The libraries of hospitals and health centres have established a valuable information system in Mexico, whose head is Centro Nacional de Informacio´n y Documentacio´n sobre Salud (http://cenids.insp.mx/cenids/).
In these countries, especially in Mexico, there are also important special libraries and informa- tion centres on art, literature, history and energy resources using all electronic resources and inter- national databanks to give support to their users.
The private Biblioteca Gallardo, with a collection of ancient and valuable books, the most impor- tant in El Salvador, was practically destroyed during the January 2001 earthquake.
Central American countries were represented at the Primer Encuentro Iberoamericano de Bibliotecas Parlamentarias, which took place in Mexico City in 1994, supported by IFLA, where they learned about the information services required by the parliamentary bodies.
Further reading
Fernandez de Zamora, R.M. and Budnik, C. (2001)
‘Bibliographic Heritage of Latin America’,Alexan- dria13: 27–34.
Memoria (2001) Encuentro Latinoamericano sobre Atencio´n Bibliotecaria a Comunidades Indı´genas, Me´xico: UNAM.
Memoria (2001) II Seminario Latinoamericano de Asociaciones de Bibliotecarios y Profesionales Afines, Me´xico: IFLA, UNAM.
Polo Sifontes, F. (2001)The Development of National Libraries in Central America, Boston: IFLA-CDNL.
ROSA MARIA FERNANDEZ DE ZAMORA
For example, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia can now afford to spend more on cultural and educational institutions.
There has also been external support provided by Western Europe through PHARE and TEM- PUS (European Union programmes designed to help CEE countries with their economic and social restructuring) and by US foundations such as the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Soros Foundation. A large part of this support has been used forlibrary automation and the development of online public-access catalogues.
NATIONAL UNION CATALOGUES
Libraries, in conjunction with universities and research institutes, are Internet pioneers in Cen- tral and Eastern Europe. The development of the World Wide Web and the implementation of integrated library systems provide the user with access to the CEE library catalogues as well as information about their collections and services.
The creation of national union catalogues is one of the best examples of the latest technologi- cal developments in some CEE libraries.
As of mid-2001 the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Poland have already developed or have begun the implementation of national union catalogues.
The CASLIN Union Catalogue of the Czech Republic was created on the basis of the CASLIN (Czech and Slovak Library Information Net- work) Project in the late 1990s. There are over thirty Czech and Moravian libraries that partici- pate in the CASLIN Union Catalogue by con- tributing new cataloguing records or using the existing ones for cataloguing purposes. In 2000 there were almost 600,000 monograph records and approximately 60,000 foreign serials records in the CASLIN Union Catalogue. The participat- ing libraries must observe established standards for record processing (e.g. unimarc, ISBD, AACR2, universal decimal classification (UDC)). It should be mentioned here that some records produced by the Czech National Library (one of the major CASLIN participants) are now occasionally being loaded into the oclc data- base. In the near future the CASLIN Union Catalogue will also include records of Czech periodicals that will be merged with the existing catalogue of foreign serials.
COBISS (Co-operative Online Bibliographic System and Services) is Slovenia’s national union
catalogue and its major gateway to information resources. It provides the participating 244 libraries (including the National Library of Slo- venia) with ‘conditions, necessary for shared cataloguing at a national level, including biblio- graphies and the automation of local functions’
(Seljak 2000: 12). As of May 2000 the COBISS National Union Catalogue contained over 1.7 million monographic and serials records of print and non-print materials. Some records originally created by the Slovenian National Library in the COBISS system can now also be found in the OCLC database. While the COBISS system and catalogue is mainly used by the Slovenian li- braries, some Bosnian and Croatian libraries have joined (or rejoined) it recently. This is a very positive development, as the countries of the former Yugoslavia work to re-establish cultural, economic and political relations.
The COBISS system also functions as the main gateway for Slovenian libraries and their users to access information resources. Patrons can get access to foreign bibliographic databases such as OCLC WorldCat, ERIC, the Library of Congress nameauthority fileand many others.
By mid-1997 eleven Polish libraries already had catalogues available through the Internet.
The implementation of VTLS by some major Polish libraries had ‘a considerable effect upon the creation of bibliographic and cataloging standards fitted for the online environment’
(Sroka 1997: 191). One of the most important standards first adopted by the VTLS Consortium of Polish libraries and later by the National Library was theusmarcformat for the transfer of bibliographic data.
The main authority file (abbreviated in Polish asckhw) has become a basis for the creation of the National Union Catalogue (referred to as NUKat). The catalogue should be operational by the end of 2001. The participants of the NUKat project include twenty-one VTLS li- braries, fifty-four Horizon libraries and the National Library. As of June 2001 the main authority file consisted of 460,333 records (in- cluding 340,799 personal and corporate names and 50,803 subject headings). The NUKat Na- tional Union Catalogue will make those records (as well as bibliographic records) available to participating libraries and thus will greatly enhance bibliographic and cataloguing standards in Polish libraries.
68 CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE
National libraries’ websites
Since the Internet made its way to the region many CEE national libraries have been using Web technology to advertise their collections and provide access to their online catalogues. Well- designed websites can attract a whole new category of virtual users interested in CEE libraries.
By mid-2001 eight CEE national libraries had websites. Most of them had a corresponding English version, but the English-language site was usually lacking some information from the original version. Only the Hungarian National Library could be accessed in another language (German) in addition to English. Most of the sites had links to either Web-based OPACs or telnet OPACs. Only the Polish National Library and the Hungarian National Library provided access to their national bibliographies.
The accessibility and performance of some CEE national library websites are hindered by the lack of an accurate English version, poorly organized staff directories and the lack of a site search engine. By improving their websites the CEE national libraries may attract even more foreign virtual users. These websites can be traced through the Gabriel gateway (Gabriel 2001)
Library education
Many CEE library schools have been undergoing organizational and curricular changes. Their biggest challenge is the development of a new model of library studies that would combine more traditional book-based and bibliographic studies with modern information technology.
For example, the University of Warsaw Insti- tute of Information Science and Bibliological Studies tries to reconcile two orientations, namely bibliological studies and information science. On the other hand, the International Centre for Information Management Systems and Services in Torun´ (created in 1997 as a self- supporting school of librarianship and informa- tion management for Central and Eastern Eur- opean students) challenges the traditional model of library education in Poland. The school focuses exclusively on the latest developments in information technology and library management.
The Institute of Information Studies and Li- brarianship at Charles University in Prague offers a variety of courses ranging from retrospective
bibliography to information science and informa- tion management.
The curriculum of the Department of Library and Information Science of the Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest includes courses in both the history of bibliography and information science.
The CEE library schools are now teaching more topics such as computer technology, library management, library automation, etc. There is a decreasing demand for traditional subjects such as history of libraries, history of the book, etc.
The trend towards modern library education will continue as the CEE library schools revise and update their curricula in line with developments in US and Western European library studies.
Many of the schools have websites that can be found through the website of the Royal School of Library and Information Science in Denmark (www.db.dk/dbi/internet/schools.htm).
Future trends
More than ten years after the fall of communism, Central and Eastern Europe is a greatly diversi- fied region. The Czech Republic, Hungary, Po- land and Slovenia are more advanced in their economic reforms than other CEE countries. As they can afford to spend more on education, their libraries and library schools are in the forefront of library automation and educational reforms. The greatest challenge facing the coun- tries of the former Yugoslavia (Slovenia being an exception) as well as Albania, Bulgaria and Romania is bridging the economic gap between Southeastern Europe and Central Europe. A chronic political crisis and a lack of economic reforms experienced by many Balkan countries will have a negative impact on the development of libraries and information services in that region.
That is why it is crucial for the future devel- opment of Southeastern European libraries to maintain co-operation with the West and former Communist countries (especially Slove- nia). An interesting example of the co-operation between Bosnian libraries and Western European and US libraries is ‘CUPRIJA’ (a bridge) – a group of librarians who are helping to recon- struct the National and University Library in Sarajevo and reconstitute its holdings, especially the collections of Bosniaca (www.soros.org.ba/
cuprija/index.html).
CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE 69
As the co-operation between CEE libraries and Western Europe and the USA increases, the need for stricter standards for the transfer of biblio- graphic data will become even more important.
Some CEE libraries are already using USMARC or UNIMARCin their bibliographic databases.
The Czech National Library and the Slovenian National Library are contributing records to OCLC. The CEE cataloguing standards need to be revised and updated so that more CEE cataloguing records can be used by global biblio- graphic utilities (e.g. OCLC WorldCat etc.).
References
Gabriel (2001) [For URLs and information about Central and Eastern European national libraries see the homepage of ‘Gabriel – Gateway to Europe’s National Libraries’ (http://portico.bl.uk/gabriel/en/
welcome.html).]
Krastev, D. (1996) ‘Libraries in transition’, in M.
Koco´jowa (ed.)Libraries in Europe’s Post Commu- nist Countries, Krakow: Polskie Towarzystvo Biblio- logiczne, Oddzial w Krakowie, pp. 61–4.
Peic, S. (1999) ‘Sarajevo: Coping with disaster’, in P.
Sturges (ed.)Disaster and After, Taylor Graham, pp.
151–60.
Riedlmayer, A. (2001) ‘Convivencia under fire’, in J.
Rose (ed.) The Holocaust and the Book, Amherst:
University of Massachusetts Press, pp. 266–91.
Seljak, M. (2000) ‘COBISS: National Union Catalo- gue’,New Library World101(1,153): 12–20.
Smith, A. (2000)The Return to Europe, New York: St Martin’s Press.
Sroka, M. (1997) ‘Creating bibliographic and catalo- ging standards and developing cooperation in Polish academic libraries after the implementation of VTLS’,Information Technology and Libraries16(4):
182–92.
SEE ALSO: European Union information policies;
Nordic countries; Russia and the former Soviet Union
MAREK SROKA