Friday May 1 - Yerevan

Friday, May 1. Fortunately the "May Day" holiday was abolished in Armenia, so our visit is not a problem in this regard. Nerses of the National Library and Karafet of the Academy of Sciences Library meet us at the hotel and take us by Metro to the Academy of Sciences library (at all our meetings in Armenia there were always representatives of the other two major libraries--don't know why).

Because Karafet has already heard the first half of my presentation at the ''all-Armenia" meeting the previous day, the meeting is somewhat lacking in form. The director complains at length about the total absence of hard currency for serial subscriptions (previously they spent $220,000 per year). He asks that I call AAAS and transmit some information (which I am given) to them upon my return (which I do). The problem as he explains it is that the government refuses to give such a sum for subscriptions when so much hard currency is still needed for earthquake recovery. A deputy points out that given the state of publishing in Armenia it may be a mistake for the Libary of Congress to not collect preprints--she maintains that many preprints that previously would have been published in a more authoritative version are not being published now because of the paper shortage and other problems.

After this meeting we (including Nerses and Anahid of the National Library and Karafet of the Academy of Sciences) walk to the Matenadaran to deliver a letter from Dr. Billington. We are received by the director (this meeting is described in a "for the record memo, appendix ). After our meeting we are given a tour of the materials that are on the display, which is very interesting.

Following this we travel via overloaded trolley to the offices of the Republican newspaper, where Nerses, Dr. Levner and I are interviewed concerning our "mission" in Armenia. Again there is a power failure, and we can hear people who are trapped in the elevator as we leave (in this 16 story building). On the way to our hotel we stop at a cooperative restaurant and have an early dinner. The prices at this restaurant do not seem much higher than those at the state-run restaurant we visited the day before, unlike Moscow where the difference is enormous.

On the street, we are much less able to assess LC's collection of Armenian serials, since virtually all are in Armenian (neither Levner nor I can read Armenian at all). In one odd instance, Levner strikes up a conversation with a woman newspaper vendor who admits that she cannot read Armenia either-although she is an Armenian, speaks Armenian, and sells Armenian newspapers. She could, however, read and speak Russian. One hopes that this is a rather rare situation. The country as a whole is the most homogeneous in the FSU--with the smallest Russian presence.