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A
Visit to Sarajevo
Wes
Boomgaarden, Columbus, Ohio,
USA
Last November
I traveled to Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
(BiH), following an invitation to consult with local librarians
about preserving what remains of their libraries’ cultural heritage
after the war. (I am a librarian at Ohio
State University,
where I specialize in the preservation of library collections.)
This opportunity was sponsored by the Trust for Mutual Understanding,
a New York foundation.
It was organized by the Northeast Document Conservation Center
(NEDCC), a not-for-profit organization from Andover,
Massachusetts, which specializes
in the conservation and preservation of library and archival collections,
and in organizing groups of specialists to teach others about
these subjects. NEDCC’s representative and organizer for the
effort – entitled “To Film or To Scan: Preserving Collections
in a Digital World” -- was Mr. Steve Dalton. Dr. Marilyn Deegan,
Kings College,
London, served with
me as the second and third co-presenters in this workshop. I
would like to thank both the Trust and NEDCC for their support
of this traveling three-person team. I also thank the editor
of Naked Sunfish for this chance to tell you about it here.
Sarajevo
is a beautiful city, even in early November, and even with visible
scars remaining from the terrible conflict just a decade ago.
Sarajevo seems to
be filled with lovely people, and each has his own personal scars
and stories to tell from that time. The past hundred years of
conflict in the Balkan region is a very serious and complex topic
indeed, and one in which I don’t claim
to be particularly well informed. Certainly Sarajevo
has been a pivotal place in recent history: some historians mark
the real beginning of the turbulent and bloody 20th
century with the assassination of the Archduke in Sarajevo
in 1914. In contrast, most Americans probably recall images of
a beautiful Sarajevo
from the TV coverage of the Winter Olympics in 1984, but also
have a vague recollection of “the troubles” there following that
happier time.
As noted above,
my personal mission in traveling to Sarajevo
was to try to help a group of people dealing with real problems
from the effects of time and war on library and archival materials.
Libraries and archives throughout the former Yugoslavia
were damaged severely in the well-publicized conflict of the early
1990s. A few have worked closely with western European and North
American agencies to re-build Sarajevo.
Nevertheless, very serious problems remain for those who care
for cultural property throughout the region.
In library
circles, the most well known event of the recent Balkan war (although
I daresay that most Americans have forgotten about it) was the
deliberate destruction of the National and University Library
(NUB-BiH) in Sarajevo in August 1992, an attempt by Serbian forces
in the hills surrounding the city to obliterate the cultural heritage
of Bosnia-Herzegovina, a vivid example of the now infamous term
“ethnic cleansing.” The beautiful library building – a late-19th
century Ottoman-influenced structure built by the Austrians --
shown in an old postcard view below – was severely damaged and
a
Postcard, ca. 1960.
significant
portion of the libraries’ book and manuscript collections were
damaged or destroyed. The snapshots I took (below) of the Vijecnica
during strolls along the Miljacka
River shows the ghost
of this once-lovely structure.
Views of the boarded-up Vijecnica.
The building
is, of course, too damaged by fire to serve for any such purpose
now, and the fate of the building itself is not certain. The National
and University Library of Bosnia-Herzegovina (NUB-BiH) moved into
a portion of the former Tito army barracks, among with the other
displaced University units. Even though hundreds of thousands
of books and manuscripts were destroyed, a significant collection
of over 800,000 volumes remains. They have had great difficulty
in acquiring newer books and journals since the war, a real problem
for research and scholarship.
As part of
our work with local library leaders about strategies for the protection
and conservation of their remaining collections, we visited three
(3) other important collections: the Gazi Husrev Begova Biblioteka,
the Bosnjacki Institut, and the Orijentalni Institut u Sarajevu,
all in Sarajevo.
These institutions and their leadership amazed me, even as the
contrasts among the three collections were striking. Seeing their
collections and facilities, and talking with their curatorial
staffs provided me with a real-life-on-the-ground experience that
helped me understand their situations..
At the Gazi
Husrev Begova Biblioteka, the earliest library institution established
in Sarajevo (1537),
we were shown a wonderful collection of manuscript books and other
formats from the 12th to the 20th century,
stored in a well-designed facility with climate control and fire
suppression systems. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this
visit
A
typical manuscript book held at the Gazi Husrev Begova Biblioteka
was
in hearing their stories of moving this collection of Bosnian
manuscripts eight (8!) times to varied locations in Sarajevo
to protect the collections from shelling during the war. After
the Dayton Accords of December 1995 brought peace to the region,
library administrators were finally able to toss out the banana
boxes which had been used eight times for these hasty moves.
The collection has been microfilmed (with work continuing even
now), and many are being scanned as digital images, as I note
in the photograph below.
Digital
imaging at the Gazi Husrev Begova Biblioteka
Across the
Miljacka River,
near the heart of the Ferhadija (the old city), we were given
a tour of the Bosniak Institute (Bosnjacki Institut) and met its
founder and chief benefactor Adila Zulfikarpasica. The Institut
is a testament to what adequate funding can do for a cultural
institution in this land of very scarce resources. The collections
are in very good physical condition and are very well housed in
compact shelving; collections are accessible via an outline (but
not networked) catalog. The building is a wonderful structure,
and is clearly a source of pride.
A
view above portions of the Bosniak Institute, Sarajevo
Our third
and final visit was to the Oriental Institute, now housed with
the NUB-BiH on the campus of the University at the Tito barracks.
The Institute’s collection suffered a near total destruction from
the attack on and resultant fires at the Vijecnica building in
1992. Our meeting with these librarians and archivists was a
poignant and painful experience for all concerned; they feel the
enormous loss of their heritage, from the war. This snapshot
of the Oriental Institute’s home at the Barracks shows repairs-in-
Oriental Institute’s wall-mounted sign.
progress
to the building surface from shrapnel damage, a common sight throughout
Sarajevo.
The barracks
house the collections of the National & University Library
of Bosnia
& Herzegovina
(NUB BiH), which number 800,000 volumes, a number reduced considerably
by the incendiary fire in 1992. Other departments and units of
the University share space within the confines of the barracks.
For example, we met staff from the Refugee
Documentation Center,
who described their effort as “Three versions of the Truth under
one roof.” Our hosts in the library did provide for us some
very interesting examples of book preservation problems from their
collections, and we had little doubt that their collections will
benefit from a full range of preservation actions..
An 18th-century manuscript volume.
A rodent-damaged tome.
The University
of Sarajevo, the parent
institution of the National & University Library, is quite
large, with an enrollment of over 30,000, with some sources citing
an enrollment of 47,000. The leadership of the NUB-BiH laments
the lack of resources they have for basic library services, and
are working very hard to make their case to the local government.
Clearly the University (and its library) needs an improved facility
if it is going to survive. Not the least of their problems are the landmines that are still a concern in some areas of
the barracks campus, as well in outlying areas of the city. Shrapnel
damage to buildings and sidewalks – with repairs in progress --
is a common sight.
Shrapnel damage at a local plaza.
Sign
for the U.N.-led Mine Action Centre on the Tito Barracks campus
The
“To Film or To Scan” workshop, the event for which I was invited,
provided an unusual opportunity for me to meet a group of about
25 librarians and archivists from Bosnia.
We had hoped to see a wider range of people from throughout the
former Yugoslavia – from Belgrade, Zagreb, Ljubljana, Pristina,
and other cities throughout region -- but this was not to be;
a victim, we were told, of budgetary problems throughout the region.
The economy of Bosnia
is suffering; we learned that there is a 40% unemployment rate
there.
I have had
a wide range of experience presenting and teaching in the “workshop”setting,
having done dozens of training sessions in many aspects of preservation
management in the past twenty years. Each of the participants
here was an eager, although very polite, learner. But by the
third day of our workshop, most were expressing what they were
learning into the context of their own collections and work lives.
(I was amused by the number of cell phones in use, and their decidedly
Bosnian-sounding ring tones.) It was clear to me that many of
the most basic preservation strategies that we assume in US libraries
are lacking and highly desired in BiH. For example, they have
need for library buildings that protect their contents; for library
binding and routine repairs; disaster contingency plans; microfilming
for assured content preservation; conservation treatments for
treasures; and everything else, including digital imaging for
improved access. No matter what, they are very eager to move
forward using digital imaging, despite the daunting start-up and
continuing costs that the digital infrastructure requires.
The group
from NEDCC discussed possible next steps with the Director of
the NUB, and we hope something good can happen in future.
Let the record
show that this one-week trip was by no means all work and no play.
Sarajevo is a wonderful
place to visit, even with the Holiday Inn Sarajevo as a home base,
and despite my limited Bosnian vocabulary and syntax. To cope
with the latter, I carried and practiced from my Bosnian phrase
book, perfecting my favorite phrase into a convincing “Ja govorim
malo Bosanski!” (“I know a little Bosnian”). I quickly
learned to order a cool Sarajevsko pivo (the local beer)
at the restaurant; to greet others with a “Dobar dan!”
(Good afternoon!); and to use hvala (thank you) as often
as I thought I should. I picked up a few phrases by watching
the local TV, and tried some of them out the next day, often to
the amusement of my hosts. A majority of those under 50 seem
to have a good understanding of English, which proved to be a
great boon to us.
I received
strong encouragement to learn more and to interact with the local
populace when my luggage failed to arrive even five days after
my flight’s arrival into the city. So on the third day of my
visit, I walked – the city is very accessible on foot– to the
Skenderije neighborhood to the little shops in search for clothing
to tide me over until (I hoped) my bag arrived. I don’t recall
today the Bosnian words to describe underwear, shirt, necktie,
trousers, and socks, but somehow I was able to communicate this
and to score the needed items, paying the appropriate number of
Bosnia Marks without too much trouble. The delayed suitcase became
a cause celebre among my Bosnia
hosts, who were very helpful in my attempts to secure the lost
bag, which didn’t arrive in Sarajevo
until about 18 hours prior to my departure. But when the bag
arrived, I made sure to change immediately into my best dress
clothes to enable me to be in appropriate attire for my austere
posed portrait with Marshal Tito at the barracks, below.
The author with the image of Marshal Tito.
I was particularly
keen to visit the site of the notorious 1914 event at the Latinska
Cuprija (the Latin Bridge),
known to some as the Princip
Bridge, where Gavrilo
Princip shot and killed the Archduke and his wife. As this snapshot
shows, the site today is quite peaceful and unimposing, even when
it is impregnated with memory, a witness to the beginning of the
20th century.
The author at the Latin Bridge
Our travels
to Sarajevo coincided
with the U.S.
general elections, November
2, 2004. With my absentee ballot mailed three weeks
prior to this event, I was at peace with the result, since I could
do no more – except to watch the returns on the local television
in my room at the Holiday Inn Sarajevo. Watching U.S.
election returns here was to me an unreal reality, in a time zone
six hours ahead of the Eastern U.S., and
with live coverage from my home town of Columbus,
Ohio, featured as
prominently as our Swing
State status required.
In the following days we talked about the results with our hosts,
one of who offered her opinion of our current President, with
a derisive “Your Boosh is worse terrorist
than Osama bin Laden!!” (It would have been impolite for a visitor
to disagree with her, wouldn’t it?)
While in Sarajevo,
I talked with many locals who have great fondness for former U.S.
President Bill Clinton. In several restaurants where I had dinner
were large photographic portraits of their owners proudly displayed
and posing with former President Clinton during one of his several
visits. The proprietor of Restoran Una showed me a printed e-mail
response from Mr. Clinton, a response
to the proprietor’s own e-mailed well wishing to the former President
at the occasion of his heart surgery in September 2004. Many
here feel they owe a great debt to Clinton,
as do the proprietors of Restoran Pod Lipom, below.
Former President Clinton with the proprietors of Restoran Pod Lipom, Sarajev
(photo courtesy of the restaurant).
One couldn’t
help noticing American troops in the city during my visit, including
the Holiday Inn. They seemed to be welcomed here: I spoke with
locals about this, and many expressed anxiety about the troop
departures from Bosnia,
which I understand has since taken place. The peace seems a bit
fragile, and some worry about the controversies with parts of
the Dayton Accords, notably Part 4, related to the autonomy of
the Republika Srpska.
I hope to
go back to Sarajevo
someday, preferably during the warmer months, to see even more
of the city and as much of the countryside as I can. People are friendly,
the food is delicious, the beer is good, and prices are very reasonable
(depending upon how the US dollar does against the Euro).
As I bade
my hosts farewell, I found myself able
to find the words from my lame Bosnian, “Ovo je bilo nezaboranvo
iskustvo! Bila mi je lijepo!” This
has been an unforgettable experience! I’ve had a wonderful time!
Note
the author’s Naked
Sunfish ball cap as he relaxes after work in a Sarajevo club.
Wes Boomgaarden
Columbus, O
January 23, 2005
boomgaarden.1@osu.edu
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