The Idea of the Comprehensive Research Collection, the Perils of “Linguistic Impoverishment,” and Print Publications in the Turkic Languages of the North Caucasus, 1806-2017 (Part III)

ABSTRACT Since the advent of printing in the Turkic languages of the North Caucasus in 1806, the Kumyks, Karachais, Balkars, Nogais, Daghestani Azeris, and Trukhmen have created a rich body of published materials, one that is well worth the attention of Western scholars and librarians. Along with publications by other numerically small peoples, however, these materials suffer from serious neglect. What is lost when research library collections focus only on “major” languages (and/or only on those languages their own current faculty and students can read)? Do librarians at large research libraries have a responsibility to redress imbalances of this type, and what are the practical obstacles to doing so? This article (Part III of three) discusses steps that libraries and scholars can take to improve this situation, surveys the North Caucasus Turkic Web environment, considers the problematic role of the Russian language, and emphasizes the urgency of collecting and preserving this category of material and encouraging its use in contemporary scholarship. Part I of this article appeared in volume 18, nos. 3–4 of Slavic & East European Information Resources and Part II appeared in volume 19, nos. 1–2.