Issue 7: Sping/Summer 2006
Dispatches from the Balkans
Arend Küster European Business Development ManagerThis year, amongst other more traditional countries, such as The Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany, PCG conducted explorative library visits for the first time in the three countries in the Balkans, Serbia and Montenegro, Macedonia and Kosovo.
We made contact with librarians in these regions, which have been hit by various crises in the recent past. Signs of these are very visible, the roads are generally bad and we did follow the advice of the Foreign office not to travel by night.
When venturing into these markets, its important to start off with a blank sheet – don’t expect anything, and be prepared for everything. Certainly, we knew that these countries will not be able to sustain full subscriptions, but we had noted some interest from these corners of the world and wanted to find out more.
The first stop was the Republic of Macedonia, as the country is now called by the US. As Macedonia is the name of a geographic region and also part of Greece, Greece does not recognize the Republic of Macedonia as a name for a country, as this would point to some territory claims in Greece, but is talking to its neighbor as FYROM – the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia. However, it is now widely believed the Republic of Macedonia will be at some stage the name of this small country with a population of only about 2million people.
The country in itself has managed to split off from Yugoslavia relatively peacefully, but came very close to civil war in 2001, which has seriously hampered economic development. Today, the average salary is about €300 per month, and the reported unemployment rate is around 35% - but it has been reported that it’s actually closer to 50%. We visited the university of Skopje to find out how the country is doing. There are not many students in Skopje, especially in science, and this is of major concern for the university. With potential salaries very low for highly qualified staff, there is not much earning potential in the countries, and most people try to find a way of leaving. However, Macedonia has a growing industry and has started talks with the European Union. Although the library will not be able to afford full time subscriptions yet, there is funding for research available.
This is a similar situation in Serbia. Although you have to be prepared for the unusual and travel is different there than in other countries – this is probably one of the few countries were the AT&T Phone card is not working, and I also got stopped by the Serbian police once, also I did anticipate a full and uncomfortable body search, I only had to act as a taxi driver for two policemen. Practicalities aside, Serbia is a poor country as well, but not as poor as Macedonia. At least people here earn an average of €600 per month here – but still 30% of people are living below the poverty line. This is very visible when conducting interviews with librarians. The future is uncertain, but at least the country is large enough to sustain itself. The libraries itself don’t have much money (and do not have many subscriptions), but there is a central agency which can arrange and negotiate individual licenses with publishers. They can’t pay full price, but they said that they would pay on time and respect the publishers license agreements. The only time they could not pay was shortly after the assassination of their premier minister in 2003 – and I was assured that this does not happen every year. However with a population of over 10 million, the country does research and funds research.
Things are very different when traveling to Kosovo. Kosovo is not really a country; it’s a region under UN administration. NATO soldiers are the police force and act as the border control. The region itself is tiny and only has a population of 1.8 million. There is very little income and unemployment is around 60% - if not higher. Kosovars want to become independent, but have neither the economy to sustain themselves nor the security to make this happens. The UN sponsors talks on the future status of Kosovo, which are chaired by the former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari. Today, NATO and the European Union are busy rebuilding housing and infrastructure. It’s rich in natural resources and has coal, lead, zinc, chromium, silver and gold mining, but all is fairly defunct.
As people really came from nothing, there is much more of a sense of optimism there, although there is not much to be optimistic about except maybe that this is their final chance. The university is large and has about 28.000 students, but inside the university, there is hardly any equipment. The library is mostly empty and relies on donations – everything, which was of value, has been taken away in (or before) 1999 during the Milosevic years. The country cannot afford subscriptions, yet needs research desperately to build up any form on industry. In an unprecedented move, PCG is currently helping the university of Prishtina and administering an access program to scientific information – with the American Institute of Physics, the American Physical Society as the initiators of this trip providing free trial access to this institution. The Royal Society has offered to follow suit as well – and it would be great to get more publishers signed up. Please do let us know if you want to be part of this initiative.
This trip really has shown that there is research in every country and there is an opportunity to work with most European Countries. If you would like to explore more how we can help you reaching to European Markets, please contact me.