In 2001 the work on the already approved three long-term programmes continued. The funding of the programmes was reduced in comparison with their projects, but was far better than in 2000.

1999-2003
Funding: Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic
Responsible person: Adolf Knoll

URL: http://www.cdh.nkp.cz

Tests of the functioning of the component devices of the digital library were performed by an independent company to evaluate the reliability of individual sub-systems and their compatibility. Serious problems in the domain of protection against hacker attacks through Internet were specified and implementation of a series of measures for better security started. Digitization of maps was initiated and the test of implementation of the MrSID Image Server into the digital library architecture as well. A new ORACLE version was purchased and necessary maintenance work and upgrade of individual components were made. A series of consultations took place with specialized software companies and service of several sub-systems of the digital library was ensured. On the basis of evaluation of the test period, a new interface was prepared and several changes in the configuration of individual components were made to enable full operation of the digital library in 2002.

1999-2003
Funding: Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic
Responsible person: Ivana Anděrová

URL: http://full.nkp.cz

The basic conception of access to full texts of the Czech provenance was completed. The processing of the bibliographic records and full texts took place traditionally in the integrated library information system and in the automated extraction service of the bibliographic records from full texts. The URL and metadata were created in UNIMARC/MARC 21, DC, XHTML, and XML/RDF or with the help of web form. Identification of full text is made on the basis of URL, URN, SICI, and also DOI in the near future. The search and access are made through the so-called subject gateways, topic search and full text retrieval also in combination with indexes, DC metatags, XHTML, XML/RDF, and HTTP, Z 39.50, and SFX protocols as well as through Internet search engines. New topics (TOPIC system) were defined and an application for generation of the XML format was prepared. The annual Internet licence for TOPIC including technical maintenance was purchased. Automated indexing of ca 4120 texts was performed.

1999-2003
Funding: Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic
Responsible person: Gabriela Krčmařová

URL: http://www.caslin.cz

Since it was necessary to improve a basic quality of the Union Catalogue administration and to develop further services provided to both users and librarians, the decision was made to develop the tailor made system Cubus on the ORACLE platform for administration and operation of the Union Catalogue. The work concentrated on loading sets of records from various libraries for all types of documents into the Union Catalogue and on optimization of their sharing. The development of applications for facilitating inter-library loan services started. In 2001 Cubus system was updated and the preparatory steps were done to use a union database of national authorities in the Union Catalogue.

Research and Technology Development Projects

Union Database of the Co-operative System of Bibliography of Articles - Optimization of Integration and Management of Heterogeneous Data

2000-2004
Funding: Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic
Responsible person: Ivana Anděrová

Bibliographic records are extracted automatically from full texts and imported into the database of bibliographic records and full texts. A new architecture and layout of the http://full.nkp.cz server were prepared and a new user registration form installed. Ca 51,000 records were linked off-line to the full texts purchased in 1999-2001. Since May 2001, the records are generated automatically from daily newspapers and several journals: ca 4749 articles. Also records and full texts from freely accessible stable Internet titles were linked together: ca. 1400 articles. A portal for access to freely available texts on Internet was built up: it was structured following particular themes and regions, inlcuding description of available resources.

In 2001 the database of the co-operative system of the national bibliography of articles was continued to be added new records that are available on-line and on CD-ROM together with the Czech National Bibliography.

Optimization of the Hybrid Technology of Reformatting Endangered Library Holdings

2000-2001
Funding: Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic
Responsible person: Františka Vrbenská

The aim of the project was improvement of preservation microfilming technology, application of OCR technology, and choice of a retrieval system. The project solution in the micrographic part concentrated on exposure improvement and application of new microfilming processes adapted to digitization requirements. In the digitization part, automated image processing was solved through creation of new software and conversion of digital images into text format by the OCR technology FineReader 5 adapted to the old Czech periodicals. Also special search system Retrieval Ware Excalibur was purchased. It tolerates spelling differences in either the body of the text or the queries. This search system is particularly useful in environments where documents have scanning and OCR errors. The Czech newspapers and other periodicals from the 19th and 20th centuries suffer of paper embrittlement and they are also damaged by frequent usage. The current condition of these documents is a special problem not only for microfilming and digitization, but also in the course of image processing and OCR conversion. These documents must be digitized in grey scale and thus large images (1 to 2 MB after compression) are obtained. Their processing is both complicated and time consuming. To facilitate microfilm digitization, special tools were developed in cooperation with the Elsyst Engineering Company; they were adapted to specific features of old Czech documents to enable work in batch mode.

Preparation of Thematic Catalogues of Historical Music Collections Preserved on the Territory of Bohemia and Moravia

2000-2004
Funding: Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic

Responsible person: Zuzana Petrášková

The work brought better knowledge about the registration platform for music resources, especially thanks to application of rich catalogue records – both classical and electronic ones. The co-operating institutions – National Library, Moravian Museum in Brno, Archives of the Prague Conservatory of Music – worked on preparation of concrete titles of printed catalogues. The co-operation with the owners of the music resources is much appreciated and it is very flexible with museum, archives, libraries, and church institutions. The Music Department of the National Library co-ordinated the work of the participating centres as well as co-operation with the RISM headquarters. It organized training for the PIKaDo system and offered consultations not only to active collaborators, but also to the growing number of users of the products of this activity.

Optimization of Archival Storage of and Access to Digital Data

2000-2001
Funding: Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic
Responsible person: Adolf Knoll

Extensive measurements and evaluation of results were performed not only on CD produced for archiving purposes in the National Library, but also on discs received as legal deposit of audio recordings and data publications. Necessary preventative measures were adopted to ensure long-term archiving of data. A new method of calibration of scanning devices was introduced including new calibration tables, ICC profiles, and recording of standardized metadata for the digital still image into the XML structure of the digital document. An optimized method for tuning resolution and JPEG compression quality factor was implemented and developed. Special software for this domain was developed and offered for free use. The Netscape ImGear plug-in was optimized and the DjVu technology with the DjVu server implemented into the digital library for dynamic on-demand conversion of archival images into DjVu format. A new upgraded version of the off-line manuscript ManuFreT browser was developed for research purposes. A new DTD of the electronic format of the digitized manuscript in XML was written with application of the latest content standards (Europe, U.S.A.). The Tornado software was adapted for work above this structure and thus the needs of the European catalogue of manuscripts (MASTER), the national manuscript catalogue, and the digital library were bridged. The results of the project substantially improved preservation of data on CD, accelerated and improved digitization of manuscripts and gave tools for better and more modern access to digitized documents. A greater part of results were introduced in practice or at lest tested (XML DTD).

Restoration of Illuminated Manuscripts

2000-2001
Funding: Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic
Responsible person: Jiří Vnouček

About 15 most damaged manuscripts were selected for research. Detail study of the condition of each manuscript was done, focused mainly on analyses of paint layers of book illuminations. We managed to invite our colleagues Prof. Dr. Fuchs and Dr. Doris Oltrogge from Fachhochschule in Cologne, department of conservation of rare book and manuscripts, to cooperate with us. Equipment for non-destructive analyses was brought from Germany and it enabled us to make a detail research of painting techniques and that of the condition of the manuscripts. Several recommendations concerning future preservation and conservation of manuscripts were elaborated. Besides of that, the experimental part of this project continued and it consisted in modelling of new paint layers on parchment that had been produced on the basis of the medieval recipes. After artificial aging and mechanical destruction of samples, different types of binding agents and methods used for conservation were tested.

Registration, Preservation, and Access to Czech Electronic Internet Resources

2000-2001
Funding: Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic
Responsible person: Ludmila Celbová

The aim of the project was to set up conditions for inclusion of the remote electronic resources into the Czech National Bibliography and to deal with the related issues concerning long-term preservation of the Czech Internet resources and making access to them with respect to copyright. The results and other information concerning the project are available at the URL http://webarchiv.nkp.cz.

Access to the Holdings of Big Czech Libraries: National Library of the Czech Republic

2000-2004
Funding: Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic
Responsible person: Bohdana Stoklasová

The main goal was retrospective conversion of the General Catalogue of the National Archival Collection. Retrospective conversion of this catalogue is almost completed [smaller portion of funding came from this grant, the larger one from other sources of the National Library]. Another goal was introducing of new functions to the highly used information system for retrospective conversion and making it broadly available not only for the National Library, but also for other libraries. Nowadays, the system can be used in different libraries. Modularity of the system allows other institutions to modify it for their particular needs. This tool is now available for other libraries, while the Czech National Programme of the Retrospective Conversion of Library Catalogues can use this reliable and user-friendly tool for the retrospective conversion mapping and management in the whole country. Libraries planning retrospective conversion of their catalogues can find information on retrospective conversion in other libraries at http://nprk.nkp.cz/. The information system will be also a very useful tool for co-ordination of funding coming from different sources and minimizing of repeated retrospective conversion of the same records.

OCLC First Search Service

2000-2003
Funding: Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports of the Czech Republic
Responsible person: Hanuš Hemola

This project aims to gain free access to OCLC FirstSearch with full text (OCLC Base Package with Full Text) for ten most important libraries in the Czech Republic, in such a way that users from the area of research and development had equal access to this service in all regions of the Czech Republic with direct connection to ILL services. The goal of this project is not only securing access to this important information resource, but also regular evaluation of its effectiveness, usage and factors contributing to the research and development work in the Czech Republic. The providing libraries aim to establish a consortium that would secure access to this service after the project has ended.

Access to Fulltext Databases of Professional Foreign Periodicals on the Basis of The Open Society Institute EIFL Direct programme

2000-2003
Funding: Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports of the Czech Republic
Responsible person: Hana Nová

New libraries joined the project and in the end of the year 2001 there were 233 registered libraries. During the year, training for new participants continued and working sessions of current informal consortium members were organized. An electronic conference was used for cross communication. In March 2001, the presentation of monthly usage statistics of EBSCO databases was launched for each library on project web site http://www.nkp.cz/eifl. The project was presented in professional journals, on conferences, and workshops. User guide for searching in databases was published.

Reference Centre of the National Library of the Czech Republic – a gateway to the world of information

2000-2003
Funding: Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports of the Czech Republic
Responsible person: Hanuš Hemola

The aim of this project is to secure further development of the Reference Centre and realize its main mission – to facilitate services from local and remote resources to local and remote users alike. Under this project the infrastructure of the Reference Centre (HW and SW) was completed and enriched with basic information resources. Inseparable part of the project is also rationalization and upgrading of ILL services through resource sharing via www and implementation of the document delivery service in traditional and electronic format. The goal of this project is the Reference Centre as a gateway that provides – locally and on Internet – integrated access to the primary, secondary, and applied information to users predominantly from research and development areas.

CASLIN Uniform Information Gateway for Heterogeneous Resources

2000-2002

Funding: Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic
Responsible person: Bohdana Stoklasová

The main goal of the project for the year 2001 was providing Czech users with a modern and universal gateway integrating heterogeneous information resources. Another goal was introducing the national standard for subject cataloguing linked to the national standard for library collection evaluation and development strategy. The result of the first goal is available at http://octopus.ruk.cuni.cz. The second goal resulted in the new uniform subject cataloguing guidelines based on international standards, the third one in introducing the internationally applied conspectus method into the Czech environment. The CASLIN uniform information gateway integrates heterogeneous information resources including full texts. National standards for subject cataloguing and collection evaluation and development strategy will make searching of resources and collection building and sharing on both national and international levels much easier.

2001-2002
Funding: Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic
Responsible person: Františka Vrbenská

The project solves conservation of endangered and rare books through their storage in special boxes made from acid-free mill-board paper. The project stresses on the optimal production technology of boxes. In 2001

a prototype of archival quality mill-board paper was developed in co-operation with Czech paper manufactory enterprises. The trouble-free British CASEMAKE equipment was purchased for experimental production and projection of preservation boxes. An additional measuring device was also developed and all the equipment underwent a series of tests.

2000-2003

Funding: Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports of the Czech Republic
Responsible person: Miroslav Ressler

The main goal of the three-year project is extension of the structure of information resources of the Library and Information Science Literature Library with electronic documents and subsequent improvement of information services for research. The possibility of a gradual extension of the structure of information resources creates a basis for a systematic usage of key databases of library and information science, which are e.g., LISA or Library Literature. There are also other documents which are of great importance for researchers, such as directories, reference manuals, theoretical and practical publications from librarianship and information science on CD-ROM and electronic documents acquired on the basis of current needs of users or researchers. These resources were purchased during the year and their list published on the website of the National Library.

2000-2002

Funding: Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic
Responsible person: Miroslav Ressler

The project concentrated on preparatory works prior to processing the explanatory database. It consisted in optimization of the set of terms processed for the Multilingual Dictionary of Library Terminology, in compiling the list of valid standards from the library and information science and their explanations, conducting the set of searches from the Library and Information Literature Library database, the recruitment of collaborators, so that the list of terms for the database can be completed in 2002, as well as the methodological instruction for selection of headings.  

1999-2001

Financial source: European Commission
Project manager: Zdeněk Uhlíř

The European Commission project MASTER – for which the other partners are from Great Britain, France, the Netherlands and Denmark – is aimed at development of a standard in processing of manuscripts, building of

a prototype of a shared catalogue of manuscripts as well as its proliferation in the whole Europe. In 2001 the works were focused on the third main task of the project. The workshops were organized in Italy (Milano), Czech Republic (Prague), Lithuania (Vilnius), France (Paris), Denmark (Copenhagen), the Netherlands (The Hague), Wales (Aberystwyth), Bulgaria (Sofia), England (London), and Germany (Marburg). At the same time the standard MASTER was implemented in the workflow of the National Library of the Czech Republic.

2001-2003

Financial source: European Commission
Co-ordinator for the Czech Republic: Miroslav Ressler

The aim of the project is development of European public libraries and their co-operation with other cultural institutions. A series of digital manuals are being prepared both from the social activity area of libraries and application of modern technologies. The work started in the middle of 2001. Following documents have been already prepared: Country Profile, Survey for Digital Manuals, List of Key Players, Support Group for Processing Project, ICT and Libraries questionnaires, Survey of Library Services for Physically and Visually Handicapped Users, etc.

The National Library of the Czech Republic is co-ordination centre of the above-mentioned programme and some of its specialists co-ordinate also the individual sub-programmes. There are nine sub-programmes in which – besides the National Library - various Czech institutions take part on the basis of calls for proposals. Below the projects of the National Library are described.

Responsible person: Vít Richter

A co-ordination centre of the VISK programme in the National Library of the Czech Republic carried out all special, administrative, and coordination activities connected with implementation of the programme: co-ordination of the implementation of the State Information Policy, update of content orientation and goals of the programme, organisational leadership of boards of specialists in individual sub-programmes, processing basic data and records, monitoring results from two rounds of calls for proposals, presentation and publicity of outcomes of the programme, processing of websites of the programme and their update. A wide-range survey of the state of Internet connectivity of libraries was carried out in November 2001. Its results will be used for specification of the programme goals.

Responsible person: Zlata Houšková

The National Library has received grants for two projects that were used for funding two training courses. One was devoted to the Basic Information Literacy and comprised 400 lessons, the other was the course of seminars called Electronic Information Sources and Databases. The courses of basic information literacy were aimed at acquisition of knowledge and basic skills at work with ICT. They were divided into seven programme units: Basic terms of the ICT, ABC of the work with PC and file management, Word processor, Spreadsheet program (Excel), Databases (Access), PowerPoint presentation and Information network (Internet). These courses were attended by 281 librarians from different types of libraries. The second course dealt with following topics: Training of librarians for processing sources of the EU, Legal sources and the Digital Library of the Czech Parliament, State administration information resources, Union catalogue as information source, Internet and book market, Mass media in the Internet environment, Art on the Internet and World database centres in connection with a new role of libraries. 519 librarians and information specialists from many institutions from the whole Czech Republic in total took part in these seminars. The continuation of both courses is required by all participants. Broader and more qualified services for users is expected benefit from the two education projects.

Responsible person: Miroslav Ressler

The project aimed at retrospective conversion of the documentation file of the Library and Information Science Literature Library. It concerned records from library science, bibliography, and information science. The documentation file is now available on Internet. The project further concentrated on increasing quality of access to information resources including improvement of the web site interface. The project made available the most complex collection of professional literature about librarianship and information science to a broader circle of specialists in the Czech Republic.

Responsible person: Adolf Knoll

For safer operation of the digital library systems UPS devices were purchased as well as archiving media (cassettes, optical discs) for storage of data. The project also supported financially Internet connectivity of the National Library to the National Research and Educational Network - 155 Mbit/s. Also service, maintenance, and administration of the digital library systems were supported. The antivirus protection of individual workstations was increased and optimization of installation and operation of various programs in the digital library were ensured.

Responsible person: Bohdana Stoklasová

The project was divided into three parts:

General Catalogue of the National Conservation Collection: The goal of the project was comparison of 241,200 paper cards representing Czech books published in the 20th century and contained in the General Catalogue of the National Archival Collection with the records resulting from a RTD project completed in the year 2000 and named Making the Books Published during the 20th Century available via the Internet and CD-ROM. Another goal was the full retrospective conversion (UNIMARC records) of 84,495 records including the completing of holdings. Thanks to the combination of this grant and RTD funding, the retrospective conversion of the General Catalogue of the National Archival Collection is almost ready.

General Catalogue of the Universal Library Collection II: The goal of the project was the full retrospective conversion (UNIMARC records) of 60,000 records. These records are ready and will be available (after some revisions) on-line during 2002. The main priority were the records representing the highly used part of the general catalogue, while the records representing the less frequently used documents were excluded and remained accessible only as digital images.

General Catalogue of the Slavonic Library: The goal of the project was the full retrospective conversion (UNIMARC records) of 45,000 records. These records are ready and will be available (after some revisions) on-line during 2002. The retrospective conversion covered the records in both Latin and Cyrillic.

Responsible person: Bohdana Stoklasová

The main goal of the project was design, testing, and production of the National System for the Retrospective Conversion of Catalogues (NRIS), allowing for: acquiring of complex and up-to-date data on both plans and results of retrospective conversion in different Czech libraries, co-ordination of funding projects submitted under the umbrella of the VISK 5 - RETROCON, efficient management of retrospective conversion in Czech libraries and minimizing of repeated retrospective conversion of records representing the same documents in different Czech libraries. Another important goal was improvement of design and functionality of the image catalogue interface including the possibility of ordering documents from this catalogue. The highly used RIS/NRIS systems required the new server, which was purchased and started to run in late 2001. Analysis and client interface design for NRIS were completed together with analysis of the business logic of the central NRIS. The statistics modules and connection between RIS and NRIS systems were developed. The system is fully running and containing data from other libraries (Plzeň, Olomouc, Brno). The users can benefit from the much more powerful and user-friendly interface enriched with the innovated document ordering function.

Responsible person: Gabriela Krčmařová

The oldest part of the Foreign Periodicals Union Catalogue contains titles ranging from the oldest (a unique title from 1527) until 1964 (4 titles published in 16th century, 38 titles published in 17th century, 688 titles published in 18th century, and 6877 titles published in 19th century). By December 31, 2001 the Foreign Periodicals Union Catalogue contained almost 65,765 titles published between 1527 and 2001. The main goal of this project in the year 2001 was to process more than 20,000 records of periodicals. The Foreign Periodicals Union Catalogue has been available on the Internet since 1994 under the title KZP (Foreign Periodicals Catalogue).

Responsible person: Adolf Knoll

The project aimed to continue digitization in the well-known programme related to the UNESCO Memory of the World programme. It was calculated to digitize 47,637 pages, but actually 60,026 pages were processed. This was possible thanks to the fact that images with 256 shades of grey were applied to a series of textual manuscripts, i.e. the older KODAK DCS 460 was used. The manuscripts containing colour information were digitized in true colour (16,7 million colours). All data was structured following the existing recommendations and all the manuscripts had both Czech and English descriptions. The project contributed substantially to better access to rare collections of the library. One copy is used in the Manuscripts and Early Printed Books Department for off-line access, while the other copies are archived on CD-R and they will be also uploaded into the Digital Library. Other documents were digitized in the National Library in co-operation with AiP Beroun Ltd. for other libraries, museums, archives, and other institutions participating in VISK 6. These documents have the same archiving and access regime as the documents from the holdings of the National Library. Altogether, more than 110,000 pages were digitized in the National Library in 2001; other ca 140,000 pages were digitized in lower quality in another centre (collection of old textbooks).

Responsible person: Adolf Knoll

The project concentrated on microclimate control during digitization and on enhancement of computation power for image processing. A new server for a new system of metadata structuring was installed in local application of the AiP Safe system, while the other workstations are dedicated for image processing. This solution enables transfer on a higher version of structuring of digital documents on the XML platform. This will enable their compatibility with the European database of manuscript (MASTER project). A new CORES system was implemented for tuning optimal properties of the digital image together with improved calibration of devices, storage of technical metadata for the still digital image, and ICC profiling of devices. Thanks to this project, the results of our own research and development activities were implemented in practical work.

Responsible person: Jiří Polišenský

The programme concerns library activities in the area of reformatting of endangered collections. It uses the system consisting of four micrographic centres (National Library, Moravian Library in Brno and research libraries in Plzeň and Olomouc) and the centre of digitization of microfilm at the National Library. Three companies take also part in the projects in the domain of microfilming, copying of microfilm, and processing of image data. 10 projects were realized in Czech libraries, archives and museums in 2001. They asked for support in equipment and operation of the centres and in reformatting of damaged or endangered documents. Altogether 33 titles of regional and specialized periodicals were microfilmed (1315 volumes) from which 23 (647 volumes) will be available also in digital format. In addition, the National Library digitized 52 sound recordings for the Institute of Contemporary History of the Czech Academy of Sciences. The National Library stores the archival masters and ensures the long-term archiving of the digital documents for the whole national Kramerius programme as well.