ience books, and 1 dealt with applied science.

Because books are an additional channel for propaganda, foreign works to
be translated into Albanian are carefully scrutinized. Literary works
must be of the sort that portray the ills and conflicts within
capitalist societies. Often, although a literary work might be generally
ideologically acceptable, parts of it are unacceptable. In such cases,
the book is carefully edited and abridged before publication in the
Albanian language is permitted.

Scientific and technical literature from abroad, on the other hand, is
actively sought for translation. On December 21, 1967, the Council of
Ministers issued a decision "On the Assurance, Publication,
Organization, and Massive Utilization of Technical-Scientific
Literature" from abroad. In this decision, the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs was called upon to devise new ways for obtaining such literature
through its embassies and through international organizations. Once the
foreign works are obtained, the decision stresses that their
translations must be of the best quality. Such translations are done
under the direction of the Ministry of Education and Culture.

There are numerous libraries of varying sizes throughout the country.
Official sources report that in 1967 there were twenty-nine people's
libraries with a total of 1,367,000 volumes, compared with only five
such libraries in 1938 with a total of 12,000 volumes. The largest of
these libraries is the National Library in Tirana, which in the late
1960s had 450,000 volumes. The second largest library is the University
Library, also in Tirana, which in the late 1960s had 321,680 volumes and
19,640 periodicals.

Each district has at least one library. The local libraries are on a
much smaller scale than those in Tirana in terms of their total number
of volumes. In addition to the district libraries, there are several
hundred houses of culture, cultural circles, and clubs that subscribe to
the libraries in order to make books more accessible to the population.

CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT

Intellectual and Artistic Expression

In 1944, when the Communist regime came to power, there was little or no
heritage in the various areas of cultural activity--literature, music,
drama, or painting and sculpture--upon which the Communist leaders could
build. Since the end of World War II, however, a consistent effort has
been made to foster the growth of an Albanian cultural tradition and to