Slavic Library

Slavic Reference Service

AskSlavic!
For a quick response, try our chat. If you have a more involved question, email us at srscite@library.illinois.edu or use our FORM.
You can also reach us by mail at:

Slavic Reference Service
International & Area Studies Library
319a Main Library, University of Illinois
1408 West Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801

Or call us at (217) 333-1349. Our fax number is (217) 333-2214.

For some of our favorite resources, visit the SRS blog.

What we do :|:
What we don't do :|:
What we need :|:
Staff

Do you need help with locating items or have difficult reference questions in the Slavic field? If so, you may want to try this free year-round service of the University of Illinois Slavic and East European Library. The Slavic Reference Service handles bibliographic and reference questions in the humanities and social sciences from individuals and libraries. Over 65% of the titles requested have been found to be already in our library. Items in our collection profile that are unavailable in North American libraries are usually requested from European libraries and made available for loan. The Service is supported in part by grants from the U.S. Department of Education and Department of State.

In addition to contacting the Slavic Reference Service directly, you can find information that you may find useful by browsing the Slavic and East European Library website. The reference staff have a blog, srscite.blogspot.com, with the most recent online resources they have found useful in answering requests. They have also created a guide to Slavic information resources that contains information about many of the print and electronic resources available in the Slavic field.

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What We Do

Answer information queries. If you are in need of a specific piece of information, we will be glad to try to answer your query. We will use print and online resources in our searches. We also assist patrons with their questions on the use of East European and Cyrillic fonts and keyboards on the Internet.

Identify and lend materials in our collection. Identify libraries that hold materials you need. We will search to find libraries in the U.S. and Western Europe that can lend or copy the title you need if it is not in our collection.

Correct citations. Oftentimes, titles are not fully or correctly cited in the existing bibliographic literature. Our staff are trained to search for the correct form of the citation, ensuring that you get the material you need.

Order materials when possible. If you need a specific title and it is not held in the United States, we will attempt to obtain a copy and make it available to you via interlibrary loan.

Offer a free federally funded service that acts as a clearing house for people seeking information on the Slavic world in the areas of the social sciences and humanities.

Suggest reference materials you might find relevant for your work. Unfortunately, we cannot be held responsible for the completeness or accuracy of Internet information. We do not compile bibliographies on specific topics (see below).

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What We Don't Do

Charge a fee. The Slavic Reference Service is a federally funded agency. There is no charge for our reference services. However, we are not a document delivery service. Should you need a copy of some material from our collection you will be directed to our Interlibrary Loan Department for further information.

Obtain certain kinds of materials, specifically archival materials and full text of dissertations. Dissertation abstracts can be obtained.

Recommend particular books on a topic. We are all reference librarians with subject expertise in a variety of areas. None of us are experts in all areas. Our expertise lies in our familiarity with bibliographic material. Therefore, we are not qualified to suggest a specific book in a subject area over some other work.

Supply detailed genealogical information. Our library is not equipped to handle detailed genealogical requests. We will be happy to identify place names and try to identify maps.

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What We Need

Details. The more specific your explanation of what you are looking for, the better we are able to serve you.

Deadlines. All requests are handled on a first come, first served basis, although requests that have a firm upcoming deadline can usually be worked in. If you must have an answer by a certain date, please indicate that in your request.

Languages. In order for us to locate information that will be useful we must know if there are materials that would not be helpful because of language constraints you might have.

Affiliation. While we welcome queries from everyone, if your question will require the use of interlibrary loan, it is important for us to know if you are not affiliated with an academic institution. We may need to make arrangements with your public library to supply you with the material you need for your research.

Background. In order to make the search as efficient as possible it is important that we not duplicate the work you have already done.

Sources. All users are asked to supply the original source in which they found the citation to the material they are seeking. This saves us a great deal of time in locating and/or ordering material.

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