TY - JOUR
T1 - The American Library Association and the post-World War II rebuilding of Eastern European libraries
AU - Sroka, Marek
N1 - Funding Information:
The topic of the destruction of libraries during World War II has been well publicized. However, the American Library Association’s assistance with postwar cultural rehabilitation of Eastern European libraries remains relatively unknown. The paper examines the “Aid to Libraries in War Areas” program, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and administered by the ALA, with respect to Eastern European countries, including Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Russia (Soviet Union), and Yugoslavia. The program consisted of two parts: the first, which ran from 1941 to 1947, dealt with periodicals; the other, in operation from 1944 to 1947, focused on books. Its goal was to replenish, though on a limited scale, devastated collections with American publications unavailable to most European and Asian libraries during Axis occupation.
Funding Information:
As the war intensified and the number of damaged and destroyed libraries increased, the ALA began to design an assistance program for libraries in war areas. The “Aid to Libraries in War Areas” program was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation grants and was administered by the ALA’s Committee on Aid to Libraries in War Areas in collaboration with the ALA’s International Relations Board. The program consisted of two components: the first, which ran from 1941 to 1947, dealt with journals (periodicals); the other, in operation from 1944 to 1947, dealt with books. Its goal was to replenish, although on a limited scale, devastated collections with American publications unavailable to European and Asian libraries during the war. The total Rockefeller Foundation grants awarded for the entire program amounted to $588,000 and affected over 30 countries in Europe and Asia, including Eastern and Central European countries such as Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia (Kraske, 1985). In addition, the Rockefeller Foundation provided some supplemental funding to the ALA to purchase selected titles in response to “special request” received from individual scholars and libraries in Europe and Asia (Mauseth, 1948b).
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2018.
Copyright:
Copyright 2019 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2019/3/1
Y1 - 2019/3/1
N2 - The topic of the destruction of libraries during World War II has been well publicized. However, the American Library Association’s assistance with postwar cultural rehabilitation of Eastern European libraries remains relatively unknown. The paper examines the “Aid to Libraries in War Areas” program, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and administered by the ALA, with respect to Eastern European countries, including Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Russia (Soviet Union), and Yugoslavia. The program consisted of two parts: the first, which ran from 1941 to 1947, dealt with periodicals; the other, in operation from 1944 to 1947, focused on books. Its goal was to replenish, though on a limited scale, devastated collections with American publications unavailable to most European and Asian libraries during Axis occupation.
AB - The topic of the destruction of libraries during World War II has been well publicized. However, the American Library Association’s assistance with postwar cultural rehabilitation of Eastern European libraries remains relatively unknown. The paper examines the “Aid to Libraries in War Areas” program, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and administered by the ALA, with respect to Eastern European countries, including Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Russia (Soviet Union), and Yugoslavia. The program consisted of two parts: the first, which ran from 1941 to 1947, dealt with periodicals; the other, in operation from 1944 to 1947, focused on books. Its goal was to replenish, though on a limited scale, devastated collections with American publications unavailable to most European and Asian libraries during Axis occupation.
KW - American Library Association
KW - Eastern Europe
KW - library collections
KW - post-war reconstruction
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U2 - 10.1177/0340035218793920
DO - 10.1177/0340035218793920
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85062019997
SN - 0340-0352
VL - 45
SP - 26
EP - 33
JO - IFLA Journal
JF - IFLA Journal
IS - 1
ER -