| OCR Text |
Show Page 2 7 of materials, held in libraries responding to the questionnaire distributed by the Committee for Archives and Libraries is not yet cataloged. There is a need for an improved union lint of Jewish serials, since not all. institutions holding collections are represented in the list currently available. Perhaps some groundwork exists for encouraging and developing cooperative efforts among libraries in this field. Several individual libraries already possess certain special strengths in their collections. A nationally coordinated effort for area study libraries could build on these strengths. For example, the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research specializes in research materials on Eastern European Jewry, the Nazi holocaust, and Yiddish immigration; and the Leo Baeck Institute in New York specializes in the study of Cerman-speaking Jewry. Other hopeful signs exist, such as New York Public Library's effort to provide cataloging data on Hebrew alphabet materials for inclusion in a computer-prepared dictionary catalog. A transliteration scheme for the Hebrew language has been devised by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). There are library staffing problems in this field, partly due to lack of funds but complicated by the need for better trained people. YIVO is now offering a course, in cooperation with Columbia University, in bibliography, but much remains to be done since this course trains students in only the most elementary skills. Apparent here, as in all area studies, is a real need for the coordination of a variety of activities already in existence, for determining regional and national library responsibilities, and to assure the elimination Of unnecessary duplication of effort. |
