinema collection will not only support taught courses but provide a resource for future research.

Periodicals and newspapers.

The library subscribes to a wide range of Russian titles, mainly from Moscow and St Petersburg. Journals and newspapers from the Caucasus and Central Asia are not acquired, but titles from Ukraine and Belarus are. The library has tried to react positively to the vast changes in publishing and to the proliferation of new titles which have been appearing, since perestroika and then again since the collapse of the Soviet Union; it still subscribes to many of the older titles which have survived (or survived with new titles or in a changed format), but has also taken out subscriptions to new publications. Important new newspaper titles held by the library include Krest´ianskaia gazeta, Nezavisimaia gazeta and Rossiiskaia gazeta.

Of special interest is the collection of over one hundred early Church Slavonic and Russian books printed in Russia and elsewhere. The majority of the books came to the library from three sources: the library of the Russian Orthodox Church in London (forty-six items), the library of William Marsden originally deposited at King's College (nineteen items relating to Slavonic languages) and the library of Moses Gaster. For a detailed description of this collection and checklist see: J.E.O. Screen and C.L. Drage, 'Church Slavonic and Russian books, 1552-1800, in the Library of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies', Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 57 (3), 1979, pp. 321-47.

The library also possesses a collection of some two hundred books by travellers to Russia and neighbouring countries published in Britain and Western Europe between the sixteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Books from both these collections have to be ordered specially. Enquiries should be directed to Room 114.

This page last modified Monday 3 December 2007.