Address/Telephone Directories from Bulgaria
at the Library of Congress

Most of the foreign telephone directories held by the Library of Congress are uncataloged, hence we have compiled this list of Bulgarian directories as a finding aid for our staff and patrons. In addition to the uncataloged directories listed below, the Library also holds a handful that are cataloged and may be paged from the closed stacks using their call numbers. To locate these directories, search the online catalog using subject keywords such as "Bulgaria" and "directories" or the name of a city plus "directories".

The finding aid, which represents our holdings as of December 2007, is arranged by city and then by the year prominently displayed on the cover of the piece, which may or may not be the actual date of publication (i.e., a directory will often have one year in large print on the cover, and a different, usually earlier, year of publication elsewhere). Directories that cover the entire country appear first in the list. The type of directory is indicated by the words "residential", "organizational", or "both" for directories that include both business and private numbers.

There are three possible locations for uncataloged telephone directories from Bulgaria: the closed stacks (Bulgarian directories are currently held on Deck 36), the open stacks of the Main Reading Room (Alcove 4, Deck 46), and the European Reading Room reference section. For items in the closed stacks a reader must request the books by completing a call slip; the other two locations are open to the public for browsing. The finding aid designates these three locations as EurRR and MRR/GC for Decks 36 and 46. The most current directories are held in the European Reading Room.

The notes field is used to provide further information about the directory if needed. For example, many directories from Bulgaria feature a large town, but also provide listings for smaller locales. These smaller locales are often listed in the notes field.

Besides using printed telephone directories, a reader may find it helpful to use online directories available for free on the Internet. The Infobel site provides links to several large Bulgarian online telephone directories, one for Sofiia and others for the whole country.

For further information concerning telephone directories from Bulgaria held by the Library of Congress, please contact:

Angela Cannon or Predrag Pajic
Reference Librarians
European Division, Library of Congress,
Washington, DC 20540-4830
email: acannon@loc.gov or ppaj@loc.gov