Analyses of Projects

In 2001, a total of 22 projects were submitted that competed for VISK 5 funding. The following text, rather than being a detailed analysis of all the projects approved or rejected, will focus on those groups of projects and some selected individual projects that share some general interesting features, and illustrate the current situation in retrospective conversion of catalogues in Czech libraries. In addition to projects mentioned here, there are a number of other projects dealing with retrospective conversion of catalogues or recataloguing in a number of other Czech libraries.  VISK 5 may be the biggest but certainly not the only grant framework for retrospective conversion projects.

Projects Approved

 A Group of Co-ordinated Projects for the Use of Scanned Records

 This group includes projects of the NL CR, Moravian Library in Brno, Research Library in Olomouc, Research Library in Plzeò and the Library of the Parliament. Their common characteristic is the use of scanned catalogues as the basic material. The libraries know very well that opening up all their catalogues completely in the form of structured databases that comply with international standards is, in view of limited financial resources, a "long-distance run". That is why they are trying to use image catalogues for as many functions as possible, including ordering, and not only in loans but also for the purpose of retrospective conversions in other libraries. Scanning frequently used catalogues whenever a quick progress of comprehensive retrospective conversion cannot be expected, and making the catalogues available on the Internet for purposes that include ordering is a fast and inexpensive method of opening up the holdings described in those catalogues. Libraries that make their scanned catalogues available to the public including the ordering feature, can then calmly and rationally plan further steps.  They can afford to wait and take over entries from external databases when they are available, and/or link shortened records with full records in their internal or an external image catalogue, etc.

Group of Co-ordinated Projects for the Retrospective Conversion of Regional Serials Records

 This is a co-operative project of libraries, museums and picture galleries from the Hradec Králové region. Its aim is the retrospective conversion of serials published on the territory of the present-day Hradec Králové region. The project is co-ordinated by the Research Library in Hradec Králové ("SRLHK"). The project has a good conceptual design, and the SRLHK guarantees the adherence to standards and the outputs presented in a format that can easily be used in both national and international projects. In its role of the co-ordinator, the SRLHK draws not only on good knowledge of holdings in the region but also on its experience from its automation of library processes and from its participation in other co-operative projects in the area of retrospective conversion. This shows that the participation of museums and galleries in joined projects, which is both in this country and abroad often considered a stumbling block, need not be an insurmountable problem if the project is well designed and has a good and experienced co-ordinator.

State Technical Library in Prague : Retrospective Conversion of General Catalogue of STL Holdings: 1913-1977 Records

 One of the reasons why the State Technical Library ("STL") project is listed here is that, although it is not a co-operative project, it does have a number of interesting and, for the rest of Czech libraries, inspiring features. The aim of the project is to provide access to monograph records in STL holdings published between 1913 and 1977. The STL Catalogue also contains records of monographs published before 1913 and after 1978, records of serials and of other documents. The retrospective conversion of monographs published before 1913 and after 1978, and the retrospective conversion of serials from STL holdings have taken place or are taking place as a part of other grant programmes, or is financed from the STL budget. In this way, the STL has been able to test various technologies in real practice - from a comprehensive recataloguing of historical holdings to RETROKON technologies for serials. This allowed the STL to make an experience-based analysis and decide about the method to be used for the conversion of records of monographs published between 1913 and 1977. The method selected is a combination of manual transcription of records from volume inventory lists and the use of external sources. This is the reason why the results of this project (especially the analysis of external sources and experience in using them, and tests of programmes allowing the allocation of data from external sources to records generated by the STL) may be of interest for other Czech libraries, particularly those who used to have poor-quality of cataloguing and the use of external sources is a possibility for significant improvement in the accessibility of their own holdings. This project is also interesting because the STL is a special library with sector-oriented rather than universal holdings. The truth is that the small participation of special libraries in the VISK 5 subprogramme is an unpleasant surprise.

Projects not approved

Group of Co-ordinated Projects "Catalogue of Chateau Libraries"

 This is a co-operative project of chateau libraries, museums and national heritage institutions headed by the National Museum Library. The objective is to carry out retrospective conversion of records in catalogues from chateau libraries in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia, and to develop a database of European historical literature from the 9th to the 20th centuries preserved in unique individual collections. The project is a kind of a less fortunate counterpart of the above co-operative project of libraries, museums and galleries of the Hradec Králové region. The project is coordinated by the Library of the National Museum ("LNM"). It has been submitted repeatedly and it has equally repeatedly been rejected, for always the same reasons: the non-observance of standards and an absence of links to projects, technologies and external sources of relevance to the LNM project. In spite of repeated assessments and analyses of records generated by the project that confirm the non-observance of standards, there has been no change in the coordinator's attitude to standards, and new versions of the project are developed as if in a vacuum, with a complete disregard for existing standards, technologies and external sources available. The LNM can draw only on its knowledge of holdings, but it lacks experience that it might have gained either from the automation of library processes in its own institution or from the participation in some cooperative projects in the field of retrospective conversion. The LNM project shows that coordinators of such big projects should first get experience in the automation of processes in their own libraries, which will help them to understand the role of standards and apply them in everyday practice, and thus also to acquire information on external sources. It is also recommendable that they first get some experience in retrospective conversion of catalogues as team members.