The statistical indicators continued to attest the trend that had started in the early 1990s. The number of registered loans was still very high even though, compared with the last five years, it was substantially lower. This fact may be attributed to the disastrous summer floods and consequent closing of the library. As well, fewer requests for library material were recorded. On the other hand, we were able to satisfy 93% of requests compared to 90% in 2001. It demonstrated very high and still growing information literacy of our users. They got used to more effective ways of searching and on-line ordering. Their requests were more concrete document-targeted than in the past. They were able to search more efficiently in OPAC and they ordered the items they really needed instead of ordering everything they thought it might be useful. Neither ordered they items already on loan to somebody else. This was a direct and very positive result of on-line registration of in-house loans.

In 2002, a number of registered users with a valid library card exceeded 50,000 persons even if the number of all the visitors decreased. However, it should be stressed that the annual statistical indicators were negatively affected by the floods and following restrictions. Since the end of 2001, the main library entrance has been equipped with an electronic counter. It recorded over two million entries in 2002. Similar counters are to be installed in the key public services areas – the Main Hall and the General Reading Room. From this, we expect to receive a more exact picture about the real use of the library. The highest number of users was recorded in the Reference Centre because it offered relatively inexpensive and comfortable access to Internet and access to growing number of local and remote Internet resources. An increased number of users attended various seminars, workshops, and cultural programmes organized by the library.

Photo duplication services kept their high performance rate. There was a small decrease in utilization of self-serve photocopiers for past few years; while the demand for ordered copies increased that was due to more strict preservation regulations concerning handling of endangered materials.

As always, the Interlibrary Loan section performed on an excellent level. Even though in the past several years they were able to stop the growing number of requests for search in the old Union Card Catalogues, this trend reversed in 2002. In the ten-year comparison of ILL activities, the year 2002 was the second most intensive one after the exceptional year 1999.