Rebuilding Bosnia's Library

Local scholars seek help of colleagues worldwide

By Burton Bollag

Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina -- Scholars and librarians here are determined to restore the National and University Library of Bosnia-Herzegovina and rebuild its collections.

Targeted by Bosnian Serb forces early in the siege of Sarajevo, the library was set ablaze and most of its contents destroyed.

The main repository of Bosnia's recorded history and culture, the library occupied a late-19th-century, Moorish-revival building in Sarajevo's historic center. The hexagonal