Of the 9,399 titles published in 1969, the greatest numbers were in the fields of technology, industry, agriculture, and medicine. Also included in this group were books, treatises, studies, and reports in the general economic field as well as translations from foreign sources. This category of titles, although representing about 33 percent of those published, had an average circulation of only about 3,500 copies per title—well below the overall average of approximately 9,000.
The second largest group of published titles was in the field of social sciences and represented approximately 22 percent of the total. This classification included all books dealing with political science and socioeconomic theory as well as all textbooks and materials used in the educational system. A particularly large segment of books in this area were documents and manuals used for party training, Marxist-Leninist classics, and party-directed studies and monographs dealing with the historical, philosophical, or sociological development of the communist movement.
The material published in the fields of art, games, sports, and music dominated the third largest group and ranged from children's entertainment to musical scores. The fourth largest group, representing about 15 percent of the national publishing effort, related to general literature. This field covered novels, essays, short stories, and poetry written by recognized authors as well as by less well established modern writers, both domestic and foreign. The books selected from foreign sources were carefully scrutinized, and very few were published that dealt with contemporary Western subjects. Also banned, as a matter of general principle, was all material that (in the judgment of chief editors) "did not contribute actively to the socialist education of the new man" within the communist society.
Distribution and Foreign Exchange
The distribution and sale of books, both domestic and foreign, are vested in the Book Central, a state-owned organization that is also responsible for the coordination of all book production. The Book Central, with headquarters in Bucharest, operates directly under the Council on Socialist Culture and Education and maintains a network of bookshops throughout the country in district centers and other major towns. In addition to supplying major outlets such as libraries and schools with publications, the local bookshops also set up and operate bookstalls and book departments in rural areas, usually at industrial enterprises and farm collectives. Traveling bookmobiles are also used to serve factories, mines, or other isolated activities in outlying areas. Discount book clubs were reportedly established as early as 1952, but recent information was lacking as to their continued existence, size, and method of operation.
After receiving approval of their individual publishing plans, the publishing houses distribute catalogs, bulletins, and other informational material to the Book Central for distribution to major purchasing outlets. In addition, the local bookshops issue periodic lists of all books in stock as well as those scheduled to be printed during specific periods. Official statistics concerning the wholesale and retail sale of books are not habitually published, but recurrent articles in the press criticize the lack of enthusiasm and general ineptness of booksellers as major factors in lagging book sales to individual buyers.
The Book Central in Bucharest conducts all transactions involving the foreign exchange of publications. This agency issues annual lists of available Romanian publications, together with short bibliographic annotations or summaries as well as subscription details. Also, the sale of books is fostered at the various international book fairs in which Romania participates.
LIBRARIES
The Romanian library network consists of two broad categories—general libraries, administered by the central government and its territorial organs, and the various libraries administered by mass organizations, institutes, and enterprises. Those in the latter category are generally referred to as documentary libraries since most of them specialize in scientific and technical holdings. The number of general libraries declined appreciably from a total of almost 35,000 in 1960 to slightly more than 18,000 in 1971, due principally to the consolidation of facilities. Over the same period the number of documentary libraries remained fairly constant, averaging slightly more than 4,000, the total number existing in 1971.
The greatest proportion of general libraries, by far, are those associated with primary and secondary schools and those that serve the general public. In addition, the state operates two national libraries, and forty-three others function as part of university and other higher level institutions. The total holdings of all these facilities exceeded 95 million volumes, and the number of registered readers in the public libraries was reported to have reached almost 5 million in 1971. No information was available as to the total annual circulation of books on personal and interlibrary loan in the general library system, but the two national libraries were reported to have circulated 55,000 volumes in 1968, and the combined circulation of the forty-three university-level libraries approximated 178,000 volumes in the same year.