Penn did not have a Slavic bibliographer for a few decades, and as a consequence there are inconsistencies and gaps in the collection. A new full-time Slavic bibliographer joined Penn in 2022. Current policy is to bring the collection up to a level high enough to support research in the University's current programs.
The primary language collected is Russian. Areas of focus include history, political science, medieval studies, art, poetry, cultural history, and literary criticism.
Recent changes include the acquisition of more non-Russian materials with an emphasis on certain key areas: Ukrainian works (especially poetry and materials related to the war), works from the Baltic states (especially Latvian poetry), and works by and about indigenous and minority peoples in the Russian Federation, especially works from Siberia and the Far North (including Yakut, Komi, Udmurt, Chuvash, Evenk, Mari, and Kalmyk). Building on Penn's rich holdings of Russian children's books, we are also now acquiring children's books in Russian and Ukrainian, both contemporary and antiquarian.
1. Chronological
From antiquity to the present; works on prehistory and preliterate peoples are particularly important for the Museum Library.
2. Formats
No format is excluded if the Library can make it available to users.
3. Geographical
All of the former Soviet Union, including Russia, the Baltic States, the Caucasus, and Central Asia; the countries of Eastern Europe.
4. Language
The Library regularly acquires works in Russian, and to a more limited extent collects works in Latvian, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Czech, and indigenous languages of the Russian Federation.
5. Publication Dates
The library only acquires current publications. Publications from Russian and East Europe go out of print very quickly, and consequently the current focus is on the newest works.