Geoffrey Husić
- Librarian of Slavic and Near East Studies
- Gretchen and Gene A. Budig Distinguished Librarian
Contact Info
Biography —
I am the Slavic, German, Linguistics, Jewish Studies, and Near East Studies Librarian at the University of Kansas Libraries. Since 2012, I have served as a Full Librarian, specializing in the original and copy cataloging of Slavic, East European, Near Eastern (Arabic, Hebrew, Yiddish, Persian, Turkish), and Central Asian monographs and serials. I utilize OCLC software, the Voyager cataloging system, and RDA and Library of Congress Classification standards to manage collections in all formats.
In my capacity as a subject specialist, I serve the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies (CREES), providing collection development and liaison support for faculty, instructors, and students. My role includes substantial liaison activities with the Department of Linguistics, offering reference services and specialized instruction for both undergraduate and graduate students. Previously, I served as a Serials Cataloger and Monograph Cataloger at KU, following my initial professional experience at the University of Illinois Slavic Library.
Education —
Research —
My research interests and areas of library support pertain mainly to the Balkan languages (Slovenian, Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, Macedonian, Bulgarian, Albanian, Romanian, Vlax, Greek, and Romani) and the Balkan Linguistic Union, which is a linguistic concept that examines the syntactic, morphological, and lexicological commonalities that have arisen in these territorially contiguous, but linguistically quite different Indo-European language groups. Within my research in this field I have focused on two specific aspects: the problem of orthographic history, language and dialect variation, and reform, and how the lack of orthographic uniformity and relatively late standardization affect information retrieval in the context of libraries' cataloging and metadata standards, and in bibliographic databases and software utilities. In addition, I have a specific linguistic interest in the verbal Syntactic systems in the Balkan languages.
Selected Publications —
Husic, Geoff. Romani Language Dictionaries: (1755-2019): An Annotated Critical Bibliography. KU ScholarWorks, 2019.
Husic, Geoff. "Using OCLC WorldCat Language Indexes to Quantify Slavic and Eurasian Language Collections and Answer Complex Bibliographic Questions." Slavic & East European Information Resources, 2018.
Husic, Geoff. "Enhancing an Open-Access Linguistics Journal Archive with Library of Congress-like Metadata: A Case Study of the Effectiveness for Improving Discovery." Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics, 2014.
Courthiade, Marcel (Co-editor of English content: Geoff Husic). Morri angluni rromane ćhibǎqi evroputni lavustik = First Romany-European language Dictionary. UNESCO-sponsored, 2009.
Husic, Geoff. "Russo-Serbian Orthography: Cataloging Conundrum and a Proposed Solution." Slavic & East European Information Resources, 2009.
Husic, Geoff. "Orthographic Reforms in the Former Soviet Union: Some Implications for Serials and Internet Resource Catalogers." Slavic and East European Information Resources, 2001.