Digital%20libraries%20%20from%20the%20perspective%20of%20the%20Croatian%20Ministry%20of%20Science%20and%20Technology

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Digital libraries from the perspective of the
Croatian Ministry of Science and Technology

• Robert Manger
• Ministry of Science and Technology
• E-mail robert.manger_at_science.hr
• LIDA, Dubrovnik , May 23-25, 2001

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Aim of this talk

• To promote our vision of a digital library, which
  is realistic and appropriate to the present
  situation in Croatia.
• to report on our activities and efforts, which
  stimulate the development of digital libraries in
  Croatia.

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Outline of the talk

• 1. Changing role of the library
• 2. Our vision of a digital library
• 3. Activities of the Ministry
• 4. SZI program
• 5. NISKA project
• 6. SZI versus NISKA
• 7. Smaller IT projects
• 8. Digital journals

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1. Changing role of the library

• For centuries, the useful role of the library in
  society was obvious and self-explanatory.
• In the information society the role of the
  library changes and interferes with other roles
• author becomes a publisher, publisher a
  librarian, librarian both a publisher and author.
• Thanks to the Internet, users can directly access
  information, thus bypassing the library.
• Do we still need the library? Yes, but it should
  be a digital library with a redefined role.

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2. Our vision of a digital library (1)

• Does not deal with the library Utopia of the next
  century, but with the library of the next decade.
• The accent is on libraries within educational and
  research institutions, e.g. university libraries.
• In accordance with the present circumstances in
  Croatia.
• Characterized by four aspects

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2. Our vision of a digital library (2)

• A gateway to information in whatever format this
  information is written and wherever it is
  located.
• A center of expertise, because of the increasing
  complexity of the information landscape.
• A social meeting place, where students and
  scholars are offered advanced study facilities
  with adequate user support.
• An assembly point and archive of the printed
  literature for the next decades.

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3. Activities of the Ministry (1)

• Stimulate the transition of traditional libraries
  into new digital libraries.
• Mostly directed to the libraries within
  universities and research institutes.
• Partly concerned with Croatian libraries in
  general.
• Partly conducted in collaboration with other
  ministries and with the National Univ Library.
• Spend a yearly budget of 9 mil kuna.

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3. Activities of the Ministry (2)

• The SZI program
  a scientific information network.
• The NISKA project
  a national library information system.
• Smaller IT projects.
• Support to digital journals.

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4. SZI program (1)

• Computerization of libraries within the system of
  higher education and science.
• Links together libraries belonging to the same
  area of science
• natural sciences,
• engineering,
• biomedicine,
• humanities,
• Spends a yearly budget of 5 mil kuna.

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4. SZI program (2)

• core activities
• acquisition of computers,
• storing bibliographical data into local
  databases,
• establishing common catalogues,
• maintaining common web pages.
• additional activities
• maintaining the Croatian scientific bibliography,
• providing on-line access to world-known
  bibliographical databases,
• education of librarians and users,
• acquisition of software.

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4. SZI program (3)

• Natural sciences - Rudjer Boškovic Institute Zg
• 23 additional libraries (Zagreb, Osijek, Split).
• Technical sciences - Faculty of EE C, Univ ZG
• 23 additional libraries (Zg, Os, Ri, St, Du, Si).
• Biomedicine - Medical School, University of Zg
• 8 additional libraries (Zg, Os, Ri, St).
• Humanities - Faculty of Philosophy, Univ ZG
• 12 libraries within the faculty.

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4. SZI program (4)

• Croatian Scientific Bibliography
• maintained by the Rudjer Boškovic Institute,
• updated by scientists themselves.
• On-line databases
• Current Contents, MEDLINE, Ovid Core Biomedical
  Collection, INSPEC, Evidence-Based Medicine
  Review, AGRICOLA, ERIC, PsycINFO, Ulrich's IPD.
• Education of librarians
• seminar 2000 200 participants,
• seminar 2001 ?

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5. NISKA project (1)

• Collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and
  the Ministry of Education.
• Coordinated computerization of different types of
  libraries in Croatia.
• Standards which would enable connectivity, data
  exchange, overall visibility of catalogues,
  sharing digital documents, common portals.
• Specification and design 3 ministries together.
• Implementation each ministry separately.

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5. NISKA project (2)

• Project phases
• analysis of the current system, requirements
  specification, design of the new system,
  implementation strategy.
• Project consortium
• IBM Croatia, National and University Library,
  Viva Info, Croatian Telecom, ...
• Project organization
• steering committee, coordination team, office, 5
  functional teams.

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6. SZI versus NISKA

• SZI is devoted to libraries within universities
  and research institutes, NISKA is more general.
• SZI manages the present situation, NISKA plans a
  better future.
• SZI can be considered as a premature
  implementation of NISKA.
• SZI should be adjusted according to forthcoming
  results of NISKA.

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7. Smaller IT projects (1)

• Resemble ordinary scientific projects
  (refereeing, financing, monitoring).
• Scheduled for one year.
• Produce digital contents as results
• digital textbooks,
• web portals,
• virtual museums,
• software, databases ...

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7. Smaller IT projects (2)

• Year 2000 240 proposals, 112 positively
  reviewed, 41 financed.
• Year 2001 125 proposals, ...
• Applicants universities (faculties) research
  institutes, software companies, web studios.
• Yearly budget 3 mil kuna.

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8. Digital journals

• Croatian Medical Journal - CMJ
• edited by Zg University School of Medicine,
• full online version available.
• Journal of Computing and Information Technology -
  CIT
• published by SRCE,
• digital submission, refereeing, contacts,
• hard copy issues,
• soon to become fully digital.

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References

• Saracevic T Digital libraries - differing
  perspectives and challenges. Proc ITI99, Pula,
  June 15-18, 1999. SRCE, Zagreb, 1999.
• Klugkist J.A The changing role of the librarian
  - a virtual library and a real archive. 2nd
  ICSU-UNESCO Int Conf on Electronic Publishing in
  Science, Paris, Feb 20-23, 2001.
• www.szi.hr, www.niska.hr, www.science.hr.
• www.cmj.hr, cit.srce.hr.

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Ministry of Science and Technology

• Strossmayerov trg 4, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia
• phone[phone]
• fax [phone]
• http//www.science.hr, e-mail office_at_science.hr.