Cooperation of Gdańsk Tech with the National Library in the Area of Cataloging Environment
The National Library and Gdańsk Tech have signed a cooperation agreement. Thanks to the agreement, both libraries will work within a shared cataloging environment.
The National Library and Gdańsk Tech have signed a cooperation agreement. Thanks to the agreement, both libraries will work within a shared cataloging environment.
The implementation of the Alma system and the cooperation of libraries in the so-called network zone aims to promote the idea of real-time co-cataloging according to uniform cataloging rules (using National Library Descriptors), and consequently – to accelerate the realization of library processes.
An important result of the implementation is the search engine katalogi.bn.org.pl, constituting the Union Catalogs of the National Library, Jagiellonian Library along with all institute libraries of the Jagiellonian University, two provincial libraries – in Kielce and Lublin, the University Library in Toruń along with all specialized libraries of the Nicolaus Copernicus University, the Library of the Catholic University of Lublin, Wrocław University of Science and Technology Library, Ossolineum National Institute Library, Tadeusz Różewicz Municipal Public Library in Wrocław, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University Library in Warsaw, Warsaw School of Economics Library, Cyprian Norwid Elbląg Library, International Cultural Centre Library in Kraków, Main Library of Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Emilia Sukertowa-Biedrawina Provincial Public Library in Olsztyn, as well as 112 district, city and municipal libraries from the Świętokrzyskie, Łódź and Lublin voivodeships. Currently, it includes 37 million units held in the combined libraries.
Extensive cooperation between libraries enabled by the implementation of uniform cataloging rules also provides broader, faster, and more transparent access to information for all readers of libraries and internet users.
Over 500,000 volumes, valuable old prints
The collection of the Gdańsk Tech Library comprises over 500,000 volumes of books, journals, and special collections. The thematic scope of the collection gathered by the Gdańsk Tech Library corresponds to the profile of the research conducted and the fields of study at the University.
The Library collects publications in the fields of:
- engineering and technical sciences
- exact and natural sciences
- social sciences
- medical sciences and health sciences
- agricultural sciences
- humanities
- arts.
A particularly valuable resource is the collection of old prints published between the 16th and 18th centuries, representing a wide range of scientific fields from mathematics and physics through astronomy, geology, to works on navigation and electricity. This collection, constituting the scientific heritage of Pomerania, was formerly part of the library of the Gdańsk Naturalists’ Society (Naturforschende Gesellschaft in Danzig) and was located in pre-war Gdańsk libraries: the Gdańsk Academic Gymnasium (Königliche Gymnasium zu Danzig) and the Higher Technical School (Königliche Technische Hochschule Danzig).
Training for library staff
The National Library will conduct training for the staff of the Gdańsk Tech Library on using the Alma system, cataloging publications from various disciplines, principles of editing and selecting National Library Descriptors, Universal Decimal Classification, deduplication of records, and will participate in the implementation process of the new system.
The agreement between the National Library and Gdańsk Tech was signed on September 19.