Introduction

This chapter encompasses Southeastern Europe, the region bordered by the Adriatic Sea to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, the Black Sea and Ukraine to the east, and Hungary, Austria, and Italy to the north. The terms “the Balkan Peninsula” or “the Balkans,” often used to designate this region of Europe, are a legacy from the 19^th century, and are neither the defined nor the precisely delineated geographical or political entities. The misnomer “Balkan Peninsula” (Balkanhalbinsel) was coined in 1808 by the Prussian geographer Johan August Zeune, who erroneously believed that the Balkan mountain range, which extends from the Serbian-Bulgarian border and ends on the Black Sea, covered the entire peninsula (Mishkova 2019, 143). While these terms remain in use, “Southeastern Europe” is often seen as preferable to “the stigmatizing and pejorative ‘Balkans’” (Vezenkov 2017, 127).

The countries encompassed by this chapter include Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, the Republic of Moldova (henceforth “Moldova”), Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, and Slovenia. In terms of the region’s linguistic composition, the predominantly spoken or official languages include Albanian, Romanian (a Romance language), and the South Slavic languages—Bosnian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Macedonian, Montenegrin, Serbian, and Slovene. While most of these languages use the Latin script, Bulgarian and Macedonian exclusively use the Cyrillic script. The languages that make up part of the Serbo-Croatian language continuum, which until 1991 was one of the official languages of Yugoslavia, can employ both scripts interchangeably. Officially, the Latin script is in use in Croatia, while the Cyrillic script is in use in Serbia. In Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, on the other hand, both scripts have an equal status. For a historical overview of Serbo-Croatian and its predecessor and successor languages, see Greenberg (2008). In addition, several regional or minority languages are spoken in the area, including Armenian, Bunjevac, Czech, German, Greek, Hungarian, Istro-Romanian, Italian, Ladino, Polish, Romani, Russian, Ruthenian, Slovakian, Tatar, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vlach, and Yiddish (Council of Europe, 2020).

The sources, collections, and information networks outlined in this chapter pertain primarily to the areas of study in the humanities and social sciences—languages and literatures, history, media studies, linguistics, and political science.

The Academic Field

Southeastern European studies are an interdisciplinary field of research within the larger and continuously changing sphere of literature, modern languages, and area studies. In addition to languages and literatures, the field involves the study of cultural, historical, economic, social, and political aspects of the region. In the North American context, area studies were born after the Second World War, reflecting the geopolitical developments and strategic interests during the Cold War. The study of Southeastern European countries was conducted from within the field of “Russia and Eastern Europe” that, in turn, reflected “internal hierarchies” and ascribed less attention to scholarship on Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania (Todorova 2018, 459). While Yugoslavia, a socialist federation of six republics that disintegrated in 1992, was one of the founding members of the Non-Aligned Movement, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania (until 1962) adhered to the Warsaw Pact. In addition to being divided along the Cold War fault line, the region was the subject of study of two fields—Slavic Studies and Middle Eastern Studies, which covered Islamic studies along with the history of the Ottoman Empire and Turkey (460). Contemporaneously in Southeastern Europe, with UNESCO sponsorship, L’Association Internationale d’Etudes Sud-Est Européen (AIESEE; International Association of South-East European Studies) was created in Bucharest in 1963. The association defied the Cold War binaries, brought together committees and events with international participation, and helped establish various area studies institutions within the region (Iacob 2018, 31). Reduced funding in the 1980s combined with dwindling local political support for AIESEE curtailed “its former visibility and dynamism” (35).

In the aftermath of the fall of communism and the accession of some of the countries to NATO and/or the European Union, academic study of the region is taking different paths. Maria Todorova systematizes the research pertaining to the history of Southeastern Europe around a few dominant debates—empire (e.g., the Ottoman/Habsburg legacies), the nation-states and nationalism, ideologies, and gender history (461)—noting that the existing East-West divide within European studies can be broken by “setting up a general European or global framework, in which the East European presence is organically interwoven” (473). Similarly, Edin Hajdarpašić recognizes the need for continuous engagements with theoretical approaches developed in other regions or disciplines while maintaining a critical awareness of “the differences in historical experiences and the conditions under which . . . bodies of knowledge have been produced” (Hajdarpašić 2009, 5). Wendy Bracewell, on the other hand, proposes looking at the region in relation to politics of knowledge production, including “asymmetries in the legitimation, circulation and assimilation of knowledge” (Bracewell 2020, 115).

Considering the umbrella of Slavic languages and literatures under which the region is often studied at the graduate level in the United States, Ani Kokobobo’s article on the renaming of her department at the University of Kansas, written for the newsletter of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES)—itself renamed from the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (AAASS) in 2008—underscores the urgency to engage with the boundaries of the profession as well as the questions of race, ethnic plurality, diversity, and inclusiveness (Kokobobo 2020). Recent articles by Dušan Bjelić and by Sunnie Rucker-Chang and Chelsi West Ohueri, respectively, examine the lack of the critical discourse on race in Southeastern European historiography and the critical importance of the discussion of race and racism in the region (Bjelić 2018; Rucker-Chang and Ohueri 2021).

In addition to the University of Kansas, the North American institutions with graduate programs in Southeastern European languages, literatures, or area studies include the University of California, Berkeley; the University of Chicago; Columbia University; Harvard University; the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Indiana University, Bloomington; the University of Michigan; the Ohio State University; the University of Pittsburgh; the University of Toronto, and the University of Washington.

In addition to ASEEES, for the latest news or additional information about teaching, research, debates, or professional development within the field, consider joining or following activities of the scholarly organizations dedicated to study of the region:

• American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages (AATSEEL)
• Association for the Study of Nationalities (ASN)
• Association of Croatian Studies (ACS)
• Association for Women in Slavic Studies (AWSS)
• Bulgarian Studies Association (BSA)
• Canadian Association of Slavists (CAS)
• International Council for Central and East European Studies (ICCEES)
• Modern Language Association (MLA), including its forums via MLA Commons
• North American Society for Serbian Studies (NASSS)
• Q*ASEEES!: Society for the Promotion of LGBTQ Slavic, East European, & Eurasian Studies
• Society for Albanian Studies (SAS)
• Society for Romanian Studies (SRS)
• Society for Slovene Studies (SSS)
• Southeast European Studies Association (SEESA)

Given the historical and scholarly connections to Eastern Europe as well as Russia noted above, readers should also consult the “Central and Eastern European Studies” and “Russian and Eurasian Studies” chapters in this handbook for additional information and resources.

Publishing Landscape

According to the latest survey of the global publishing industry in which several countries from the region participated, the total numbers of published monographs in the educational and trade sectors in 2018 were 12,606 in Bulgaria; 11,888 in Serbia; 4,898 in Slovenia; and 3,941 in Moldova (IPA and WIPO 2020, 14). In terms of the legal deposits in 2018, the total number of deposited books in print or digital formats was 7,875 in Croatia; 11,628 in Serbia, and 7,375 in Slovenia (22). As many countries do not have a centralized data collection system, it is only possible to provide a general portrait of publishing activities (30). The Federation of European Publishers, which disseminates aggregate annual data on the European publishing sector, counts among its members several national associations from the region, including the Bulgarian Book Association (Асоциация Българска Книга), Asociația Editorilor din România (Association of Romanian Publishers), Association of Publishers and Booksellers of Serbia (Удружење издавача и књижара Србије), and Gospodarska zbornica Slovenije (Slovenian Chamber of Commerce).

The Creative Europe program of the European Commission offers funding for translation, publishing, and promotion of literary works from lesser-used European languages into English, German, French, or Spanish. It also finances the European Union Prize for Literature (EUPL), which is open to both member and non-member states of the European Union and aims to promote the circulation of literary works beyond national borders. The annual EUPL anthology presents excerpts from the winning works in the original language along with the English translation. To date, the laureates include these Southeastern European authors:

• Albania: Ben Blushi, Enkel Demi, Rudi Erebara, Tom Kuka
• Bosnia and Herzegovina: Faruk Šehić, Lana Bastašić, Tanja Stupar-Trifunović
• Bulgaria: Georgi Bardarov, Ina Vultchanova, Kalin Terziiski, Milen Ruskov
• Croatia: Lada Žigo, Luka Bekavac, Maša Kolanović, Mila Pavićević, Martina Vidaić
• Kosovo: Shpëtim Selmani
• Montenegro: Aleksandar Bečanović, Andrej Nikolaidis, Ognjen Spahić, Stefan Bošković
• North Macedonia: Goce Smilevski, Lidija Dimkovska, Nenad Joldeski, Petar Andonovski
• Romania: Claudiu M. Florian, Ioana Pârvulescu, Răzvan Rădulescu, Tatiana Țîbuleac
• Serbia: Darko Tuševljaković, Jelena Lengold, Uglješa Šajtinac, Dejan Tiago Stanković
• Slovenia: Gabriela Babnik, Jasmin B. Frelih, Nataša Kramberger, Anja Mugerli

Since 2009, the regional publishers with the most translation grants include Ljevak (Croatia), Antolog (North Macedonia), Fan Noli (Albania), Heliks (Serbia), Zavet (Serbia), Tri (North Macedonia), and Colibri (Bulgaria) (Wischenbart, Kovač, and Fleischhacker 2020, 56).

In addition, Traduki, a collaborative network of several national ministries of culture, cultural institutes, and literary translation associations, aims to foster exchanges and connections between the Southeastern European literatures and the German-language regions in Europe via translation grants, residencies, and events at book fairs. The database of books, authors, translators, and projects on the Traduki website can be searched by language, country, or literary genre. To promote literary works and non-fiction in the humanities internationally, many countries in the region offer translation grants through their national book agencies or ministries of culture—e.g., Qendra Kombëtare e Librit dhe Leximit (Albania’s National Book Center), Bulgaria’s Culture Fund, (Национален Фонд Култура), Ministarstvo kulture i medija (Croatia’s Ministry of Culture and Media), Centrul Naţional al Cărţii (Romania’s National Book Center), Serbia’s Ministry of Culture and Information (Министарство културе и информисања), and Javna agencija za knjigo (Slovenian Book Agency).

In terms of British and North American English-language publishers of contemporary translated literary works from the region, significant presses include Istros Books, Open Letter Books, Dalkey Archive Press, Archipelago Books, New Directions Publishing, Shearsman Books, Diálogos, Zephyr Press, Yale University Press, University of Wisconsin Press, and Northwestern University Press. In the last ten years, the most translated authors include the following:

• from the Albanian: Ismail Kadare and Luljeta Lleshanaku
• from the Bulgarian: Georgi Gospodinov
• from the Croatian: Dubravka Ugrešić, Daša Drndić, and Miljenko Jergović
• from the Romanian: Magda Cârneci and Norman Manea
• from the Serbian: David Albahari and Svetislav Basara
• from the Slovenian: Tomaž Šalamun and Aleš Šteger

English-language literary magazines and websites such as Versopolis, Eurozine, Words without Borders, World Literature Today, and Asymptote feature interviews, translation excerpts, book reviews, and essays on or by authors from the region. For news on the region’s literary culture, consider checking the websites of major book fairs and literary festivals, most of which are available in English in addition to the national languages:

• Albania—Panairi i librit “Tirana” (Tirana Book Fair; in Albanian only)
• Bosnia and Herzegovina—Bookstan International Literature Festival in Sarajevo
• Bulgaria—Sofia International Literary Festival (Софийски международен литературен фестивал)
• Croatia—Sa(n)jam knjige u Istri (Pula Book Fair) and Interliber International Book Fair in Zagreb
• Kosovo—Polip International Literature Festival in Pristina
• Romania—Bookfest Romania and Gaudeamus Book Fair in Bucharest (in Romanian only)
• Serbia—International Belgrade Book Fair (Међународни београдски сајам књига)
• Slovenia—Vilenica International Literary Festival and Slovenski knjižni sejem (Slovene Book Fair)

When it comes to Humanities and Social Sciences publishers specializing in Southeastern Europe, Central European University Press, which publishes priced and open access books, is of interest. Southeastern European Studies Librarians should also be aware of the following series that publish interdisciplinary research on the region in English: Balkan Studies Library (Brill), Southeast European Studies (Routledge), and New Perspectives on South-East Europe (Springer). In addition, some book series covering “Central Europe” and “Eastern Europe” will also include this region, such as Austrian and Habsburg Studies (Berghahn Books) and Central European Studies (Purdue University Press), of which some titles are open access.

Open Access

All countries of the region contribute to the global open access (OA) movement to a certain extent. The Global Open Access Portal (GOAP) provides comprehensive information on the countries’ OA journals, digitization projects, institutional repositories, and OA policies interlinked with, respectively, the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), ROAD Directory of Open Access Scholarly Resources, OpenDOAR (Directory of Open Access Repositories), and ROARMap (Registry of Open Access Repository Mandates and Policies). While Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, and North Macedonia are lagging in terms of institutional support and infrastructure, Croatia, Serbia, and Slovenia have vibrant OA communities, and a combination of propitious factors, including an active scientific publishing environment, institutional support, and funding.

COBISS.net (Co-operative Online Bibliographic Systems and Services), which connects to the library systems of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia, also provides access to some countries’ research information systems, including research institutes, researchers, and research projects.

CROSBI (Croatian Scientific Bibliography) can be searched in multiple languages and allows browsing by institution, project, discipline, or type of publication.

Instrumentul Bibliometric Național (Moldova’s National Bibliometric Instrument) is an OA database, searchable in three languages, with articles from national scientific journals and with conference proceedings from 1993 through the present.

Bulgarian Portal for Open Science (Български портал за отворена наука) provides a bilingual search interface and access to theses, conference papers, articles, and reports or metadata on publicly funded research projects in Bulgaria.

Collection Development Resources

North American Vendors

• Both GOBI and OASIS provide print and eBooks from English-language academic and trade publishers from North America, Europe, and Australia. Libraries may set up approval plans, initiate demand driven acquisition programs, and/or opt to receive weekly book notifications (slips) based on the Library of Congress (LC) classification scheme, content level, or type. Bibliographic records from both contain rich metadata and, where available, link to book reviews.
• East View provides print and eBooks, maps, atlases, serials, DVDs, and video tapes in Albanian, Romanian, and the South Slavic languages. Libraries may set up approval plans and/or opt to receive notifications based on geographic regions, languages, or formats.
• MIPP International can supply books and periodicals from Bulgaria, Romania, and Moldova as well as from other areas in Eastern Europe, Russia, and Eurasia. Services include approval plans, subscriptions, firm orders, and title notifications.
• Romanian Books USA is an online bookstore supplying children’s books, bestsellers, and classics in the Romanian language. Firm orders only.
• South East Europe Books / Serbica Books is an online Canadian bookstore supplying children’s books, literary works, textbooks, reference works, and related academic publications from Serbia and other countries from the former Yugoslavia. Firm orders only.

Foreign Vendors

• The Grant & Cutler Foreign Languages Accounts Team, of the UK bookseller Foyles, supplies libraries with fiction, children’s books, and language learning materials in Albanian, Romanian, and several South Slavic languages. Libraries can make firm orders or standing orders.
• Botimpex is a Tirana-based distributor of books, periodicals, maps, DVDs, and other media published in Albania, Kosovo, and several other countries from the region.

Assessment

• GreenGlass is a subscription-based collections analytics platform allowing libraries to assess their print holdings of monographs and periodicals based on local usage data, WorldCat and HathiTrust holdings data, overlap with their digital collections, Choice Magazine‘s reviews, and any local preservation considerations.
• GlobalCollections and eDesiderata are two interactive platforms created by the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) for identifying, describing, and evaluating special collections, data sources, or digitization projects pertaining, respectively, to (1) area and international studies and (2) databases and e-resources. While only CRL members can vote on the proposals, access to descriptions, general information, and reviews are available to all.
• Citation studies or case studies published in professional literature can offer valuable insights into institutional, disciplinary, and economic context affecting collection management decisions in academic libraries. For example, see:
  • Jon C. Giullian, and Amalia Monroe-Gulick. 2017. “Assessment of KU Libraries’ Slavic & Eurasian Collection: Purpose, Process, and Potential. ”Slavic & East European Information Resources 18, nos. 1-2: 49-66. Author-accepted manuscript (open access).

Disciplinary Resources

Core Journals

The following academic journals publish articles on all aspects of Southeastern European studies in the English language as well as in the languages of the region. For additional journals with a narrower regional or disciplinary focus, consult citation indexes such as Web of Science, Scopus, and Dimensions; the title lists of the resources listed under “Secondary Source Databases;” or the directories of journals such as Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), ERIH PLUS, and Ulrichs.

• Aspasia (1933-2890): gender history in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. Open access.
• Balkanistica (0360-2206): interdisciplinary. Subscription resource.
• Cahiers balkaniques (2261-4184): interdisciplinary. Open access.
• Canadian Slavonic Papers (2375-2475): interdisciplinary. Subscription resource.
• Comparative Southeast European Studies (2701-8202): area studies. Open access.
• Hiperboreea (2284-5666): history of Southeastern Europe. Subscription resource.
• Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies (1944-8961): area studies. Subscription resource.
• Journal of Slavic Linguistics (1543-0391): humanities. Subscription resource.
• Slavic and East European Journal (2325-7687): humanities. Subscription resource.
• Slavic Review (2325-7784): interdisciplinary. Subscription resource.
• Slavonica (1745-8145): interdisciplinary. Subscription resource.
• Slavonic and East European Review (2222-4327): interdisciplinary. Subscription resource.
• Southeastern Europe (1876-3332): interdisciplinary. Subscription resource.
• Southeast European and Black Sea Studies (1743-9639): area studies. Subscription resource.
• Studies in Eastern European Cinema (2040-3518): humanities. Subscription resource.

Primary Sources

• EuroDocs: a compilation of transcribed, reproduced, or translated European historical documents, organized chronologically and geographically by Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University. Open access.
• Online Primary Sources: for Russian, Caucasian, Central Asian, Eastern & Central Europe Studies: a directory of digitized sources from or about the region, curated by the Centre for Russian, Caucasian and Central European Studies (CERCEC) in Paris. Open access.
• E-albanica: a collection of manuscripts, maps, monographs, and periodicals, digitized by the Biblioteka Kombëtare e Shqipërisë (National Library of Albania). Searchable in Albanian only. Open access.
• Kolekcije.nub.ba: a collection of periodicals, rare books, manuscripts, maps, posters, and postcards, digitized by the Nacionalna i univerzitetska biblioteka BiH (National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina). Searchable in Bosnian only. Open access.
• The Digital Library of St. St. Cyril and Methodius National Library of Bulgaria: a collection of recently digitized historical documents and photographs, 19^th-century books, and Slavonic, Arabic, and Turkish manuscripts. Searchable in Bulgarian only. Open access.
• Portal digitalna.nsk.hr: a collection of digitized documents from the Nacionalna i sveučilišna knjižnica u Zagrebu (National and University Library in Zagreb, Croatia); includes books, periodicals, manuscripts, maps, scores, images, newspapers, dissertations, and web archives. Searchable in Croatian only. Open access.
• Moldavica: a collection of digitized documents from the National Library of Moldova; includes manuscripts, rare books, periodicals, maps, postcards, and printed music. Searchable in Romanian only. Open access.
• DLIB.ME: a collection of digitized documents from the Nacionalna biblioteka Crne Gore – Đurđe Crnojević (National Library of Montenegro – Đurđe Crnojević); includes books, periodicals, archival records, maps, posters, and postcards. Bilingual (English and Montenegrin) interface. Open access.
• Biblioteca Digitala Nationala: a collection of digitized documents from the Biblioteca Națională a României (National Library of Romania); includes archival documents, periodicals, images, manuscripts, sheet music, letters, and government reports. Multilingual (English, Romanian, German, French, and Hebrew) interface. Open access.
• Digitalna Narodna Biblioteka Srbije (Дигитална Народна библиотека Србије): a collection of digitized documents from the National Library of Serbia (Народна библиотека Србије); includes periodicals, rare books, audio files, posters, photographs, maps, bibliographies, and yearbooks. Bilingual (English and Serbian) interface. Open access.
• Digitalna knjižnica Slovenije (dLib.si): a collection of digitized documents from the Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica (National and University Library of Slovenia); includes books, periodicals, manuscripts, images, scores, recordings, and maps, in addition to thematic collections on all aspects of Slovene heritage. Bilingual (English and Slovene) interface. Open access.

Secondary Source Databases

• Central and Eastern European Library (CEEOL): a collection of humanities and social sciences journals, books, and grey literature from or about the region, published in more than 50 languages. Subscription resource.
• American Bibliography of Slavic, East European, and Euroasian Studies (ABSEEES): citation index for cultural and area studies journals, books, book reviews, dissertations, and government documents. Includes publications from Canada, the US, and some European countries. Subscription resource.
• The European Bibliography of Slavic and East European Studies (EBSEES): developed by the Berlin State Library; includes references to books, journal articles, reviews, and dissertations published in Belgium, Germany, Finland, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Austria, and Switzerland from 1991 to 2007. Open access.
• Slavic Humanities Index: provides bibliographic citations to articles from Slavic humanities journals in 21 languages. The search interface is available in native alphabets. Subscription resource.
• OSMIKON: a research gateway to interdisciplinary research publications and information on Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe, developed by the Bavarian State Library, the Collegium Carolinum, the Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe, the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies, and the Austrian National Library. Open access.
• Central & Eastern European Academic Source (CEEAS): a multidisciplinary and multilingual collection of academic journals published in Central and Eastern Europe. Subscription resource.
• Historical Abstracts: covers world history (excluding the US and Canada) from 1450 to the present. Subscription resource.
• MLA International Bibliography: indexes academic literature on literatures, languages, linguistics, and folklore. Subscription resource.

Newspapers

In addition to the collections of digitized periodicals highlighted under “Primary Sources,” it is recommended that you consult the research guides by European Reading Room librarians of the Library of Congress, which has a considerable collection of newspapers from the region. The following research guides will provide you with historical context, information about the key regional newspapers, bibliographies, external online catalogs, and digitized collections, as well as information on subscription databases providing access to current news.

• Bosnian Newspapers in the Library of Congress
• Bulgarian Newspapers in the Library of Congress
• Croatian Newspapers in the Library of Congress
• Kosovo Newspapers in the Library of Congress
• Montenegrin Newspapers in the Library of Congress
• Newspapers from North Macedonia in the Library of Congress
• Serbian Newspapers in the Library of Congress
• Slovenian Newspapers in the Library of Congress

The East Coast Consortium of Slavic Library Collections maintains the Guide to Open Access Historical News Sources from Slavic, East European and Eurasian Countries, a list of country-by-country open access historical news sources, while the Petro Jacyk Central & East European Resource Centre (PJRC) at the University of Toronto Library maintains Newspapers from Central and Eastern Europe in the University of Toronto Library, a detailed guide on its historical newspaper holdings. CRL’s ICON (International Coalition on Newspapers) database and Online Catalog are useful sources of information about international newspaper collections in print, digital, and micro formats.

English-language news content focusing on Southeastern Europe is generally available from many news aggregators, such as Factiva, Global Newsstream, and Nexis Uni. News in the languages of the region, however, is somewhat harder to come by in aggregators, although all three noted above, as well as PressReader, have a few titles. The Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) provides English translations of broadcasts, news agency transmissions, newspapers, periodicals, and government statements from nations around the world, including Southeastern Europe, from 1941 to 1996.

Catalogs, Bibliographies, Archives

In addition to the resources listed under “Open Access” and “Secondary Sources Databases,” and to the research guides of libraries with considerable Southeastern European studies collections, it is important to gain familiarity with and make a habit of consulting websites and catalogs of national, public, and university libraries; research institutes; and archives from the region for bibliographies, recently added bibliographic records, and finding aids for primary sources and data. While the websites of many such institutions have language switchers or multilingual search interfaces, a basic knowledge of a local language is helpful.

COBISS.net (Co-operative Online Bibliographic Systems and Services) links to the union catalogs of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia, where one can search in English in addition to the official languages of each country.

Albania

• Biblioteka Kombëtare e Shqipërisë (National Library of Albania)
• Drejtoria e Përgjithshme e Arkivave (Albania’s General Directorate of Archives)
• Arkivi qëndror shtetëror i filmit (AQSHF; Albanian National Film Archive)
• Akademia e Shkencave e Shqipërisë (Academy of Sciences of Albania)

Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Nacionalna i univerzitetska biblioteka BiH (National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina)
• Arhiv Bosne i Hercegovine (Archives of Bosnia and Herzegovina)
• Kinoteka Bosne i Hercegovine (Film Archive of Bosnia and Herzegovina)
• Akademija nauka i umjetnosti Bosne i Hercegovine (Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Bulgaria

• St. St. Cyril and Methodius National Library of Bulgaria (Национална Библиотека “Св. св. Кирил и Методий”)
• Central State Archives of Bulgaria (Централният държавен архив)
• Bulgarian National Film Archive (Българска национална филмотека)
• Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (Българска академия на науките)

Croatia

• Nacionalna i sveučilišna knjižnica u Zagrebu (National and University Library in Zagreb, Croatia)
• Hrvatski državni arhiv (Croatian State Archives); includes the film archive
• Hrvatski nacionalni skupni katalog (Croatian National Union Catalog)
• Hrvatska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti (Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts)

Kosovo

• Biblioteka Kombëtare e Kosovës “Pjetër Bogdani” (National Library of Kosovo “Pjetër Bogdani”)
• Agjencia Shtetërore e Arkivave të Kosovës (State Archives Agency of Kosovo)
• Akademia e Shkencave dhe e Arteve e Kosovës (Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo)

Moldova

• Biblioteca Națională a Republicii Moldova (National Library of Moldova)
• Agenția Națională a Arhivelor (National Archives Agency of Moldova)
• Academia de Științe a Moldovei (Academy of Sciences of Moldova)

Montenegro

• Nacionalna biblioteka Crne Gore – Đurđe Crnojević (National Library of Montenegro – Đurđe Crnojević)
• Državni arhiv Crne Gore (State Archives of Montenegro)
• Crnogorska kinoteka (Montenegrin Film Archive)
• Crnogorska akademija nauka i umjetnosti (Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts)

North Macedonia

• National and University Library “St. Clement of Ohrid” (Национална и универзитетска библиотека “Св. Климент Охридски”)
• State Archives of North Macedonia (Државен Архив на Република Северна Македонија)
• Film Archive of North Macedonia (Кинотека на Северна Македонија)
• Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts (Македонска академија на науките и уметностите)

Romania

• Biblioteca Națională a României (National Library of Romania)
• Arhivele Naţionale ale României (National Archives of Romania)
• Arhiva Nationala de Filme – Cinemateca Romana (National Film Archive of Romania)
• Academia Română (Romanian Academy)

Serbia

• National Library of Serbia (Народна библиотека Србије)
• State Archives of Serbia (Државни архив Србије)
• Yugoslav Film Archive, National Film Archive of Serbia (Југословенска кинотека, Национални филмски архив Републике Србије)
• Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (Српска академија наука и уметности)

Slovenia

• Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica (National and University Library of Slovenia)
• Arhiv Republike Slovenije (Archives of the Republic of Slovenia); includes the film archive
• Slovenska akademija znanosti in umetnosti (Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts)

For detailed, country-by-country overviews of reference and periodical sources, including national bibliographies, consult the guide Research Resources from the International and Area Studies Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. For short overviews of the post-Second World War history and archival situation of each country, consult the EHRI (European Holocaust Research Infrastructure) Portal.

When searching by subject headings in library catalogs, consult the controlled vocabularies and authority files such as Library of Congress Subject Headings, COBISS.SI General List of Subject Headings, the VIAF (Virtual International Authority File), or EuroVoc, a multilingual thesaurus of the European Union that includes the official languages of all the countries referenced in this chapter.

Reference Sources

Information about Southeastern Europe is included in many of the standard online reference resources as well as those focusing on Europe, such as Oxford Reference Online and Europa World. The following are also useful for librarians wanting to deepen their own knowledge of the region:

• The journal Slavic & East European Information Resources (1522-8886) is an excellent source of information on all aspects of Southeastern European studies librarianship. Subscription resource.
• Claybaugh, Zachariah H. 2019. A Research Guide to Southeastern Europe : Print and Electronic Sources. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield.
  • This guide provides helpful lists and descriptions of regional libraries and archives, international digital repositories, dissertations, and secondary sources databases. Available in print and electronic format.
• Lampe, John R, and Ulf Brunnbauer, eds. 2021. The Routledge Handbook of Balkan and Southeast European History. Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. Available in print and electronic format.
• Reference monographic series, such as Historical Dictionaries of Europe from Rowman & Littlefield (available in print and electronic format), provide helpful overviews of the national histories of the region.
• Articles in Oxford Bibliographies, such as “The Languages of the Balkans” by Victor A. Friedman, “Music in the Balkans” by Jim Samson, “ “Islam in the Balkans” by Amila Buturovic, “The Western Balkans” by Janusz Bugajski, and “Wars of Balkan Liberation, 1878-1913” by Richard C. Hall, present continuously updated overviews of research and reference sources.

Google Translate is the most widely used online translation tool, but one should be aware that the languages spoken in Southeastern Europe are not uniformly supported by language technologies such as machine translation (META-NET 2012). The European Language Equality project, funded by the European Commission, recently updated the reports and data on language technologies for European and endangered minority languages, indicating that an imbalance is still starkly evident (ELA 2022). In addition to Google Translate, you may use Microsoft Bing Translator and Glosbe Dictionaries. Also, consult the ALA-LC Romanization Tables.

Distinctive Print Collections

The University of Toronto Library, in conjunction with PJRC, has a comprehensive collection of reference materials, literary works, and films from the countries of the region, in addition to special collections, some of which are housed in the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library. The International and Area Studies Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has a rich collection of bibliographies, periodicals, literary works, and legal documents from the Yugoslav successor states, Bulgaria and Romania. Other distinctive collections pertaining to the countries of the region include the South Slavic collections at the University of Kansas and the collections at Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, and Cornell. The latter three are members of the Research Collections and Preservation Consortium (ReCAP), and have shifted to collaborative collection development and shared approval plans (ECCSL 2020). For additional information, consult the following research guides:

• Library of Congress: Balkan Studies
• Library of Congress: East European Studies
• University of Illinois: Slavic & East European Resources
• University of Kansas: All Slavic & Eurasian Collection Guides
• University of Pittsburgh: Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies Resources
• University of Toronto: Slavic and East European Resources

Professional Development and Networks

Librarians covering Southeastern European Studies should consider joining and getting involved in the organizations noted below, which provide professional development opportunities through in-person and virtual conferences, publications, and more. Also consider subscribing to the email lists and consulting the newsletters to help you keep current.

ASEEES Committee on Libraries and Information Resources (ASEEES CLIR): consists of both librarians and scholars working in the fields of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian studies.

European Studies Section (ESS): part of the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL), ESS focuses on all aspects of European studies librarianship and has a number of discussion groups, including the Slavic & Eastern European Discussion Group. It holds online and in-person meetings twice a year. The ESS email list ESS-L is open to both members and non-members.

Slavlib: an email forum for library professionals who work with Slavic, East European, and Eurasian collections; an excellent source of information for reference questions relating to the region.

SEEES Announcements Listserv: operated by ASEEES, this email list communicates academic and professional news relevant to Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies.

LIBER Insider: the monthly newsletter of the Association of European Research Libraries.

EBLIDA Newsletter: the monthly mailing of the European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation Associations.

References

Bjelić, Dušan. 2018. “Toward a Genealogy of the Balkan Discourses on Race.” Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies 20, no. 6: 906-29. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369801X.2018.1492955

Bracewell, Wendy. 2020. “Eastern Europe, With and Without Borders.” In The Rebirth of Area Studies: Challenges for History, Politics and International Relations in the 21st Century, edited by Zoran Milutinović, 91-128. London: I.B. Tauris.

Council of Europe. 2020. “States Parties to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages and Their Regional or Minority Languages.” About the Charter. Last modified on April 28, 2020. https://rm.coe.int/languages-covered-en-rev2804/16809e4301.

ECCSL (East Coast Consortium of Slavic Library Collections). 2020. “The ReCAP Slavic & East European Collaborative Initiative.” Accessed on Nov. 30, 2021. https://www.eccslavic.org/recap.

ELA (European Language Equality). 2022. “Deliverables.” Accessed on June 14, 2022. https://european-language-equality.eu/deliverables/.

Giulian, Jon C., and Amallia Monroe-Gulick. 2017. “Assessment of KU Libraries’ Slavic & Eurasian Collection: Purpose, Process, and Potential.” Slavic & East European Information Resources 18, nos. 1-2: 49-66. https://doi.org/10.1080/15228886.2017.1322382.

Greenberg, Robert D. 2008. Language and Identity in the Balkans: Serbo-Croatian and Its Disintegration. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hajdarpašić, Edin. 2009. “Locations of Knowledge: Area Studies, Nationalism, and Theory in Balkan Studies Since 1989.” Paper presented at the international workshop titled Balkan Studies – quo vadis?, Vienna, April 25, 2009. https://www.kakanien-revisited.at/beitr/balkans/ehajdarpasic1.pdf.

Iacob, Bogdan C. 2018 “Balkan Counter-circulation: Internationalizing Area Studies from a Periphery During the Cold War.” In The Routledge Handbook of Transregional Studies, edited by Matthias Middell, 29-37. New York: Routledge.

IPA (International Publishers Association), and WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization). 2020. The Global Publishing Industry in 2018. Geneva: World Intellectual Property Organization. https://www.wipo.int/edocs/pubdocs/en/wipo_pub_1064_2019.pdf.

Kokobobo, Ani. 2020. “What’s in a Name? Are We Slavic, East European, Eurasian, or All of the Above?” NewsNet 60, no. 4 (Aug.): 17–18. https://aseees.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/august-2020.pdf.

META-NET. 2012. “Key Results and Cross-language Comparison.” META-NET White Paper Series. Accessed on Nov. 30, 2021. http://www.meta-net.eu/whitepapers/key-results-and-cross-language-comparison.

Mishkova, Diana. 2019. “Balkans / Southeastern Europe.” In European Regions and Boundaries: A Conceptual History, edited by Diana Mishkova and Balázs Trencsényi, 143-165. New York: Berghahn Books.

Rucker-Chang, Sunnie, and Chelsi West Ohueri. 2021. “A Moment of Reckoning: Transcending Bias, Engaging Race and Racial Formations in Slavic and East European Studies.” Slavic Review 80, no. 2 (Summer): 216-23. https://doi.org/10.1017/slr.2021.75.

Todorova, Maria. 2018. “East European Studies in the US: Thematic and Methodological Problems.” Chap. 22 in Scaling the Balkans: Essays on Eastern European Entanglements, 459-473. Balkan Studies Library 24. Leiden: Brill.

Vezenkov, Alexander. 2017. “Entangled Geographies of the Balkans: The Boundaries of the Region and the Limits of the Discipline.” In Entangled Histories of the Balkans. Vol. 4, Concepts, Approaches and (Self-)Representations, edited by Roumen Daskalov, Diana Mishkova, Tchavdar Marinov and Alexander Vezenkov, 115-256. Balkan Studies Library 18. Leiden: Brill.

Wischenbart, Rüdiger, Miha Kovač, and Michaela Anna Fleischhacker. 2020. Diversity Report 2020: Trends in Literary Translation in Europe. Vienna: Verein für kulturelle Transfers. Accessed December 11, 2023. https://www.npage.org/uploads/d8c3371f779dd882f602337ce0d952de4fba1d2c.pdf.