Acquisition was funded from the regular budget of the National Library with the sum of 1,138,000 CZK (i.e. only 0.76 % of the whole annual state contribution received) and from special funds granted for acquisition purposes amounting to 15 million CZK. In addition, other funds from various projects were used (see Projects Chapter) to improve the quality of the information environment and offered services.

The whole acquisition suffered from lack of financial resources. Even if the funds remained on the same level as of previous years, their real value was reduced due to impact of increasing prices incl. subscriptions, inflation, changing exchange rates, postage, etc. In the given financial framework, it was rather difficult to perform systematic and consistent acquisition policy; therefore, both user needs and partly also the strategic aims of the library remained unfulfilled.

The documents were acquired through the following channels: legal deposit, purchase, international exchange of publications, donations, or from internal resources such as reserve or duplicate holdings. On-line access to foreign electronic information resources was ensured in the form of individual or consortia licence agreements. For this purpose, mostly funds from research and development projects were used.

The most important acquisitions concerned especially older Bohemical titles for the National Archival Collection and Universal Library Collection. In addition, interesting titles from the beginning of the last century were acquired such as, for example, unique dwarf bibliophilic editions and bibliophilic editions from the workshop of Vladislav V. Jindra or those from the production of the Litomyšl publisher Josef Portman, rare editions of children literature, etc.

The acquisition of foreign literature concerned mostly humanities, natural sciences, culture and arts. The titles listed below were some of the interesting items worth to be pointed out: Encyclopaedia of European Social History from 1350 to 2000, Encyclopaedia of Human Intelligence, Encyclopaedia of Modern Asia, Dictionnaire des arts plastiques modernes et contemporains, Illjustrirovannyj slovar’ russkogo iskusstva, International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, Elsevier‘s Dictionary of Geographical Information Systems, Cassell‘s Dictionary of Proverbs, and Enciklopedija russkoj živopisi.

The Manuscript and Old Printed Books Department acquired the very rare Bible benátská from 1506. It is one of the first Bibles printed in Czech that was published thanks to support of three non-Catholic citizens from the Prague Old Town. It contains not only coloured woodcuts, but also a series of nice illuminations.

The collections of library and information science literature were substantially enriched with such CD-ROM titles and updates as, for example, the U.S. Cataloger’s Desktop, Dewey for Windows, Library Literature and Information Science Abstracts, English Library and Information Science Abstracts, or German World Guide to Libraries Plus 2001-2002.

The national bibliographic databases on CD-ROM from the following countries were also updated: Great Britain, France, Italy, Canada, Germany, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain. In addition, the updates were purchased also for books-in-print CD-ROM or on-line resources such as Global Books in Print, Electre, Verzeichnis lieferbarer Bücher, etc.

Application of the internationally respected Conspectus method brought an understandable and well-structured insight into the National Library main collections such as National Archival Collection, Universal Library Collection, and Lending Collection.

(For acquisition data with statistical analysis more in detail see the Statistics Chapter)

ISBN

One hundred and fifty one new publishers were registered into the International Standard Book Numbering system (ISBN), i.e., the total number of publishers participating in the ISBN system in the Czech Republic was 3,232.

ISBNs were checked in about 17,000 book titles. The Czech National ISBN Agency itself assigned 1,623 numbers to books published by publishers not participating in the ISBN system.

The printed directory of publishers participating in the ISBN system supplemented by the list of music publishers participating in the ISMN system – with data through 31st December 2001 – was published. In addition, 24 issues of the bi-monthly O.K. – Ohlášené knihy (Books announced to ISBN agency) were issued.

Contacts with the International ISBN Agency in Berlin continued; three updates of the Czech publishers database aimed for the international directory PIID (Publishers’ International ISBN Directory) were prepared as well as the list of incorrect ISBNs assigned by Czech publishers in 2002.

The Czech National ISBN Agency presented its activity during the 30th International ISBN Agency Advisory Panel meeting in Berlin in October 2002.

Six new music publishers were added to the International Standard Music Numbering system (ISMN). The total number of participants in the ISMN system in the Czech Republic was 50 by the end of 2002.

ISMNs were currently checked in ca. 160 titles of music publications. The Czech National ISMN Agency itself assigned 49 numbers to music titles in which ISMNs were not entered.

The Czech National ISMN Agency took part in the 10th International ISMN Agency Advisory Panel meeting in Ankara in April 2002.

In cooperation with the Czech National ISSN Centre (in the State Technical Library) 65 ISSNs were assigned to new non-technical serial titles.

Similarly as in the previous years, emphasis was laid not only on fast cataloguing of documents (hindered by summer floods), but also on optimization of workflows and on building of national authority files. The optimization of workflows continued especially in the area of cataloguing of the books published in the 19th century. During 2002, the former backlog in cataloguing of periodicals was adjusted.

In the sphere of authority files of personal names, a crucial number of mainly state research libraries and regional libraries co-operated. The co-operation was based on on-line application of the Z39.50 protocol that facilitated unification of OPAC access points. The authority file was published on Internet containing more than 133 thousand records (125 thousand for personal and 8 thousand for corporative authorities).

In the area of subject authorities and subject cataloguing, the work focused on routine creation of authorities of all kinds: topical, geographic, and formal controlled terms. English equivalents and updated UDC notations were being added to topical authority records. The implementation of the Conspectus method (subject categorization) was going on successfully. In September, cooperation on creation of subject authority records started. An interactive form was developed for entering geographic and formal controlled terms, whereas the topical terms were being created intellectually. The Czech-English version of UDC Master Reference File on CD-ROM was published as well.

In the Co-operative System of Bibliography of Articles from Periodicals (COSABI) database ca. 64,000 records were indexed: 34,000 in the National Library (one third of the total number was indexed automatically) and 30,000 in other institutions. The indexing methodology was harmonized with respect to ANL database needs and the UNIMARC conversion. The records of the ANL database were linked to the full text database of and to full texts freely available on the web.

In the cataloguing policy, much attention was paid to planned transition from UNIMARC to MARC21, to Czech interpretations of the Bath Profile, AACR2R, and other standards or rules, and to training of Czech cataloguers. Newly established regional libraries were contacted and invited to take part in working groups and co-operative programmes.

August floods affected the work of the Preservation Division; see the special chapter in this publication. From other activities, the preparation of historical documents for in-land and foreign exhibitions, especially in France and Luxembourg is worth mentioning. The reformatting activity concentrated on co-operation of the National Library with other institutions. The Preservation Microfilming Department assisted the project Newspaper Collection of the Slavonic Library with production of 150 rolls of microfilm, while for the Slovak National Library in Martin 80 rolls were made, and for the Institute of Contemporary History 20 rolls. The microfilmed titles were mostly periodicals of the 19th and 20th centuries. In addition, a collection of microfilm print-outs was prepared for the Theatre Institute. Its users were provided with access to the Theater Calender, an important document for theatre research in Central Europe.

The international co-operation concerned also digitization, as for the Slovak National Library the Cyril a Metoděj and partly also the Slovák periodicals were digitized. For the Czech National Corpus Institute ca. 1,500 pages of Rudé právo newspaper were digitized within a special project. The total of pages digitized from preservation microfilm was ca. 260,000 pages.

The Digitization centre, using the direct scanning methods, produced ca. 104,000 high-quality pages of manuscripts, old prints, and maps; more than 48,000 pages were from the documents of the National Library. A new database of digitized documents was made available and works started on provision of fast-networked access to digitized manuscripts for authorized users. The access will be based on output of data migration procedures into the new XML structure and on optimization of image files.

A routine operation of the Centre for production of protective boxes was launched to improve the preservation of modern collections: 2,399 book volumes were measured and put into various types of protective boxes. Archival cardboard, developed by the National Library, was used for boxes for the Manuscript and Old Printed Books Department, Slavonic Library and other important collection curators. In addition, several other Czech institutions used these services to protect their collections.

Preservation surveys were made in house and also for other institutions. They consisted of microbiological examination and necessary disinfection of collections, climate control, and proposals for optimized storage of library collections.

The old printed books from the Baroque Hall of Klementinum were passed under the administration of the Manuscript and Old Printed Books Department. This was the final phase of almost ten-years processof selection of old prints from the Universal Library Collection. Their separation from the modern holdings – that are normally available to users – will make it possible to concentrate more on the physical preservation of them and safe storage.

In this area, a systematic building of archival holdings of Bohemical literature of the 19th century started. The collection is created from one copy from each title of the Universal Library Collection and it enables completing of the retrospective bibliography of this period of time.

General inspection of the Universal Library Collection was going on. It had started several years ago, after completing the transfer of library holdings both from various storage facilities outside of Prague and from Klementinum into the Central Depositary in Hostivař. Besides, additional 60,000 units of documents were added to the library stacks – new monographs and periodical volumes.

Free storage capacities of the National Library are going to be exhausted. This problem can be solved only in the framework of a general reconstruction of the Klementinum building and enlargement of storage facilities in Hostivař.

A very serious problem was the reduction of funds for bookbinding. In consequence several thousands of volumes of books and periodicals acquired in 2002 cannot have been offered to users.

As for the public services, the results of the last year may be found as average. After several years of successful development we neither introduced new services nor opened new facilities for users. The operation of the library was interrupted because of the August floods. Preventive rescue work – transfer of electronic equipment and a large part of our collections from open stacks in the reading rooms – devalued the results of regular activities performed just before in July, during the regular summer closing. The floods and subsequent recovery activities caused the prolongation of the closing period over the whole summer season. This gap has its apparent reflection in all statistical indicators of library performance.

In 2002, the choice of information resources in the Reference Centre was stabilized. Under the financial support from the Information Resources for Research and Development programme provided by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Physical Education (for further information see Projects Chapter) the offer of on-line resources can have been enriched. Thus, the users were enabled access to rich research and development electronic information resources especially in humanities and social and natural sciences fields.

Changes in the library-related legislation such as the new library law (no. 257/2001) and its regulations notably influenced the terms of public services. A library, which opens to the public, has to come to terms with copyright and subsequent royalties for authors (no. 121/2000, Authorship Law) and with law on privacy of personal data (no. 101/2000, Law on Privacy of Personal Data and on Changes of Other Legislation), as well as with other rules and regulations. Traditional understanding of library services and expectations of the users often tend to differ from the existing legislation. The public perceives the new legal limitations that libraries must introduce as an infringement. In addition, the financial support from the government is inadequate and it does not reflect new demands resulting from the changed legislative environment.

Both public services and the work of several departments were affected by the transition to a higher version of the ALEPH 500 library information system. The new version brought a new web-OPAC to users with enhanced possibilities of display and navigation through the database, while for cataloguers it offered new tools to facilitate their work. The transition to the higher version, however, had also several negative consequences, as the load of the ALEPH server increased and many procedures slowed substantially down. The funds for the purchase of a new server, however, were not available but in the end of the year.

This disabled the transfer of the Union Catalogue under the ALEPH system.

The National Library databases in Aleph 500 contained ca. two million records.

For better access to information resources, the Uniform Information Gateway is available, which integrates searches in heterogeneous resources in one interface (see also Projects Chapter). The user can create his own work environment with a set of favourite resources he wants to have permanently at his disposal. Most large Czech libraries took part in the gateway as well as union catalogues and the two largest Slovak libraries – Slovak National Library in Martin and University Library in Bratislava. Thus, integration of important resources for the current Czech production of documents took place: Czech National Bibliography, Ohlášené knihy (Books announced to ISBN agency), Nové knihy (New books), and Knižní novinky (The latest books).

The interest of users in studying historical library collections reached its top in 2001, while in 2002 there was a slight decrease. The reorganization of historical holdings was completed: in the final phase the inspection of old printed books from the Baroque Hall of Klementinum was performed and the whole collection was handed over under the administration of the Manuscript and Old Printed Books Department.

An electronic catalogue of historical collections was founded. It will be a uniform entrance both into the virtual library of digital copies of original historical documents and into the electronic library of full texts – editions of historical documents – as well as of secondary and tertiary resources necessary for research. New contacts with Czech and foreign partners were established to foster co-operation in this area. First steps for mutual conversion between MASTER and UNIMARC standards were made. It will open the way for creation of a complex research environment composed both from classical and various electronic information resources.

Co-operation with EU VICODI project was launched (see Projects Chapter) as well as active participation in building of the union catalogue of old prints Hand Press Book Database 1455-1830 created by The Consortium of European Research Libraries. In 2002, the National Library of the Czech Republic became a regular contributor to the database.

The Slavonic Library continued to prepare the union catalogue Russian Book 1918-1926 in co-operation with the National Library of Russia in St. Petersburg.

There was active co-operation, mostly on organizing conferences, with Czech institutions such as the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and the Institute of Slavonic and East European Studies of the Philosophical Faculty at the Charles University.

Preparatory works for the XIII International Slavonic Congress in Ljubljana started. This included creation of the bibliography of the XII Congress and preparation of an exhibition in Ljubljana in 2003.

The Slavonic Library continued the retrospective conversion of its general catalogue: ca. 15,000 records were processed. Outside the project, other works connected with retrospective conversion went on such as copying the records of Czech publishing production from the National Library Database.

In the first year of the three-years project ”Newspaper Collection of the Slavonic Library. Completion and Microfilming” almost 220 titles (50,000 pages) of newspapers were processed from the period of the Russian Civil War. This project is supported by the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic (see also the Projects Chapter).

The Shevchenko Scientific Society New York, USA, granted the Slavonic Library financial support for a publication on the collection of the Ukrainian Museum in Prague (1925-1945).

The most important activity was a three-day international conference Dmytro Chyzhevskyj: Personality and Works on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the death of this eminent Ukrainian philosopher and Slavist. Thirty researchers (included 21 from abroad) actively participated in this conference.

The Slavonic Library prepared or shared in common other following activities such as the presentation of important publications, meeting with Otto Sagner, publisher from Munich, or readings on the occasion of the 80th birthday of the Bulgarian writer Blaga Dimitrova. The cycle Seminaries on East European History in the Slavonic Library continued with four meetings.

From the series of exhibitions, one of the most important ones was 500 Years of Czech - Croatian Literary Relations in Mutual Translations opened by Stjepan Mesić, president of the Croatian Republic.

Experts of the Slavonic Library took part in several relevant international research conferences such as Kul’turnoje nasledije rossijskoj emigracii (Cultural legacy of the Russian emigration) 1917-1939 gg. (Sankt-Peterburg), Vratislav v Čechách – Češi ve Vratislavi (Wroclaw in Bohemia – Bohemia in Wroclaw)(Wroclaw, Poland), Electronic Description and Edition of Slavic Sources (Pomorie, Slovenia), and Fifth Congress of International Ukrainists Association (Černivci, Ukraine).

The publishing agenda was represented by 27 monographs and 65 issues of 5 periodicals (see the List of the published titles on the page 95) and in addition, by various accompanying titles on the occasion of exhibitions held both in the library and in other institutions such as Museum of Czech Literature or National Library of Luxembourg. A lot of advertising and information material (leaflets and folders) about databases and events in the National Library were published as well.

The National Library – Librarianship Review has been published quarterly since 2002 in printed version as well as in HTML and PDF formats (http://full.nkp.cz/nkkr/NKKR.html).

The CD-ROM publication of the Czech National Bibliography and that of 4th edition of the UDC: Universal decimal classification were prepared in co-operation with AiP Beroun Ltd. A representative collection of the National Library publications was presented at Czech and foreign book fairs and important library congresses.

The Union Catalogue of the Czech Republic (www.caslin.cz) operated under the CUBUS system and the users had the opportunity to use all its functions and – since April 2002 – also new English interface. Interlibrary loan requests were enabled within the catalogue as well as control of imported records in real time. The number of offered records reached the total of more than 1.6 million. Fifty eight libraries and institutions have been contributing with their records to the Union Catalogue regularly. Programs for import of data were tuned in order to handle duplicate records in an optimized way.

Since May 2002, the Union Catalogue was being prepared for transfer into the Aleph 500 system. This required a repeated import of all the records in order to guarantee better quality of data (3 million records). All the participating institutions were contacted and a substantial part of them sent their records again. The new import will take place in spring 2003, incl. import of the database of foreign periodicals (ca. 75,000 records) and ca. 8,000 records of Czech periodicals from the holdings of the National Library.

Works on retrospective conversion of the oldest layer of the union catalogue of foreign periodicals continued; more than 15,000 titles of foreign periodicals were processed. They were imported into the Union Catalogue of Foreign Periodicals and made accessible on Internet.

The records of received and stored foreign periodicals were updated. Three hundred and seventy libraries were asked to co-operate, while 348 of them sent lists of their periodical titles available. In addition, information about discarded items and new titles were continuously entered during the year as announced by co-operating libraries.

The directory of libraries and information institutions contained 2,994 records incl. the institutions that have closed down.