SECOND VOLUME OF "WHO IS WHO: ARMENIANS" BIOGRAPHIC ENCYCLOPEDIA TO BE PUBLISHED THIS YEAR

Noyan Tapan
Mar 30 2007

YEREVAN, MARCH 30, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA NAS Armenian Encyclopedia
publishing house will publish this year the second volume of the "Who
is Who: Armenians" biographic encyclopedia. It will involve biographic
data of those prominent Armenia who had considerable achievements in
different spheres: science, culture, policy, ect., from the pagan
times to our days. As Hovhannes Aivazian, the publishing house
editor-in-chief informed the Noyan Tapan correspondent, the first
volume of the "School Encyclopedia" will also be published till the
end of the year, and the second volume will be published in 2008.

It was mentioned that the third, "Armenian Nature" volume of the
"Family Encyclopedia" series of publications was published in
January. It is a scientific-cognitive encyclopedia about the native
nature, its physical and geographic conditions, minerals, flora and
fauna, ecologic and nature protection problems.

In H. Aivazian’s words, money given from the state budget to the
publishing house dicreases year by year. So, if 28 mln drams were
given to the publishing house in 2005, 30 mln drams (83.3 thousand
U.S. dollars) were given in 2006, only 20 mln drams were given this
year. Whereas, in his words, 50 mln drams are annually necessary for
publication of voluminous encyclopedias.

As H. Aivazian mentioned voluminous encyclopedias were published
in post-Soviet countries after the independence in which the whole
history of those states is represented. "No similar encyclopedia
was yet published in Armenia, but its necessity is great," the
editor-in-chief of the publishing house noticed.