With the approach of 2007, when Bulgaria will become part of the European community, more and more people are talking and writing about the future of national culture and the preservation of its identity within a united Europe. Predictions range from cultural isolationism to cosmopolitan unification and rejection of the national for the “universal”. In this aspect, the problem of national encyclopedias as a mirror of a country’s culture and the specific view they give to the events and facts of world history and culture is particularly relevant. No matter how good the editions of the world’s leading encyclopedias – Larus, Britannica, Brockhaus, etc., they cannot be automatically translated and serve the Bulgarian reader. We are sure that if someone wants to get precise and accurate information about Bulgaria, he will not open an English encyclopedia, for example, but will look for a Bulgarian one.
Globalization processes in European countries inevitably echo in encyclopedic editions. Will national encyclopedias lose their identity? Won’t the world’s leading encyclopedia publishers, who hold a huge readership by virtue of being written in global languages, displace national encyclopedias? To impose their point of view on events, cultural history, personalities by minimizing material related to national themes.
Despite some pessimistic forecasts, joining the European Union will lead to the preservation rather than the loss of national identity, especially since the globalization of culture is largely Americanization. National encyclopedias will undoubtedly play an important role in its preservation. Processes similar to those of globalization have taken place before, albeit on a smaller scale, at the dawn of the encyclopedic work in Bulgaria. The encyclopedia of the Danchovi brothers draws ideas and ready-made materials from “Larus”, but manages to create a Bulgarian edition precisely by including Bulgarian material.
The future of encyclopedic publications is connected with the perception of the new, the innovative as a value. The global nature of computer technology determines the global nature of the modern encyclopedia as a form. Electronic and online publications around the world use the same technologies to reach the consumer as easily as possible, but they create different publications. In this regard, the exchange of information and technology between encyclopedic publishers has a certain limit, beyond which there is a danger that it will turn into cultural imperialism.
The encyclopedic work in Bulgaria has never developed in isolation. Already with its establishment, “Bulgarian Encyclopedia” established contacts with foreign encyclopedic publishing houses. The benefit is mutual. On the one hand, “Bulgarian Encyclopedia”, as a young institution with no experience behind it, learned from foreign publications, we used their dictionaries, received materials, representatives of the encyclopedia on the spot got to know the specifics of encyclopedic work in individual countries, with the chief editors, with the editorial staff. Our editors visited their colleagues from the Soviet encyclopedia, the Belarusian encyclopedia, the Ukrainian encyclopedia, the Polish encyclopedia, the Romanian encyclopedia, the Slovak encyclopedia, the Uzbek encyclopedia, the encyclopedia of the German Democratic Republic. On the other hand, we also tried to be useful to our colleagues – we sent articles and illustrations about Bulgarian objects, we consulted dictionaries and materials for our country intended for foreign publications – for BSE, the multi-volume Greek encyclopedia, the Portuguese encyclopedia, Britannica. With material prepared entirely by the editors of the Bulgarian Encyclopedia, the Leipzig Publishing House published a one-volume encyclopedia about Bulgaria. Joint editions were also conceived, which did not materialize – “Encyclopedia of the Danube Countries”, “Balkan Encyclopedia”, etc.
Until 1989, the connections of the “Bulgarian Encyclopedia” with the Soviet Encyclopedia were the most active. The sent dictionaries of the multi-volume edition Bolshaya sovetskaya encyclopedia provide invaluable help in the preparation of the dictionaries for the first 5-volume general encyclopedia – Short Bulgarian Encyclopedia (KBE), methodological assistance is used.
An important moment in the international contacts of the Bulgarian Encyclopedia is the exchange of editions. Thanks to this, we have many foreign encyclopedias sent as a gift by related institutions. Only in the last year, the Bulgarian Encyclopedia received the Polish and Catalan electronic encyclopedias, reference editions of the Estonian encyclopedia, and for years we have regularly received the editions of the Croatian encyclopedia.
Both in the past and today, through its contacts, the Bulgarian Encyclopedia strives to popularize Bulgaria, its ancient history, culture, and modern state. The exchange of information does not mean automatic application of the received materials in the series of articles; they are necessarily revised by the scientific editors so as to reflect impartially the facts and information. As a result of a precisely selected dictionary (list of included articles), our publications reflect the Bulgarian view on events and facts related to other countries, and through the volume of the material emphasize its importance.
At the end of the 20th century, the democratic changes that took place in our country and in the former socialist countries adversely affected the foreign contacts of “Bulgarian Encyclopedia”. They were discontinued for a long period of time. In 2003, during the visit of a Croatian delegation to Sofia, in which representatives of the Miroslav Krleza Lexicographic Institute in Zagreb participated, the connection between the encyclopedic institutions in the two countries was restored. It dates back to the founding of the “Bulgarian Encyclopedia”. A year later, after the kind invitation of the colleagues from the Croatian encyclopedia, the scientific director of the “Bulgarian encyclopedia” Academician Evgeni Golovinski and the director Mrs. Snezhana Nikolova, visited the colleagues in Zagreb. The bilateral opportunities for joint work were discussed at the meeting. The idea arose to initiate fruitful contacts of mutual interest between the two institutions and a cooperation document was signed. The first steps were taken already the following year with the publication of the electronic “Bulgarian Encyclopedia A-Z”. The materials on Croatia were sent and consulted at the Lexicographic Institute, and the comments made were immediately reflected in our electronic edition, which was released in December 2004.
One of the most important decisions taken at a meeting of the managements of the Lexicographic Institute “Miroslav Krleza” from Zagreb and the Scientific Information Center “Bulgarian Encyclopedia” at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences was to prepare and organize a meeting of European encyclopedic institutions whose publications are written in t . so-called small languages, i.e. languages with a limited area of distribution, which are used by relatively few people, in contrast to global languages such as English for example. The first ever International Conference of Encyclopaedia Institutions that use non-global languages took place from March 3 to 6, 2005 in Zagreb under the name “Encyclopaedias Around The Table”. Representatives of “Estonian Encyclopedia Publishers” from Tallinn, “Encyclopedia Catalana” from Barcelona, Polish Scientific Publishing House “PVN” from Warsaw, the editor-in-chief of the Irish Encyclopedia, a representative of the largest Irish publishing house “Gill & Macmill” from Dublin were present. The presence of ambassadors, diplomats and representatives of ministries, scientific and cultural institutions, as well as the wide coverage of the meeting in periodicals, radio and television, emphasized the importance of the encyclopedias written in the so-called small languages, to preserve the cultural identity of individual countries within the framework of a uniting Europe.
The main issues discussed at the conference were related to the problems facing encyclopedias written in non-global languages, as well as building a base for mutual cooperation and contacts. In-depth discussions and an interesting forum were held to exchange useful information between the participants.
The meeting was organized in three sessions. The first session was devoted to the presentation of the participating institutions. Each of the participants had prepared video material on the history of the institution and the internal organization; official status; financing; ways of distributing publications; organization of the encyclopedic project (number of staff, professional experts – external collaborators); list of editions. The second session was devoted to general encyclopedias. Issues related to the structure of dictionaries were discussed; the proportion of national and general articles; sources of information; the reference to specific (characteristic) foreign encyclopedias in the relevant field. The third session outlined the plans for cooperation and development of the institutions in the future, internal institutional cooperation (exchange of information, text, illustrations, common projects and experts). The issue of the new media environment – electronic and on-line editions – was also touched upon. The Scientific Information Center “Bulgarian Encyclopedia” successfully presented its new electronic edition “Bulgarian Encyclopedia A-Z” (II edition). It is with great pleasure that we note that our encyclopedia was met with appropriate interest by the conference participants and was in no way inferior to the presented Catalan electronic encyclopedia, which has over 10 years of experience in electronic editions.
The question of the future of encyclopedias in small languages and at round table meetings was discussed in great detail. The encyclopedic institutions present at the meeting united around the opinion that national encyclopedias, written in a non-global language and as a consequence – with a limited market for their products, should be placed on an equal footing with encyclopedias written in a global language. They must receive financial support from the state and European institutions, which will support the development of new technologies for the dissemination of encyclopedic information, their publications will be widely used in schools and universities, and will be available to the residents of the respective country alongside the encyclopedias and reference publications written in a global language.
The participants decided to exchange materials for their publications (text, illustrations, maps, publications, etc.), to participate in common projects of mutual interest and to look for ways to promote and support encyclopedic publications in non-global languages. All delegates enthusiastically recommended that the cooperation continue in the future.
The conference adopted a final document (in English). Here are some excerpts from it:
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A first task should be to collect a database of all encyclopedic publishers in Europe, and in particular those using non-global languages. The aim is to place the encyclopedic activity and the encyclopedic institutions working with the so-called small languages, on par with the encyclopedias written in the dominant languages, both of the region and of the world. |
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The next task will be to strengthen the positions of small languages and publications written in them, within the dominance of increasingly widespread information technologies, which on the one hand benefit, but on the other threaten small cultures. |
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Encyclopedic institutions must become more active in presenting the essence of their work. To campaign among the state and educational institutions to explain the extreme importance of national encyclopedias and to see them as an important priority of the country. National encyclopedias written in small languages reflect the cultural development and form the regional identity of the respective country, show the cultural diversity and present an important perspective of the personal perception of information in the time of an increasingly threatening globalized intellectual and educational environment. |
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The conference recommends to the European institutions and to the national governmental and educational institutions:
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Currently, the initiative group of “small” encyclopedias, united around the round table, is preparing an on-line directory of encyclopedia publishers, and the idea is to attract other publishers specialized in making encyclopedias in non-global languages. Bulgarian Encyclopedia has filled out the necessary forms. There is an idea to print a paper version of the directory to be sent to the relevant European cultural and state institutions. The next meeting of the encyclopedic institutions will take stock of what has been done and outline the directions for future cooperation. We hope that the Scientific Information Center “Bulgarian Encyclopedia” will receive financial support from the relevant institutions to organize and host the meeting.
Tanya KADIYSKA
editor-in-chief “Natural-mathematical
and technical sciences”
