Slavic Reference Service

10/16/2026

The Slavic Reference Service is excited to share the following opportunity to celebrate Bulgaria, and the first year of Bulgarian Studies at the University of Illinois! Take a look, and join in the celebration!

10/14/2026

We are immensely grateful to the Nacionalna i univerzitetska biblioteka Bosne i Hercegovine for donating issues of their national bibliographic publications to the University of Illinois Library. Our colleague at the National Library, Anja Mastilović, sent us issues of Bosanskohercegovačka bibliografija monografskih publikacija, Bosanskohercegovačka bibliografija priloga u serijskim publikacijama, and Bosanskohercegovačka bibliografija serijskih publikacija. Some of the issues provide coverage for multidisciplinary subjects and periodicals printed immediately after the war. We would also like to thank Melissa Miller (Office Manager, U.S. Embassy Bucharest) for her generosity in picking up these materials in Sarajevo and mailing them from Bucharest. Many thanks to Mirella Bajric (Slavic Cataloger) for her passionate advocacy in making these sources available to user groups in North America. Thank you, Melissa, Mirella, and the National Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina!

Neizmjerno smo zahvalni Nacionalnoj biblioteci Bosne i Hercegovine na doniranju primjeraka svojih nacionalnih bibliografskih publikacija Biblioteci Univerziteta u Illinoisu.
Naša koleginica iz Nacionalne biblioteke BiH Anja Mastilović poslala nam je brojeve Bosanskohercegovačke bibliografije monografskih publikacija, Bosanskohercegovačke bibliografije priloga u serijskim publikacijama i Bosanskohercegovačke bibliografije serijskih publikacija. Neki od brojeva pokrivaju multidisciplinarne teme i periodiku koja se štampala neposredno nakon rata.
Također bismo se željeli zahvaliti Melissi Miller (šefici ureda, Ambasada SAD-a u Bukureštu) na njenoj velikodušnosti u preuzimanju ovih materijala u Sarajevu i slanju istih iz Bukurešta. Veliko hvala Mirelli Bajrić (slavističkoj katalogizatorici) na njenom zalaganju da ovi izvori budu dostupni korisničkim grupama u Sjevernoj Americi. Hvala Melissi, Mirelli i Nacionalnoj biblioteci Bosne i Hercegovine!

10/12/2026

Welcome back to another Source Spotlight Monday!

This Monday, Stella Sarefield is recognizing "Bibliografia zwartych i ulotnych druków konspiracyjnych wydanych na ziemiach polskich pod okupacją niemiecką w latach 1939-1945." WorldCat Record: https://search.worldcat.org/title/68136036.

"This is a helpful source for researching Polish resistance and underground organizing during the N**i occupation of Poland in WWII. The source tracks specific organizations of Polish resistance and publishers of various leaflets and newspapers. There is a lot of great information in this resource if you are interested in anti-Soviet and anti-N**i propaganda and organizing in Poland during WWII."

What sources are you using this week?

10/11/2026

The Slavic Reference Service and the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures are pleased to invite proposals for the biennial Dmytro Shtohryn International Ukrainian Studies Conference at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Dates: September 30 – October 2, 2027
Theme: Lessons from Ukraine Across Disciplines
Format: Hybrid
Proposals Submission Deadline: Monday, December 14, 2026

To submit your proposal, please complete this form: https://forms.gle/R5kGwWDCPR6cBFpD6
For more information, visit https://uconference.web.illinois.edu/

10/05/2026

Welcome to the first Monday Source Spotlight of October! We hope you are enjoying the beginnings of fall.

This week, Megi Tedoradze is featuring "Karthuli Tsigni = Gruzinskaia Kniga: Bibliografiia." WorldCat Record: https://uiuclib.on.worldcat.org/oclc/417484762.

"This is the third volume of kartuli tsigni (Georgian Book), which contains a bibliography of books published in the Soviet Republic of Georgia from 1946 to 1950. It features titles from various disciplines, including history, philosophy, finance, engineering, culture, sports, trade, arts, literary studies, agriculture, and more! I especially like the list of poetry and short-story anthologies featured here."

What sources are you using this October?

10/02/2026

Many thanks to our colleagues at the Slavic and East European Journal for raising awareness of this important collection!

As Anna Berman writes in the introduction to the forum "Nadezhda Khvoshchinskaya in her Third Century" (SEEJ 70.2), one of the efforts to bring more visibility to Khvoshchinskaya's works is through the Khvoshchinskaya Sisters Digital Collection hosted by the Slavic Reference Service at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. The website, which functions in English and Russian, includes roughly two hundred works (and continues to grow) that can be freely downloaded as PDFs. Users can filter their search by genre (drama, poetry, prose, translation, etc.), year, author (including various pseudonyms), and publisher. The site also includes Kramskoi’s portrait of Khvoshchinskaya, the most complete bibliography of her and her sisters’ works to date, and a link to a bibliography of secondary sources on Khvoshchinskaya compiled by Erik McDonald.

Find the link to the database in the comments.

10/01/2026

The Slavic Reference Service, in collaboration with the American University of Central Asia, would like to invite proposals for the 2027 Central Asia Research Forum.

The Central Asia Research Forum aims to bring together scholars from all disciplines and at all stages in the research process to discuss this year's theme of "cities." With origins along the Silk Road, cities in Central Asia have been shaped by empires, revolutions, environmental forces, and cultural, social, political, and transnational religious movements, as well as the residents who call them home. We welcome proposals for paper presentations, panels, and roundtables that examine this theme, as well as the following subthemes:

Urban history
Collective memory
Climate change
Migration and diaspora
Popular culture
Cities in literature

The forum also invites proposals that discuss sources and archives useful for researching cities and urban centers in Central Asia, including presentations by archivists and representatives from regional cultural heritage institutions, libraries, and museums.

We strongly encourage graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, librarians, and archivists to submit proposals and share their scholarly perspectives.

Participants are welcome to present in any language but are asked to provide an accompanying English translation of their remarks.

The 2027 edition of the Central Asia Research Forum will be held on February 17-18, 2027.

Those interested in participating should submit an abstract by Friday, January 22, 2027, by 11:59 pm CST. The forum will be held remotely, and Zoom details will be shared the week of the forum.

If you are interested in submitting a proposal, please do so using the following form: https://forms.gle/Zb2sM8BjoK2N21rd8

If you are interested in attending only, please register using the following form: https://forms.gle/t9zBoodEb5upP6GR6.

Please reach out to the SRS with any questions, at [email protected].

Best,

Danielle Hix (on behalf of the SRS)

09/28/2026

Welcome back to our Source Spotlight Monday!

This week, Iliyana Dimitrova is featuring: "Frazeologichen rechnik na balgarskiya ezik" (1974). WorldCat Record: https://search.worldcat.org/title/4561953.

"Phraseology is where language and culture meet. A phraseological dictionary is much more than a reference book: it preserves the collective experience encoded in a language - images, associations, values, beliefs. As a linguist and teacher of Bulgarian, I find phraseological units invaluable not only for studying the language, but also for introducing students to Bulgarian culture and the Bulgarian worldview. I return to the "Phraseological Dictionary of the Bulgarian Language" whenever I want to understand certain aspects of the Bulgarian mentality - aspects that are often subtly reflected in the language."

What sources are you excited about this week?

09/21/2026

Source Spotlight Monday!

This week, Professor Emeritus Larry Miller is featuring: Bibliografie publikovaných textů T.G. Masaryka (1876-2024). WorldCat Record: https://search.worldcat.org/title/1526689420.

"A recent addition to our Czech reference shelves is this comprehensive bibliography (nearly 2,200 works and numerous indexes and supplements) of T.G. Masaryk’s published texts. The work was issued in 2024 by the Czech Academy’s Masaryk Institute and Archives and has introductions in Czech, German, English, Russian, and French."

What sources are you using this week? Let us know in the comments!

09/14/2026

Welcome back to Monday's Source Spotlight! This week, Professor Geraci is highlighting:

Istoriia dorevoliutsionnoi Rossii v dnevnikakh i vospominaniiakh. Annotirovannyi ukazatel’ knig i publikatsii v zhurnalakh. WorldCat record: https://search.worldcat.org/title/961881285.

“This awe-inspiring research tool is an annotated catalog of memoirs and diaries (the sources that make history really come alive) published in or about Russia and its empire up to and including 1917. It has been close to my heart since I wrote my first graduate research paper. In five volumes divided into 13 books, the guide identifies tens of thousands of first-person writings ranging from full-length, life-spanning works to reminiscences and diary entries of a few pages. The texts and their authors are categorized chronologically, geographically, demographically (socially, ethno-nationally, occupationally), institutionally, etc. Each entry is thoroughly cross-referenced and its content described succinctly. Some books have their own indexes of surnames, place names, or periodical titles. Scans of the books are available online (https://imwerden.de/multi-volume-set-1000236) but you might find it easier to use them as physical objects, flipping back and forth quickly between source entries and indexes. This source is great for not only historians, but those interested in the voices and perspectives of a wide range of individuals throughout the Russian empire."

What source are you using this week? Let us know in the comments!