Strengthening Modern Greek Collections

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Building U.S.-Greek Library Partnerships: Introductory Remarks

Artemis Leontis, Executive Board Secretary,
Modern Greek Studies Association

I. Introduction

A. I would like to begin by expressing my sincere thanks to the organizers of this much-needed conference. I believe this is a vital opportunity for not only representatives of collections in North America and Greece, but also the librarians who take care of Greek collections and the scholars who use them to meet. There is a dire need for collaboration between all of these groups.

B. I am happy to represent the Modern Greek Studies Association (MGSA), which I presently serve as Secretary of the Executive Board and Chair of the Long Range Planning Committee. I stand in the place of John Iatrides, the AssociationÕs Executive Director, who was unable to attend because he is out of the country. The MGSA is an international organization of University faculty, students, scholars, and ÒlayÓ people who share an interest in the study of modern Hellenism. Its regular projects include the biannual publication of the Journal of Modern Greek Studies and the biennial organization of the international Modern Greek Studies Symposium.

II. Prior MGSA Contact with the Library of Congress

Among the MGSA's ad hoc projects is the bibliography of English language sources on Greek subjects, forthcoming in Fall 1999. The history of that project will interest you. More then 15 years ago, the MGSA sought to collaborate with the Library of Congress to publish such a bibliography. According to John Iatrides, in the late 1970s the Library of Congress published a small volume of an annotated bibliography of its holdings on modern Turkey. Wanting a similar volume for modern Greece, the Greek embassy in Washington DC requested it of the Library of Congress, which replied that it did not have a Greek specialist to edit such a volume. So the embassy turned to the MGSA, which negotiated for the Library to publish the bibliography if it was to its liking. The agreement lapsed, however, as the Association broadened the scope of the project to include holdings in libraries other than the Library of Congress, and the project lingered unfinished. Thanks to a grant of $35,000 from the Greek embassy, the MGSA was able to sustain the bibliography. Edited by Stratos Constantinidis, Associate Professor of Theatre at Ohio State University (who succeeded the first editor, Peter Allen, Professor of Anthropology at Rhode Island College), the bibliography has been completed and sent to Scarecrow Press for publication with the title Greece in Modern Times: An Annotated Bibliography of Works Published in English in 22 Academic Disciplines in the 20th Century.

III. A Scholar's Overview of Modern Greek and Greek American collections in American libraries:

A. I would now like to share with you (from my point of view as a user of libraries) what I have learned about existing modern Greek collections through my efforts to use them and my communication with Beau Case, the librarian at my home institution, about the obstacles he faces in trying to obtain materials

1. There are about a dozen public or university libraries in the U.S. with good modern Greek collections.

2. There are two collections of note in Canada and some additional, smaller collections in the U.S..

3. Materials in many libraries remain uncatalogued.

4. Some librarians are growing increasingly aware of the importance of modern Greek materials, but do not have the language skills or the means to learn Greek so they can process existing material or order new books and periodicals.

5. While efforts to find sources for the purchase of new and old books from Greece are meeting with some success, librarians continue to face obstacles in ordering and receiving periodicals from Greece.

B. Given the interests of many scholars in the study of the Greek diaspora, including Greek American communities, I should also note the state Greek American collections, which is chaotic.

1. Greek American archival materials, books, and magazines are scattered in different libraries, with each library having entirely different holdings, usually of local interest.

2. The only large, national collection of Greek American immigrant materials exists in the University of Minnesota Immigrant Archives.

3. Most Greek American material remains uncatalogued.

4. There is no record, let alone database, of printed materials.

IV. Collaborations

A. Following that sobering note, I would like to say more optimistically that I see this as a time for planning and growth. It is exciting to witness collaborations among North American libraries. I know, for example, that the Cincinnati and Ohio State University libraries have agreed to coordinate their purchases of Modern Greek materials. Ohio State now buys literature, criticism, and theory books, while Cincinnati purchases history, social science, science, and art books. This agreement, made possible by OhioLink (which gives students, faculty, and staff at Ohio universities direct access to many Ohio libraries) allows libraries to specialize without duplicating materials.

B. In addition to OhioLink, there are other interlibrary loan agreements, but there is no North American plan for developing on-line resources; for determining which libraries acquire what materials; or for accommodating easy access to materials. There is also a need for a North American plan for special collections. I know of scholars approaching retirement who would like to find the most appropriate place to donate their special collections, for example, of material on Cyprus or on the period of the military Junta in Greece. For the benefit of scholarship, we must be able to direct people who want to donate their precious collections to libraries.

C. As collaborations begin to take shape between north American institutions, it is vital that Greek and American libraries begin to work together. To date, I know of no such collaboration, whereas I know of many scholars of Hellenism who nurture the desire to and face the need to access to Greek newspapers, periodicals, and other archival material through microfilm, CD Rom, and the internet. Periodicals present a special problem, since old ones are hard to find and new ones hard to order. Thus I report to you here the need 1) to create an archive of Greek periodicals in North America; 2) to microfilm and digitize such an archive, and 3) to provide access to this.

V. Proposed MGSA Role

A. I would like to close my presentation by suggesting how the MGSA might be of use to librarians and libraries as well as to the scholars it now serves, who depend on improved collections and access to materials. To date, the MGSA has focused on matters of publication, teaching, and administration that affect its scholarly membership base. It has not taken up library concerns. Yet there is no issue more pressing than the weaknesses of modern Greek collections in North American libraries. The MGSA is uniquely positioned to provide linkages between scholars and librarians, given its commitment to organizing the biennial symposium, its regular contact with scholars and with both European and American institutions of learning.

B. I propose that the MGSA can

1. provide information about places where librarians and other specialists can study Greek, or, perhaps oversee a summer institute for language study (housed in an existing Modern Greek program in the U.S.);

2. make available lists of

• current periodicals in Greece
• existing Modern Greek collections in public and University libraries
• special collections of Greek or Greek American materials
• librarians and specialists who attend to those collections
• Greek libraries on line
• Greek publishers or distributors on line
• sources for books and periodicals
• a handbook of materials essential for a new MG collection (wherever a new MG program is established) and of contacts to help in acquisition

3. bring together scholars and librarians at its biennial symposium, so that

• librarians can update scholars and show how searches are conducted,
• scholars can update librarians on materials essential for collections
• librarians can meet to discuss their own collaborations
• publishers of Greek books and librarians/scholars can interact and seek the collaboration of librarians who know how to create and distribute much-needed on-line databases of MGSA materials such as the MGSA bibliography (forthcoming 1999 in print)

• Census of Modern Greek Literature in English translation
• Survey of Modern Greek Studies Programs and Faculty Members at Universities in North

5. Establish an MGSA Library Committee that brings librarians of MG collections into the MGSA and makes library issues an integral part of the academic study of Modern Greek.

VI. Conclusion

In sum, modern Hellenism is a developing scholarly and teaching field in North America. As the field grows, so must the library collections grow. At present there is unfulfilled potential: there is the need for more information, more collaborations, more agreements between libraries in America and between Greek and American libraries, as well as between scholars and libraries. It is time for the academic community of Greek scholars to bring to the foreground library collections. It is time to turn attention to Greek American archival material, which is scattered, uncatalogued, and undocumented. It is time for Greek and American library collaborations. And it is time to seek an overarching North American plan for the acquisition and preservation of old and new materials.