Formerly Des Journaux pour la Roumanie et la Bulgarie, Livres et Revues Francophones (LRF) is a nonprofit association created in July 1990 to distribute in Romania unsold copies of French magazines. This activity was extended to Bulgaria in June 1991 and later to Ukraine and southern Russia. It now also includes the distribution of books. The aim of the organization is to improve access to written information from Western countries; despite its name, LRF also distributes German books. By collecting‹or buying for a symbolic price various types of publications, LRF can offer these products in local currencies for a fraction of their normal price. In 1993, LRF distributed over 600,000 magazines and 300,000 books through a network of 65 book shops in four countries.