The Core Module is an index hub for the proposed multi-modular digital library for documenting the Russian Diaspora entitled Russia Beyond Russia (RBR). Other modules of this digital library will be developed as funding becomes available. André Savine's research recorded on thousands of index cards and notebook pages serves as the basis for the Core Module. As work progresses on other RBR modules the original indexes in the Core Module will be expanded. The RBR application will provide users with Russian language functionalities (search & retrieval), and employ current metadata standards for consistent resource description, discovery, navigation, and maintenance. Text can be displayed either in Cyrillic or transliterated form by selecting the CYRILLIC or TRANSLITERATION records view. Transliteration will follow the Library of Congress transliteration scheme for Russian language. Searching will be available in both Cyrillic and transliteration.
Savine's records contain the bibliographic description of each title that ever passed through his hands accompanied by extensive annotations, biographical information on authors, illustrators, translators and sometimes people mentioned in these books. He gathered this information from different sources such as published bibliographies, newspaper and journal articles, obituaries and interviews with members of the Russian Diaspora. In many instances Savine also preserved oral histories on his index cards by recording information he received in conversations about famous and ordinary Russian emigres.
Apart from Liudmila Foster's Bibliografiia russkoi zarubezhnoi literatury, 1918-1968 there were only a few not widely known bibliographies published on Russian emigration. Some of Savine's sources are rare, thus his bibliographic descriptions accompanied by biographical information and bibliographic citations are particularly valuable. André thought these cards would serve as a foundation for the encyclopedia of Russian emigration he hoped to publish.
Savine used information recorded on the index cards for annotated catalogs he distributed to libraries. Expanded information was recorded on standard typing paper that he compiled in three-ring notebooks along with Xerox copies of title pages and sometimes copies of illustrations. There are many more index cards than notebook pages in the collection. Thus similar, but not necessarily the exact same records exist for any given title, one in the form of an index card and another as a notebook page. In addition some records consist of multiple cards and/or multiple notebook pages. In the Core Module information about a title found in different sources is combined and represented in one record. Some of the texts contain inconsistencies such as typos, old orthography, and other mistakes that could impair searching.
The Core Module records consist of three parts:
Part 1 - Description
For a title that has more than one of Savine's record available, information is combined in the first part of a Core Module record and presented as it appears in the original, with the exception of corrected typos and standardized (contemporary) orthography. If recognized, any other inconsistencies such as incorrect birth and death dates are documented in the note field of Part 1. This was done for information retrieval purposes as both Part 1 and Part 2 are searchable.
Part 2 - Related Indexes
The Related Indexes part of a Core Module record consists of index terms defined by the database creators and subject categories assigned by Savine. These index terms are accessible also in the browsing mode. Numbers next to index terms indicate the number of occurrences for a particular term in the database. The index terms are linked to the Core Module records. Each record also has a stable URL for citation purposes and for future linking to the University of North Carolina Library catalog records.
Part 3 - Savine's notebook pages and index cards
The third part of the Core Module records displays images of Savine's notebook page(s) and/or index card(s). On these images one can see handwritten notes not included in Part 1 of the Core Module record.
Even before the database is ready in its entirety access to information in the RBR Core Module will be available online in the browsing mode in the Work in Progress section. As work progresses more records will become available. This makes the Core Module immediately available to users and helps to monitor the database development.