The Leading Serbian Cultural Institution

The National Library of Serbia (NLS) has been a member of Project European Library (TEL) since 2005, and along with developed European countries, is building a unique catalogue and digital treasury of European cultural heritage. We spoke with National Library Director Mr. Sreten Ugričić.

By Mila Milosavljević

The most important and distinguished institution in local culture, the National Library of Serbia, is making great strides towards modernisation. It has introduced numerous innovations in computerisation, among which the most significant is the creation of the Virtual Library of Serbia (VBS) with a development centre located in the National Library of Serbia. The network allows the holdings of the National Library of Serbia to be accessed by users worldwide. We spoke with National Library Director Mr. Sreten Ugričić about the activities underway at the library.

Mr. Ugričić, tell us about the innovations introduced into the National Library of Serbia over the last several years.

– We have been promoting the classical functions of the National Library and have established a series of new ones as well.

According to a UNESCO report dated May 2005, Serbia is a leader in the field of providing access to scientific information in our region, primarily due to a program called KoBSON (Consortium for Coordinated Acquisition of Foreign Scientific Journals and Databases) realised by NLS and financially supported by the Ministry of Science and Environment. This service enables the scientific community of Serbia to have access to 17,000 titles of the most eminent foreign scientific journals, in their electronic editions, and to databases, putting them on equal footing with their colleagues at Oxford, Cambridge, Yale, Sorbonne, Heidelberg etc. I can freely say that this is the most valuable resource of knowledge.

The Virtual Library of Serbia (VBS) is the only functional, sector network within the information system of domestic cultural institutions, with its headquarters at NLS (its co-founders are the Library of Matica Srpska and the University Library "Svetozar Marković" – the system of coordinated cataloguing engages more than fifty libraries, 250 librarians, while the central catalogue includes 1.6 million bibliographic references).

The VLS system, in cooperation with NLS and the Institute of Information Science from Maribor, a regional system of coordinated cataloguing (COBBIS-net) has been established in five countries, which makes our region unique in Europe, and even at the international level.

NLS is the leading Serbian institution of culture with respect to digitalising cultural heritage in compliance with the world's highest standards. Digitalisation is being carried out systematically, and includes collections of the most valuable medieval cyrillic manuscripts, old and rare books, old records and selections of serial publications: a complete set of the Politika daily from the first issue onward, the avantgarde magazine Zenith, special serial NLS publications, etc.

NLS is also one of only few world libraries that can boast of offering its users a "Deep Catalogue". The NLS "Deep Catalogue" is a paradigmatic move with respect to understanding and realising library-information services, which allows users to directly download publications from the library electronic catalogues. An integral part of the database is a link to options of the so-called comprehensive text (from cover to cover) that appears on the screen in digital form.

Currently, as NLS "Deep Catalogue" is still in an experimental phase, one can obtain the NLS electronic catalogue with up to 2,000 units of different material of full text: digitalized books, rare manuscripts, magazines, articles, geographic maps, music records.

To what degree does NLS follow the current streams of today's library science?

– From 2001 onwards, NLS has progressed more than all other national libraries in Europe, according to the parameters established by CENL (Conference of European National Librarians). True, the state of negligence we inherited from the previous period had been drastic and therefore this result is relative, but all indicators show that progress is objective and is clearly evident, which is confirmed through official and unofficial congratulations from colleagues in other countries.

In 2005 NLS was received as a full member in the European Library Project (TEL). Together with the most developed countries of Europe, we are building a unique catalogue and digital treasury of European cultural heritage on the principles of multilingualism and inter-culture. The Serbian language is one of eight search languages in the central European catalogue. By participating in the work of the TEL Managing Board we have influence in the strategic development of the most ambitious project of pan-European orientation of our time.

At the World Summit on Information Society, held last year, the International Librarian Association (IFLA) singled out and presented eleven exemplary library projects from the world as paramount examples that neither global nor local society can function without libraries. With its Serbian Children's Digital Library, NLS ranked among these eleven most outstanding library projects. We were promoted with the slogan: It's Serbian, but look at it!

The NLS website, www.nls.bg.ac.yu is one of the most visited Internet sites of culture in Serbia. On average, 6,000 users visit our site daily, which means that annually the site provides more than two million pieces of on-line information and services to interested parties within the country and abroad.

NLS maintains active international cooperation, interfacing with 300 addresses worldwide on a daily basis. Representatives of NLS participate in many international, European and regional professional meetings and the number of foreign experts visiting our country through NLS is higher than visits to any other domestic cultural institution (120 visits to our library in 2005, and this year there have already been about 200 hundred visitors).

How do you cope with the financial problems? How does the ministry help you and do you have any foreign donors?

– When I came to the National Library and initiated reform, I thought money would be the main problem but it appears that it is no so. Sooner or later, such problems are solved. The greatest problem is in our heads.

What are your plans for the next period?

– The most important task in the next period is the reconstruction and revitalisation of the NLS interior that will transform the National Library. The project will be financed by the National Investment Plan. Today's NLS represents a first class storehouse of information and cultural capital of the Republic of Serbia. Its main missions are to protect, present and promote the country's cultural heritage, but also to provide all sorts of information services to citizens of Serbia and to users throughout the world.

Today's NLS building is unable to meet more the ever increasing demands of users from the country and abroad with respect to function, space and structure. The capacity of the reading rooms is insufficient to receive even the current number of users on a daily basis.

The reconstruction and revitalization of the NLS interior is the prerequisite for future growth and comprises several segments: reconstruction of the lobby, reception counters, reading rooms, café shop, toilettes, acquisition of new desks for 500 users, 200 new desks and chairs for the reading rooms, information infrastructure upgrades, installation of PCs in the reading rooms, reconstruction of the interior lighting. It also includes installation of information- technological equipment i.e. information infrastructure, new optical cables, new desks and PCs on users' desks. Finally, we have to make a project for reconstructing the treasury where we keep our most valuable holdings –medieval Cyrillic manuscripts and incunabula. This includes the most optimal protection measures in compliance with world standards i.e. controlled conditions for sensitive items.

Upon realisation of these elemental objectives, NLS will become a modern building, functional and ready to serve an increasing number of users and to meet their requirements with respect to accessibility of information because the capacities of the reading rooms will be increased by 50 percent.

Is there anything you would change at the national Library but are prevented from doing so due to the lack of resources or some other circumstances? – I would extend the central depot and reconstruct the treasury. NLS's depots hold five million units of library material but some of our collections are growing steadily and need to be stored according modern standards with respect to our profession and technology.

Its time will come, however.

You are primarily a writer. Do you have time to write and what are currently working on?

– I have prepared a book for printing, a collection of essays written in the last three to four years entitled An Introduction To Astronomy. It deals with the issues of status and strategies of imagination, and the status and strategy of responsibility in Serbia. Imagination and responsibility are the very foundations of culture. Culture provides the principles of constitution of a society. The status of responsibility – because societies and cultures belong to two types: either they care about the convictions governing one community and control these convictions, or they care about the consequences of these convictions and attempt to control these consequences. Serbia is a society that controls convictions and it ought to become a society that controls the consequences of convictions. That would be my definition of our transition. Why is imagination crucial? Because only imagination is free and – as Luis Buňuel argued – man is not. Hence, the status of imagination determines the status of freedom. If I know what fails to function in your imagination, I'll know what your reality is, I'll tell you what your life is like.

Why the title An Introduction to Astronomy?

– There are several reasons for it but I'll quote two of them: first, Serbs are still largely convinced that they are cosmic bodies; a heavenly people have no history but belong to astronomy. Secondly, because works of art are like stars: they shine evenly, those that still exist and those that died long ago. An Introduction to Astronomy is scheduled to be printed before the Book Fair at the end of September.