The University of Toronto Libraries’ Slavic and East European collection is the largest and most comprehensive of its kind in Canada. The Library acquires materials in most disciplines of the humanities and social sciences from Russia, East-Central Europe, Central Asia, and the Caucasus, and from various émigré communities from these areas throughout the world. The distribution of holdings by language is Russian (47%), Polish (17%), Ukrainian (8%), Czech (7%), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (5%), Hungarian (4%), and the remainder in in Bulgarian, Slovak, Romanian, Estonian, Belarusian, Slovenian, Macedonian, and other languages.
Print material is acquired primarily for the John P. Robarts Library and the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, with the remainder purchased for several specialized collections on campus (Music, Maps, Media Commons, and the Petro Jacyk Central and East European Resource Centre). The Library also subscribes to major indexes and databases related to Slavic and East European studies in general, as well as to electronic resources of the specific disciplines for this world area.
The University of Toronto Libraries house a number of special collections. Particular strengths are in 20th-century Czech, Slovak, Polish, Russian, and Ukrainian culture and history.