Getting Started: Selected Reference Works

Russian Dictionaries & Grammars

Slovar sovremennogo russkogo literaturnogo iazyka: v 20 tomakh
Ref PG 2625 .S59 1991
A six volume Russian dictionary.

Oxford Russian Dictionary
Ref PG 2640 .W5 1997
The newest Russian-English / English-Russian dictionary in the collection.

Using Russian: A Guide to Contemporary Usage
Ref PG 2361 .O37 1996
A book of advanced vocabulary and grammar, verbal etiquette, and word formation for advanced students of Russian.

Russian Literature

The Cambridge History of Russian Literature
Ref PG 2951. C36 1989
A narrative survey of Russian literature from the medieval period to 1980, with an extensive bibliography appended. Dictionary of Russian Women Writers
Ref PG 2997 .D53 1994
Short biographical sketches and bibliographies. Reference Guide to Russian Literature
Ref PG 2940 .R43 1998
Provides introductory essays on periods of Russian literature, articles on individual authors and their works, and extensive bibliographies for further reading.

Russian / Soviet History & Culture

Historical Dictionary of Russia
Ref DK36 .R39 1998
Brief articles about important people, places and events in Russian history. The Longman Companion to Russia since 1914
Ref DK226 .M353 1998
A chronology and glossary of 20th century Russian history; includes bibliographies of secondary and primary works.

Mir russkoi kultury: entsiklopedicheskii spravochnik
Ref DK32 .M629 1999
A one volume encyclopedia of Russian culture.

Mir russkoi istorii: entsiklopedicheskii spravochnik
Ref DK40 .M49 1999
A one volume encyclopedia of Russian history.

Who's Who in Russia Since 1900
Ref CT1203 .M37 1997
Biographical sketches of prominent Russians in politics, economics, the military, the arts, science, and sport.

Russian Government & Politics

Europa World Year Book
Ref JN1 .E85 2001
The article on Russia provides a survey of recent Russian politics, a statistical survey with population, industry, and finance data, and a directory to major political parties, governmental agencies, and media agencies.

The Newly Independent States of Eurasia: Handbook of Former Soviet Republics
Ref DK17 .B34 1997
Provides brief introductions to new eastern European and central Asian states, as well as Russia and its internal republics.

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Finding Books

Two kinds of books, monographs and essay collections, compose the majority of Gould library's collection. A monograph offers an extended analysis of a given subject by a single author, while an essay collection bring together articles, often by different authors, on related topics. In Bridge, the shared online catalog for Carleton and St. Olaf's Libraries:

• Begin with a word search.

• Enter words that describe your topic (names, places, events, etc.). If you are searching for Russian names or terms, you should be familiar with the Library of Congress transliteration scheme. Consult Shaw's Transliteration of Modern Russian for English-Language Publications (Ref PG 2154 .S5 1979).
• When you find a book on your topic, examine its subject headings for relevance to your topic.
• Click on a hyperlinked subject heading to perform subject heading search and retrieve related books.

• Perform a subject heading search in Bridge only if you know a valid Library of Congress subject heading.

• Search "Russian Literature" to browse a list of relevant subject headings, such as:
  • Russian Literature -- 18th Century -- History And Criticism
  • Russian literature -- Russia (Federation) -- Tarusa

• Note that many Library of Congress subject headings relevant to Russian literature do not begin with "Russian literature."
  • Gogol, Nikolai Vasilevich, 1809-1852 -- Criticism And Interpretation
  • Popular culture -- Soviet Union -- History
  • Russian drama -- History and Criticism

Browsing the stacks can help you evaluate the library's collection in a given field of study. The following call number ranges contain works relevant to Russian literature and Russian studies:

• DJK1-77: History of Eastern Europe (General)
• DK1-949.5: History of Russia, Soviet Union & Former Russian Republics
• PG2001-2806: Russian Language
• PG2900-3190: History & Criticism of Russian Literature
• PG3199-3299: Collections of Russian Literature
• PG3300-3490: Individual Authors & Works (by period)

Search WorldCat, an online catalog for libraries throughout the world, to take your search beyond Gould Library. return to top of page

Finding Articles

Periodical literature provides an excellent source of current information. Popular articles in magazines and newspapers reflect public opinion, while scholarly articles in academic journals present cutting-edge research. Once you have located article citations in a database, index, or bibliography, perform a title search in MUSE using the exact title of the periodical. If Carleton and St. Olaf do not hold the journal, you may request the article through Interlibrary Loan.

Lexis Nexis Academic
To search Russian news sources in English, click on "News," then on "World News." Then choose "European News Sources" from the drop-down box, or, to search a specific publication (e.g. TASS, The Russian Press Digest), click on "Source List," identify the desired publication, and enter the title in the "Guided Search" form. Most articles are available full text; date range varies widely from title to title.

ITAR / TASS
The Web site of the largest Russian news agency; provides access to current news in English and Russian, as well as photographs.

Natsionalnaia sluzhba novostei (National News Service)
A Web site linking to current news briefs and reviews of national and regional news sources. It also includes the National Electronic Library, an electronic archive of Russian media. Available only in Russian.

Scholarly Articles

MLA International Bibliography (1963-present)
The premier database for literary and cultural studies; provides citations to articles dealing with literature, literary criticism, folklore, language, and linguistics.

Historical Abstracts (1954-present)
Covers world history from 1450-present; provides citations to articles dealing with all aspects of history, including cultural and literary history.

American Bibliography of Slavic and East European Studies (1957-1994)
Ref DR10 .A65 / Main General DR10 .A65
A bibliography of North American scholarship on Eastern Europe, Russia, and the former Soviet Union; includes journal articles, research reports, books, book reviews, and dissertations. European Bibliography of Slavic and East European Studies (1990-present)
Ref DJK9 .E97
A bibliography of European scholarship on Eastern Europe, Russia, and the former Soviet Union. Web of Science
Search either the Social Science Citation Index (1969-present) or the Arts & Humanities Citation Index (1975-present) to locate journal articles that cite specific works.

Argumenty i fakty
Government and Politics -- Main Periodicals (current year) Voprosy istorii
Russian history and society -- (1963-present) Voprosy literatury
Literary criticism -- Main Periodicals (1984-present) Iskusstvo kino
Film criticism -- Main Periodicals (2005-present) Ogonek
Main Periodicals (1960-68, 1989-present) Novyĭ mir
Main Periodicals (1966-present)

Iunost
Main Periodicals (1968-present)

Academic Journals to Browse

Novyi mir
Main Periodicals (1966-present) PMLA (Publications of the Modern Language Association)
Main Periodicals (1900-present); ProQuest (1988-2000); JSTOR (1889-1990) Russian Review
Main Periodicals (1956-present); Microfilm (1941-1970); JSTOR (1941-1996) Russian Social Science Review: A Journal of Translations
Main Periodicals (1992-present); ProQuest (1994-present) Slavic and East European Journal
Main Periodicals (1957-present); JSTOR (1957-1998) Slavic Review
Main Periodicals (1961-present); JSTOR (1961-1998) Slavonic and East European Review
Main Periodicals (1932-39, 1942-44, 1971-present) Voprosy istorii
Main Periodicals (1963-present) Voprosy literatury
Main Periodicals (1984-present)

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Web Sites

The Web sites recommended below complement other research resources.

REESWeb
The Russian and East European virtual library; supports simultaneous searching of Web sites relevant to Russian literary, cultural, political, and historical studies. Yandex
A Russian search engine and Web subject directory;to search in English, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the English link. Aport
A Russian search engine, searchable in Russian only.

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