The Library has just published Hidden Research Resources in the Dutch-Language Collections of the Library of Congress: A Selective Bibliography of Reference Works by Margrit B. Krewson, German/Dutch area specialist in the European Division.
This useful bibliography is divided by subject categories, such as Art and Architecture, History, Literature, Politics and Government, et al. It also includes an index that allows the reader to locate items by title or author.
The Library of Congress's Dutch-language collections began with the acquisition of Thomas Jefferson's personal library in 1815. During his residence abroad, Jefferson had standing orders throughout Europe, particularly in Amsterdam. Today the Dutch- language collections in the Library comprise an estimated 180,000 items, with an annual addition of approximately 3,000 titles and are the largest Dutch-language collections outside the Netherlands and Flanders.
Like other major libraries, the Library of Congress has substantial cataloging backlogs. Among the items in this bibliography are more than 8,000 titles pertaining to the Netherlands and Flanders that have been accorded minimal-level cataloging (MLC), i.e., providing only author and title entries. Seventy-six percent of the items in this bibliography, which were chosen exclusively from among these 8,000 MLC records, are to be found only in the Library of Congress. This bibliography is designed to alert readers to the existence and utility of the many often hidden research resources among the Dutch-language collections of the Library.
This publication is available free of charge, upon request, from the Library of Congress, European Division, Washington, DC 20540-5530.
New Tracer Bullet
LC Science Tracer Bullet: Solar Energy. ISSN 0090-5232. (TB- 92-4). August 1992. Compiled by Diana Niskern, this literature guide provides reference material in the collections of the Library of Congress on solar heating and cooling, solar thermal energy and photovoltaic power generation. Copies may be obtained free on re-quest from the Science Reference Section, Science and Technology Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540-5581. Copies have also been provided to the Superintendent of Documents for distribution to depository libraries.
Cuban Revistas at LC
A Survey of Cuban Revistas 1902-1958, a scholarly bibliography compiled and annotated by Roberto Esquenazi-Mayo, has been published by the Library of Congress. Professor Esquenazi-Mayo, who also wrote an "Overview and Conclusion" to this volume, was the founder and director of Latin American Studies at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, and is currently a lecturer in Latin American culture at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
Cuba's intellectual, literary and artistic productivity from 1902 until Castro's revolution in 1959 had an important impact on Latin American culture. The 122 revistas (literary and scholarly journals) reviewed in this survey were the prime vehicles that reflected the cultural life of Cuba.
In his introduction, Esquenazi-Mayo notes that "some of the most innovative revistas were published during the years of political instability and sometimes of outright repression." For example, Revista de Avance played a leading role in the literary vanguard of 1928-1930 until it was suppressed by censorship. Another major periodical was Origenes, which began in 1944 and "became the literary beacon of the postwar era." Thoughtful annotations in this survey describe each revista, its orientation and impact.
In his foreword, Cole Blasier, Cuban specialist and recently retired chief of the Hispanic Division, remarks that the revistas described in this volume "represent virtually all aspects" of Cuban culture.
Only Library of Congress holdings of revistas have been annotated in A Survey of Cuban Revistas 1902-1958. Literary supplements of daily newspapers were excluded. The volume also lists Cuban revistas not in the Library's collections but available at other North American depositories.
Philippine Holdings at the Library
The Library of Congress has published its first computer- generated subject bibliography on the Philippines. Compiled by A. Kohar Rony of the Asian Division, the 702-page bibliography, Philippine Holdings in the Library of Congress, 1960-1987, is priced at $46.
This bibliography of works from and about the Philippines is comprehensive. The cutoff date for the entries is December 1988. The publication was a cooperative venture among various units in the Library, including the Automation Planning and Liaison Office and the Regional and Cooperative Cataloging Division of Collections Services, the Office of Automation Planning of Constituent Services, the User Support Group of Information and Technology Services, the Composing Unit of the Printing and Processing Section and the Publishing Office. The bibliographic entries were extracted from the BOOKSM file and the map file, bibliographic record for monographs and maps appearing in the Library of Congress Computerized Catalog (LCCC).
Research materials on the Philippines in the Library of Congress represent one of the leading collections in the world. In his work In Our Image, journalist Stanley Karno called the LC holdings on the Philippines "a treasure trove." Although there is a bibliography containing a section on the Philippines (Southeast Asia Subject Catalog, by Cecil Hobbs, 1972), this work compiled by Mr. Rony is the prime bibliography on the Philippines. The compilation of this bibliography was prompted in 1986 by the fall of President Marcos, which aroused interest in the affairs of the Philippines. Efforts were made to augment the utility of this bibliography by providing expanded subject headings.
The work is organized in 19 chapters under the following seven headings:
- Reference and General Works I. Bibliographies and General Reference Works II. Library Science and Museology
- The Setting III. Geography IV. History V. The People: Population, Settlements and Ethnic Groups
- Culture and Society VI. The Society: Its Cultural and Social Life VII. Language VIII. Psychology, Mythology and Religion
- The Economy IX. Agriculture X. Economics
- State Institutions XI. Government and Politics XII. The Legal System XIII. Philippine Foreign Relations XIV. Education XV. Social Welfare and Services
- Creative Expression XVI. Art XVII. Literature
- Science XVIII. Science and Technology XIX. Health and Medicine
Interested parties may obtain the bibliography by sending a written request, together with a check or money order in amount of $46, to the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Prining Office, Washington, DC 20402.
The stock number is 030-000-00250-4.
