Eastern and Central Europe and former Soviet Union

1. Sources for Background Information

1.1 Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

• Encyclopedia of Russian History (Gale Virtual Reference Library)
• Encyclopedia of Contemporary Russian Culture
• Encyclopedia of Eastern Europe : from the Congress of Vienna to the fall of communism
• The Modern Encyclopedia of Russian and Soviet History

1.2 Country Profiles

• Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia from Europa World Plus
  Thematic information and background on individual countries, including government structure, statistics, history, current events
• Nations in Transit
  Analyzes political reform and the transition to democracy in the former Communist states of Europe and Eurasia. Includes general country reports and detailed data to quantify democracy, civil society, and governance.

1.3 Biographies

• Leaders of Russia
  Lists historical and current leaders at regional and federal levels of government.
• The President of the Russian Federation
  Official government site. Available in English and Russian.
• Brief biographies
  Maintained by Russia Profile.Org
• The Biographical Dictionary of the Former Soviet Union
• Who Was Who in the Soviet Union
• Who's Who in Russia

1.4 Directories

• Parties & Organizations in Russia 2003/2004

2. Searching the Library Catalogue

Use the basic word(s) anywhere or advanced keyword search in the library catalogue. You can search using words like - Russia, Russia?, histor?, etc.

Search tips

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Searching Using Subject headings

Often keywords–natural language terms–are too diverse to round up everything in the catalogue on your topic.

To overcome this problem, once you have found some relevant items by searching using your own words, click on the title and examine the full view of each, especially the section called "LC Subject", where you will find the uniform subject heading used for your topic, and then redo your search using the "Subject begins with ..." option.

3. Core and Additional Databases

3.1 Core Databases

• American Bibliography of Slavic and East European Studies (ABSEES) (EBSCO)
• International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (ProQuest)
  Listing of academic articles published in social science journals.
• Web of Science (ISI)
  Multidisciplinary database covering science, arts, humanities, and social sciences.
• Central and Eastern European Online Library (C.E.E.O.L.)
  full text PDF articles from 813 humanities and social science journals. Includes English and central, south, and eastern European languages

3.2 News Sources

• Universal Database of Russian Central Newspapers
  English and Russian content, 1980 though present 
• Factiva
  international news and business information
• Keesing’s World News Archive, 1931 -
  monthly collected world news reports
• LEXIS-NEXIS
  legal information, international news and business information
• World News Connection
  Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS)
• ISI Emerging Markets Information Service
  country reports, news articles, financial statements, industry analyses, macroeconomic statistics
• Pravda
  1912-2009

3.3 Multidisciplinary Databases

• Universal databases: Social sciences & humanities
  Major Russian periodicals on social sciences and humanities including all 31 journals of the Russian Academy of Sciences
• Proquest Research Library (Proquest)
• CIAO: Columbia International Affairs Online
• European Bibliography of Slavic and East European Studies (EBSEES)
• Federal State Statistics Service
• International Relations and Security Network (ISN)
  full-text materials on international relations, area studies, international business, security and military studies, comparative studies, and human rights, including a section on Eurasia
• Omnifile Full Text (Wilson)
  multidisciplinary database
• PAIS International (ProQuest)
• Historical Abstracts (EBSCO)

3.4 Russian journals published in English translation

• Current Digest of the Post-Soviet Press and Military & Security Periodicals
• Russian Politics and Law
• International Affairs: A Russian Journal of World Politics, Diplomacy and International Relations
• Military Thought: A Russian Journal of Military Theory and Strategy

• 4. Selected Internet Resources

  Accessible to anyone with an Internet connection.

  • McGill Department of Russian and Slavic Studies
  • REESWeb
    Based at the University of Pittsburgh, the best site for Russian and Eastern European Internet resources
  • Erik Herron's Guide to Politics in East Central Europe and Eurasia
    University of Kansas Center for Russian and East European and Eurasian Studies
  • Russian and East European Network Information Center (REENIC) (University of Texas at Austin)
  • Guide to East European and Slavic Library Collections on the Internet
    from the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages
  • Johnson's Russia List
    Influential website and e-mail newsletter that compiles and offers analysis on politics and current events from a wide range of government and media sources
  • Material on Russian Federation Law in English: Selection of Sources
    By Lucy Cox, Rutgers University Law Library

  5. Other Resources

  Related Subject Guides

  • Newspapers
  • Political Science
  • Russian Literature