East View Information Services to publish The Current Digest historical archive in full-image, full-text online database

Authoritative and massive English-language resource for Soviet and Russian studies promises to change research possibilities for today's scholars.

For Immediate Release
July 24, 2007

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, July 20, 2007 - East View Information Services, the world's foremost provider of information from Russia/CIS, China and across Eurasia announced today that it will release the full archive of The Current Digest of the Post-Soviet Press in an online database. The respected English-language digest, which began life as The Current Digest of the Soviet Press (CDSP) is scheduled for mid-September release.

"For much of its history CDSP was probably the most important, and most used, English-language resource for Soviet studies scholars," said Kent D. Lee, President and CEO of East View Information Services. "Now, its rebirth as a massive digital archive allows unprecedented primary-source research in authoritative Soviet and Russian materials. Perhaps most significant for today's and tomorrow's scholars is the section of this product from 1949 to 1980, a period for which practically no research materials of this kind exist in digital format. Now they do, and access will be 24/7."

The Current Digest back files from 1949 constitute a full retrospective of a journal uniquely designed to give American audiences a broad picture of the news presented to the Russian (Soviet and later Post-Soviet) public by its leading dailies, plus newspapers and magazines covering special interests such as agriculture, industry, labor and youth.

From its inception, the editorial panels, comprised of highly respected American Sovietologists from Columbia University, Harvard University, Yale University, the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Colorado, selected articles and guided translations to convey "the sense and spirit" of the Russian text. Their stated goal was to reprint "only material of special or lasting interests in Soviet development."

The Current Digest started at a time when Stalin's censorship was severe and impartial observers in Moscow were quite few. The Current Digest's important insights continue as East View continues to publish the digest today.

This unprecedented collection of full-text, full-image English-language articles creates a sweeping panorama of the rise and fall of the Soviet Union as a superpower from mid-twentieth century to today. It also includes coverage of domestic affairs and social issues such as smoking and youth. For instance, on May 28, 1986, The Current Digest published ahead of schedule to deliver: "Chernobyl: The First On-the-Spot Reports."

Delivered on East View's UDB™ (Universal Database™) platform, The Current Digest is a powerful and user-friendly research tool. UDB™ powered searches reveal unique historical, political, scientific and social insights buried in almost 60 years of primary-source newspapers and journals. Academic librarians, East View's primary clients, will be able to offer The Current Digest to students at every level of academic endeavor.

While many libraries have nearly 60 years of back issues of The Current Digest on their shelves, the new online archive will help libraries meet the demand for powerful digital research tools on the remote desktops of today's students, faculty and researchers.