COSEELIS History

HOME	COSEELIS: thirty-five years of cooperation in library provision for Slavonic and East European materials in Britain A meeting arranged by SCONUL (Standing Conference of National and University Libraries) in November 1964 saw the formation of the group now known as COSEELIS, set up to bring together librarians working with active collections of Slavonic and East European materials throughout the UK. Its aim has always been to facilitate cooperation and consultation between libraries, and to act as an initiator and supporter of projects and publications to further that aim. Until 1970 the group was known as the SCONUL Subcommittee on Slavonic and East European Materials. It was then renamed the Slavonic and East European Group until 1979, when it became the SCONUL Advisory Committee on Slavonic and East European Materials. Since 1992 it has been an independent body with its present title: the Council for Slavonic and East European Libraries and Information Services.
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The group’s journal Solanus first appeared in 1966, and was re-launched as an annual New Series in 1986 with a wide remit to publish scholarly and documentary contributions on all aspects of libraries, archives, bibliography, publishing and related topics concerning Russia, the former USSR and Eastern Europe. A more frequent Newsletter has been published since 1974. Support has been given to the British component of the European Bibliography of Slavic and East European Studies since its inception; and COSEELIS and its predecessors have also been active participants in the publication of three successive editions (1971, 1981 and 1992) of a directory of British library resources for Slavonic and East European studies.

As one basis for its activities, the group has conducted three projects (in 1975, 1986 and 1997) to survey academic researchers’ needs for resources in Slavonic and East European studies. The findings have initiated, among other projects, a serials location service (1982-1992), and more recently union listings of microform sources and of Russian and East European newspapers. From August 1999 COSEELIS is acting as the professional advisory body to the three-year COCOREES project on cooperative collection management for Russian and East European studies.

From the outset the group has held an Annual Conference, and has from time to time organised more specialised seminars and courses. Through mutual representation and in a consultative capacity it has worked closely with academic associations, government and quasi-governmental bodies, and formal enquiries into Slavonic and East European studies in the UK. Close contact has been maintained with parallel organisations of specialist librarians in North America, Germany and France.

Council for Slavonic and East European Library and Information Services

COSEELIS: thirty-five years of cooperation in library provision for Slavonic and East European materials in Britain