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East, Central, South - East Europe Social Sciences and History (Czechia, Slovakia, Poland, Balkans and the Baltic States)
East, Central, South - East Europe Social Sciences and History (Czechia, Slovakia, Poland, Balkans and the Baltic States): Home
Guide to library provision for East, Central, South European Studies
Books
Journals
Databases
Archives
News sources
Free online resources
National Libraries
Purpose of this guide
This guide is intended for students and researchers at the University of Oxford seeking support in East, Central and South - East European Studies, although students and researchers from any field may find it useful.  Use this guide to find out about books, special collections and online resources for East, Central and South - East European Studies, including ebooks, ejournals,  bibliographic databases and archives.
Finding books for East, Central, South Europe Social Sciences and History
Oxford has a wide range of ebooks and printed books for East, Central and South - East European Studies, including the main reference collection in the
Weston Library
Social Science Library
and
Taylor Institution Library
. For more detailed information about our book collections visit our
books page
of this guide.
You can search SOLO, the University's resource discovery tool, using Cyrillic - however it's best to start searching using keywords transcribed into the Latin alphabet, using Library of Congress transliteration.
SOLO
Search SOLO, the University's resource discovery tool, for print and ebooks at Oxford. You can search by author, title or subject and limit to a specific library or online resources.
SOLO user guide
If you need help with SOLO, take a look at this guide for tips on searching, managing results and using your SOLO account.
Library of Congress transliteration tables
Download the Library of Congress transliterations to the Latin alphabet here.
Key journal and newspaper resources
Many journals, as well as being available in print, are available online and can be searched via SOLO. Below are a few of important databases containing journal related to the region as well as the top journals for East, Central and South - East European studies but you can find a longer list on the
journals
page of this guide.
ARCANUM Newspapers
Eastern European Newspaper Archive, containing scientific and professional journals, weekly and daily newspapers, encyclopaedias, and thematic book collections.
Eastern European Newspaper Archive, containing scientific and professional journals, weekly and daily newspapers, encyclopaedias, and thematic book collections.
BREPOLIS
Brepolis provides access to all the online projects of the Brepolis publishing and its partners focused on humanities including among others texts from east-central European historians (Elias Coruinus, Stephanus Taurinus, Alexander Cortesius), and east-central European authors (Bohuslaus Hassensteinius a Lobkowicz, Antonius de Bonfinis, Nicolaus Istvanffy, Nicolaus Olahus).
Requires login.
CEEOL
CEEOL provides access to academic eJournals, eBooks, Grey Literature and other digitized documents in the area of Humanities and Social Sciences from and about Central, East and Southeast Europe. With its vast coverage of topics and regions this database is Internet's main portal to Central and Eastern Europe.
Communist and Post - Communist Studies
Communist and Post-Communist Studies (CPCS) is an international, peer-reviewed scholarly journal featuring comparative research on current and historical developments in the communist and post-communist world. Post-communist states and societies encompass Central, Eastern and South Europe, the former Soviet Union, Asia, Africa, and Latin America, for which the term "post-communist" remains analytically useful as a temporal or geographical frame. The journal broadly covers domestic politics and societies, foreign policy and international relations, ideology and identities, political economy, political and human geography, and law.
East European Politics and Society
This is an international, interdisciplinary journal for the examination of critical issues related to Eastern Europe. It serves as a forum for current work in East Europe studies, including comparative analyses and theoretical issues with implications for other world areas.
Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) 1974-1996 [selections]
The Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Report has been the United States' principal record of political and historical open source intelligence for nearly 70 years.
The Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Report has been the United States' principal record of political and historical open source intelligence for nearly 70 years.
Oxford has access to the following geographical collections:
Middle East and North Africa, 1974–1987
Near East and South Asia, 1987–1996
South Asia, 1980–1987
Sub-Saharan Africa, 1974–1980 and Africa, 1987–1996
Eastern Europe, 1974–1996
Latin America, 1974-1996
Soviet Union, 1974-1991
Central Eurasia, 1992-1996
Western Europe, 1974-1996
The original mission of the FBIS was to monitor, record, transcribe, and translate intercepted radio broadcasts from foreign governments, official news services, and clandestine broadcasts from occupied territories. FBIS Daily Reports, 1974–1996 constitutes a unique archive of transcripts of foreign broadcasts and news that provides insight into the second half of the 20th century; many of these materials are firsthand reports of events as they occurred.
FBIS Daily Reports, 1974–1996 consist of translated broadcasts, news agency transmissions, newspapers, periodicals, and government statements from nations around the globe. These media sources were monitored in their languages of origin, translated into English, and issued by an agency of the US government.
Journal of Southern Europe and the Balkans
This the leading English language journal for the study of modern international relations, history and geopolitics of the former Ottoman and Soviet regions and states whose territories are in the Balkans and the greater Middle East.
SOLO
Search SOLO, the University's resource discovery tool, for print and ejournals at Oxford.
Key databases
Oxford subscribes to many bibliographic databases. They can be used to locate journal articles, conference proceedings, books, images, data, archives and more. You can find some of the key databases for East, Central and South European studies
below, but take a look at the
databases page
of this guide for more titles.
ABSEES American Bibliography of Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies
Extensive US bibliography of Slavic and Eurasian studies.
You need to login to university services and choose ABSEES from EBSCO's alphabetical list of databases.
ARCANUM Newspapers
Eastern European Newspaper Archive, containing scientific and professional journals, weekly and daily newspapers, encyclopaedias, and thematic book collections
Eastern European Newspaper Archive, containing scientific and professional journals, weekly and daily newspapers, encyclopaedias, and thematic book collections.
Balkan Insight
Balkan Insight is the leading news site covering the Western Balkans Region. Correspondents are drawn from across the former Yugoslavia and Albania, Bulgaria and Romania and the site is widely regarded as the only source of balanced reporting providing copy in English to international journalistic standards. Balkan Insight's Premium Content, available to all University of Oxford users, offers more detailed analytical content, including investigations, comment and analysis from the countries of the region.
Balkan Insight is the leading news site covering the Western Balkans Region. Correspondents are drawn from across the former Yugoslavia and Albania, Bulgaria and Romania and the site is widely regarded as the only source of balanced reporting providing copy in English to international journalistic standards. Balkan Insight's Premium Content, available to all University of Oxford users, offers more detailed analytical content, including investigations, comment and analysis from the countries of the region.
Baltisches Biographisches Archiv (WBIS)
Alternative name: Baltic Biographical Archive
This bibliographical archive is part of World Biographical Information System Online (WBIS)
WBIS Online is the most comprehensive biographical database available, providing biographical information on over 6 Million people from the 8th century B.C. to the present. Included are 8.5 Million digital facsimile articles from biographical reference works.
It is based on the digitization of K.G. Saur's microfiche editions of Biographical Archives. Each Biographical Archive covers a different language and cultural area. For the individual archives the original texts of biographical articles from various reference works were taken and facsimile reproductions made.
Alternative name: Baltic Biographical Archive
This bibliographical archive is part of World Biographical Information System Online (WBIS)
WBIS Online is the most comprehensive biographical database available, providing biographical information on over 6 Million people from the 8th century B.C. to the present. Included are 8.5 Million digital facsimile articles from biographical reference works.
It is based on the digitization of K.G. Saur's microfiche editions of Biographical Archives. Each Biographical Archive covers a different language and cultural area. For the individual archives the original texts of biographical articles from various reference works were taken and facsimile reproductions made.
NOTE: WBIS allows for an unlimited number of simultaneous users institution-wide.
Central and Eastern European Online Library
Alternative name:
CEEOL
C.E.E.O.L. is an online archive which provides access to articles, scholarly journals, electronic books and re-digitized documents pertaining to Central, Eastern and South-Eastern European topics.
C.E.E.O.L.'s intention is to be an online library and document shop. Its content is provided by numerous publishers and editors, mainly from Central European countries, along with those from the West who deal with Eastern Europe, its histories, languages and literatures, along with its cultural, social and political realities. C.E.E.O.L.'s goal is to become the Internet's main portal to Central and Eastern Europe.
Klassiki
This resource requires you to create an account before use. Please use your *.ox.ac.uk email address to create the account, not your Oxford SSO username or password.
Klassiki is a video-on-demand platform which is dedicated exclusively to cinema from Eastern Europe – including Ukraine, Russia, and the Baltics – the Caucasus and Central Asia. Klassiki features a library of over 100 titles, spanning silent cinema to the 2020s, a film Pick of the Week feature, and a Journal area of related content including interviews, essays and national cinema overviews. A potentially useful resource to students of film, visual culture and modern languages.
Databases A-Z
A full, browsable list of Oxford's online bibliographic databases.
SOLO
Search SOLO, the University's resource discovery tool, for print and ebooks at Oxford. You can search by author, title or subject and limit to a specific library or online resources.
Archives
The Bodleian Libraries hold a range of manuscripts and archives in print and online which are relevant to the study of East, Central and South - East Europe. Below are a few key resources but for more detailed information about our archive collections as well as the archives from the region visit the
archive page
of this guide.
Archive of Franz Kafka
This collection contains the majority of Franz Kafka's papers: diaries, travel diaries, letters and postcards, aphorisms, photographs, literary notebooks and other documents.
Archive of Miss Laurence Alma-Tadema
Papers of Miss Laurence Alma-Tadema consisting of: Letters to Miss Alma-Tadema concerning I.J. Paderewski from years 1915-1939, Notebook of Miss Alma-Tadema containing observations on Poland, 1910
Papers relating to Poland and the Polish Victims Relief Fund of which Miss Alma-Tadema was secretary, 1915-1939 and other papers.
Archive of the Society for the Protection of Science and Learning (SPSL)
This archive contains extensive records and correspondence, including subject files arranged by nationality and religion, that document the Society's work with refugee scholars, including those from Czechoslovakia during a period of political upheaval.
Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts
Archives and manuscript material created between circa 1500 and the 21st century. The material described is predominantly in manuscript form, but also includes photographic material, audiovisual items, and born-digital content.
Bodleian Special Collections
Bodleian special collections comprise over one million of manuscripts and archives, rare books, printed ephemera, maps, music and digitized collections in libraries across Oxford.
Include The Bodleian Libraries' web archive and Polonsky Foundation digitization project among others.
Libri Polonici
Libri Polonici A collection of c. 1,600 volumes purchased in 1850 from Hirsch Edelmann on the recommendation of Mr Asher a ‘then well-known Jewish bookseller of Berlin’. The collection consists of books about Poland written by Polish and foreign authors, depicting a period of Polish cultural history in relation to the Church and the Reformation, with an emphasis on the development of education, pedagogics and trends in Polish teaching.
Archives Hub
Provides descriptions of archives held in over 150 UK universities and colleges. Many archives that contain relevant information on African studies are listed.
The National Archives
Explore collection of documents and visual items related to East, Central and South - East European history.
Key news sources
The Bodleian libraries provide access to a wide range of current and historical news sources for East, Central and South - East European Studies. Key printed East, Central and South - East newspapers including, among others, the
The Insider
Balkan Insight
Browse or search
SOLO
if you are looking for printed newspapers held in the collections.
Oxford also provides access to current online news sources, subscriptions, analytical materials, and historical newspaper archives. You can find some of the key databases for East, Central and South - East European Studies below, but take a look at the
news sources page
of this guide for more titles.
Balkan Insight
Balkan Investigative Reporting Network. Balkan Insight is the leading news site covering the Western Balkans Region.
more...
less...
Correspondents are drawn from across the former Yugoslavia and Albania, Bulgaria and Romania and the site is widely regarded as the only source of balanced reporting providing copy in English to international journalistic standards. Balkan Insight's Premium Content, available to all University of Oxford users, offers more detailed analytical content, including investigations, comment and analysis from the countries of the region.
BBC Monitoring
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Oxford Single Sign-On (SSO) required for access.
This resource requires you to create an account before use.
BBC Monitoring tracks, translates, summarises and analyses local media sources around the world. It is an interdisciplinary resource, and its stated specialisms include: Russia, Eastern Europe, Middle East and North Africa, Sub Saharan Africa, Latin America, Asia, Disinformation.
To register or log in, please select Log In and enter your Oxford college or department email address (for example, @balliol.ox.ac.uk or @history.ox.ac.uk; not just @ox.ac.uk).
A separate archive of BBC Monitoring’s Summary of World Broadcasts is published by Readex as
BBC Monitoring: Summary of World Broadcasts: Essential Global Media, 1939-2001
Europeana Newspapers
This resource provides an access to 18 million historic newspaper pages, freely accesible in the public domain.
It is possible to search and browse by title, date, language, library.
Factiva
If the Factiva link does not work, please try a second time. We are working to resolve this error.
Please see
Factiva user guide
Factiva, a Dow Jones & Reuters Company, provides essential business news and information together with the content delivery tools and services that enable professionals to make better decisions faster. Factiva's unrivalled collection of more than 10,000 authoritative sources includes thousands of current newspapers, as well as Reuters Fundamentals, and D&B company profiles.
Factiva's innovative, XML-based and Web services-enabled technology platform provides access to this rich content collection via Factiva's role-specific products or through customized enterprise, group or personal solutions. Executives, information professionals, marketers, salespeople, and other professionals can easily monitor and understand the latest news, market trends, and business challenges relevant to them directly from the Microsoft Office and job-specific applications they use every day.
Google News Archive
Allows you to browse the thousands of pages of newspapers digitised by the Google Books project directly.
Nexis UK
This link opens in a new window
For online access from a device outside the University network or via eduroam, please follow https://advance.lexis.com?federationidp=RXVSX459307
Alternative names:
LexisNexis Business & News ; Lexis Nexis Business & News
The news coverage offered by Nexis UK - Global news and business information service has over 20,000 sources of authoritative news, company, financial and market research data. The complete, fully customisable, online news and business research service bringing together in a single source, all news, financial and business information licensed by LexisNexis for the academic market from around the globe.
Databases A-Z
SOLO
Free online resources
In addition to resources the Bodleian Libraries purchase, there are a number of alternative free online resources to support the study of East, Central and South - East Europe.  These include portals, blogs, podcasts, film, links to associations and additional search tools.  Take a look at the
free online resources
on this page for links to a selection of these.
Barbara Baj Wojtowicz
she/ her
Email Me
Contact:
Taylor Institution Library
Bodleian Libraries
Taylor Institution, St. Giles’, Oxford OX1 3NA
Website
Social Science Library (SSL)
One of the University's busiest lending and reference libraries supports students and staff in the Social Sciences Division, offering a wide range of workspaces, printing & IT facilities, borrowing services, and research support. This, along with the
History Faculty Library
, is the key lending library for East, Central and South - East studies -related books.
The Weston Library
Houses the main research and reference collections for East, Central and South - East European Studies. There is a selection of books on open shelves in the Charles Wendell David Reading Room with many additional items available on request for delivery from the Bodleian Storage Facility.
Russian and Eurasian Studies Centre Library
The RESC library at St Antony's contains a unique collection of work in East, Central and South - East European studies.
Taylor Institution Library
The Taylor Institution Library (commonly known as 'the Taylorian') is the University's centre for the study of Modern European languages and literatures, other than English. Library is also a home for materials related to the history and cultures of different countries, including East, Central and South - East Europe.
History Faculty Library
You will find material on Slavonic, East, Central and South - East European history at this library.
You will find many historical maps of the East, Central and South East Europe
Bodleian Map Room
here.
Related guides
Slavonic and East European Area Studies
Russian and Slavonic Language and Literature
History
Politics and International Relations
Social and Cultural Anthropology
Sociology
Refugees and Forced Migration
Economics
Geography and the Environment
Official Papers
Useful links
Ebooks
For researchers
Online and remote access
Open Access Oxford - OAO
Research Data Oxford
Theses and dissertations
Looking for your course reading list or materials?
Oxford University Canvas
Access requires Oxford SSO. Canvas is the University’s virtual learning environment for teaching and learning at Oxford.
Depending on how your course has set it up, you can use Canvas to: access your course materials;
submit assignments or quizzes; get feedback on your work; start discussions and collaborate with other students or academics; access your reading lists.
Canvas at Oxford
This YouTube channel is available containing some useful videos to get you up and running on Canvas. There are videos on downloading and using the mobile apps for iOS or Android, allowing you to access your courses anywhere, at any time.
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