Research in Russian and East European Studies (REES) has expanded in recent years and is now widely spread through the UK academic community. A recent five-year listing (for 1992-1996) showed over 600 theses accepted for higher degrees from 58 UK institutions. Research is highly interdisciplinary and heavily focussed on recent and contemporary aspects of Russia and Eastern Europe.
COCOREES is a partnership of twelve libraries, all of them holding important research collections for REES. It aims to help researchers identify library resources relevant to their work; to facilitate access to those resources; to act as a consortium in the interests of a wider and better targeted range of research materials; and to leave self-sustaining mechanisms in place to continue its core activities. The project is advised by the British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies.
COCOREES is composed of four subprojects. Three began in Autumn 1999 and the fourth in March 2001, all running until July 2002.
Subproject 1: Directory. This web-mounted Directory will supply descriptions of over 100 library collections in the UK which are significant for research in REES, and practical information on how to contact them and gain access to their holdings. To date over 70 descriptions have been mounted on the project database, and indexing is in progress to enable subject searching. This subproject is based at the Bodleian Library, Oxford.
Subproject 2: Listings. This subproject is to provide locations in 25 or more libraries for specialised research materials in REES. Centrepiece is a web-mounted listing of serial titles published in, or relating to, Russia and Eastern Europe, compiled from libraries’ own records. Locations have now been input for some 40,000 titles. The subproject is based at the British Library.
Subproject 3: Gateway. Researchers will be offered a common gateway by which to search data from the Directory and Listings. This subproject is developing and testing the project website and online search facilities. A public web server is now in place, and experimental access to the Listings database already offers Boolean searches, searching on plain text, and retrieval of diacritics in display. Jointly in charge of the subproject are the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (University College London) and Glasgow University Library.
Subproject 4: Collaborative Management. From March 2001, the twelve libraries listed below have joined in planning a set of experimental agreements and linkages to improve the range of materials and the quality of service that they can offer to researchers. Drawing on the information and infrastructure provided by the first three subprojects, they will test: complementary collecting, retention and transfer policies; measures of the scope and adequacy of national resource coverage for REES; and consortial action over acquistions and access services. This subproject is also based at the Bodleian Library, Oxford.
Project Head
Tel: 01865 277066
Fax 01865 277182
E-mail: gpmw@bodley.ox.ac.uk
Content: Gill Davenport
Last updated 2 July 2002