Bosnian Libraries Get Harvard Help

After hearing of the decimation of many of Bosnia-Herzegovina's libraries during the nation's civil war, two Harvard employees decided they wanted to help.

During a fall 1994 visit, Enes Kujindzic, the director of Bosnia's national library, caught the ear of Andras J. Riedlmayer, a bibliographer in Islamic art and architecture in the University's Fine Arts Library, and Jeffrey B. Spurr, Islamic art cataloguer in the Aga Khan Program. They then began to help him spread the news of the libraries' plight.

Later this month, the effort Riedlmayer and Spurr began will culminate in a Sabre Foundation project, spearheaded by Harvard, which will ship 10,000 books to Bosnia to assist in the replenishing of the war-torn region's libraries.

"Things have gone better than I ever had hoped,...and it has been more complicated and time-consuming than I ever imagined," Spurr said. "It was an elaborate dance involving conversations and meetings and memos and e-mail, but we finally achieved results."

The book donation, which the organizers describe as part as a crucial step for "a free and democratic Bosnia," is part of a program which combines some of the leading schools' resources with Sabre's experience bringing books to former Eastern bloc countries.

As part of the project, the Harvard University Press has agreed to donate two copies of everything on their publisher's list--one to the national library and one to go to other libraries throughout the country.

Additionally, Sidney Verba, director of the University library, has urged Harvard libraries to donate to the program rather than disposing of books that are either duplicates or no longer needed.

Harvard's involvement really began when the two librarians and their interests were mentioned in a January Boston Globe article. It was noticed by, among others, President Neil L. Rudenstine, who wrote a note communicating his support for their efforts.

According to the organizers, that support, coupled with the peace brought about by last year's Dayton accords, made the program possible.

But the program is just the beginning of the long process of rebuilding Bosnia's devastated library system.

According to Spurr, an incendiary grenade which hit the National and University Library in Sarajevo in August 1992 was particularly destructive. It demolished 1.5 million volumes, including 155,000 rare books and manuscripts, and is considered one of, if not the largest book burning in modern history.

This first shipment of books to Bosnia is being funded in part by the Dusky Foundation of Boston, which was the first foundation to support the program.

Other universities which have joined in the effort include Boston College, MIT, St. Mary's College of Maryland, the University of Chicago and the University of Michigan. Yale has not yet decided if it will participate.

Tania Vitvitsky, recently returned from planning visits to Sarajevo, is the project director, and Dr. Kemal Bakarsic, assistant professor of bibliography in the Department of Librarianship at the University of Sarajevo, will be the coordinator based in Bosnia-Herzegovina.