Slavic Studies

This guide is meant to assist library users who need to access resources useful for the study of Slavic and Eastern European languages, history, and culture as may be taught in Brown University's departments of Slavic Studies, History, History of Art & Architecture, Comparative Literature, Judaic Studies, Religious Studies or other departments or programs. Please be aware that other resource guides dealing with those specific programs may also be useful to you if you are seeking information in those fields.  

Look for books:

Use these links to search for books in the Brown library system.

Find Journals and Magazines:

Browse through some of the premier academic sources on Slavic Studies and check out some extensive primary course collections that you can access through your Brown library account! 

Transliteration refers to the conversion of a text into a different alphabet. When researching topics on Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia, it is necessary to be familiar with several kinds of transliteration systems, including those established by the Library of Congress.

Tip #1 -- Consult the tables

Each language with a non-roman writing system has its own Library of Congress transliteration table. The systems are not interchangeable because there is a one-to-one relationship with each character, rather than each sound. Make sure you are using the correct system for the language you are searching in.

• Armenian
• Azerbaijani
• Belarusian
• Bulgarian
• Church Slavic
• Georgian
• Kazakh
• Macedonian
• Non-Slavic languages in Cyrillic script
• Romanian in Cyrillic (pre-1860)
• Russian
• Rusyn/Carpatho-Rusyn
• Serbian
• Ukrainian

Using the LC system will yield more accurate results when you search for titles, names, and keywords in the original language.

Tip #2 -- Search your keywords in different ways

The Library of Congress transliteration system is standard for libraries, but it isn't the only one you should use. Many transliteration standards have been devised over the years, and different ones are used in different countries, disciplines, and institutions. You might see a variety of results if you search for Dostoevsky, Dostoevskii, Dostoevskij, Достоевский, or Uncle Vanya, Diadia Vania, Dyadya Vanya, Дядя Ваня. Try them all and see what you get!