The 5th biggest university library in the United States got a collection of books on Czechs living in places like the US, Australia, Slovakia, Poland, Austria, Switzerland, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Ukraine, Moldova, Russia, Georgia etc. These were published not only in the Czech Republic, but also in various countries and in diverse languages. Quite a niche collection - majority of these books were produced in a very small print run, very often by the compatriot groups themselves, and they are not available in any other US libraries. This gives an edge to the unique collection of Bohemica at UC Berkeley. Roughly half of the collection was prepared by the Dept. of Czech Compatriot Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, the others were donated by various Czech institutions and from personal collection. The collection was received by Liladhar R. Pendse, librarian for East European, Central Asian, Armenian, and Caribbean and Latin American Studies Collections.

Liladhar R. Pendse