Around the world to Cracow University of Technology Library: Taking the chances of Polish transitions
The Main Library of Cracow University of Technology (CUT) was established in 1945 as a part of the Polytechnic Departments of the Academy of Mining in Cracow. It was formally registered in 1947 and since 1954 it has been acting as an independent unit of the established Cracow University of Technology.
The environment of the Main Library of CUT operation
Cracow is one of the biggest academic centres in Poland. Founded in 1364, the Jagiellonian University (at the beginning it was the Cracow Academy) is one of the oldest European universities. For many centuries its influence on the scientific and cultural life of Cracow has been significant. Many of the deeds and successes of its graduates influenced and shaped the history not only of Poland, but also of the whole of Europe.
The university library, later known as the Jagiellonian Library (www.bj.uj.edu/pl/bjinfoe.html)since the second half of the nineteenth century, is the main library of the University. Belonging to the national system of library information, the Jagiellonian Library is the second national library, sharing that role with the National Library in Warsaw. With its 4.5 million plus volumes the Jagiellonian Library and its 42 departmental branch libraries boasts the largest collection in Cracow. Because of that collection, including rare manuscripts and old prints, it is often considered as the most important Polish library.
Another interesting library is the Main Library of the Academy of Mining and Metallurgy (http://victoria.uci.agh.edu.pl/BG/),the oldest technical library in Poland. In Cracow there are 22 big scientific libraries altogether. The Main Library of Cracow University of Technology (CUT) (www.biblos.pk.edu.pl/), with about one million volumes (in the university network), is the third library in Cracow as far as the size of the collection is concerned.
It is worth pointing out, because there are 12 public and a few private universities and academies operating in Cracow, with over 100,000 students studying there, that Cracow is clearly among the largest academic centres not only in Poland, but also in Europe.
Cracow scientists and artists influence and inspire each other, which creates a unique atmosphere of the city that promotes the development of both science and art. That is why Cracow is often called a spiritual capital of Poland, a centre of science and art, a town of great creativity and intellectual potential.
In such an environment operates Cracow University of Technology. It comprises six departments: Architecture, Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engin-eering,Environmental Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Technology, Electronics and Computer Engineering, Technical Physics and Computer Modelling. Over 17,000 students study at CUT each year. The CUT cooperates with many universities and research institutes in Poland and abroad. The diplomas of selected departments(e.g. Architecture Department) are recognised in the European Union.
Since the very beginning, CUT has been located in a nineteenth-century building, the remains of military barracks built by Austrians at the time of the Cesar Francis Joseph. An important fact is that the Library operates in this old building, which is greatly limited by physical structure to be redeveloped, thus the architecture influences the organisation of library services and users'access to the collections. That is why, some years ago, a concept of new library building was conceived. A new building addition is being planned that will triple the existing library space and allow for the reorganisation of the existing building. The enlarged library space will be assigned for modern services for library users.
Organisational structure
The library consists of five library departments and an administrative unit. The automation of library processes followed by the complex analysis of library processes enabled the reduction of the number of departments so that the organisational structure reflects new organisation of work implied by the implemented integrated library system. Any functions and operations previously doubled have been eliminated. The present structure of the library is flat and therefore easy to be managed. At the moment the library staff consists of 62 librarians and staff. Most of them are university graduates.
The collection and users
Basic factors that describe a library are number of users, number of volumes collected and number of loans.
The most important and most frequent users of the Main Library at CUT are students and the staff of the Parent University. In addition to them the library frequently has visiting students and staff from other Cracow universities who are entitled to use it within the cooperation agreements of Cracow academic centres. About 10 percent of users are those from other universities.
Figure 1 shows the number of users of different types; it does not include however those students who are allowed to use selected library services but have not been formally registered as library users with full rights.
Figure 1Number of users registered in 2001
Figure 2 illustrates the collection distribution and size of the CUT library. It concerns only the collection of the Main Library and does not include the collections of branch libraries of CUT (about 250,000 vols). The total number of volumes in the library system of CUT (e.g. the Main Library and the branch combined together) is about one million volumes.
Figure 2The collection of the Main Library of CUT
The above presented data do not include e-journals (about 6,000 titles at the moment) and the databases on CDs and online.
Another important factor to describe the library is the usage of the collection (see Figure 3).
Figure 3The useage of the library collection within the years 1998-2001
A noticeable decrease of the loans of periodicals accompanies the rapidly increasing usage of e-journals, made easily accessible to the wide range of users. Changing patterns of library user preferences and expectations implied a dynamic development of online services, which in turn have caused the decrease of number of users visiting the library.
The interlibrary lending room makes accessible library collections from all over the world and enables its users access to documents collected in other libraries.
Information services
New models of library usage influenced by modern technologies have increased the role of library information services. The mission of the Information Services Department of the CUT Library is to anticipate, stimulate and satisfy the needs of the university community for access to information in an efficient and cost-effective manner. These shall be achieved in co-operation with other library departments and University units.
The main goals of the department are to identify, promote and provide active and responsive information services most needed by our users and to deliver them by the most appropriate and effective means. The department documents the work of the university's scientific and research works and makes information about that accessible on the Internet. It trains the academic community in information retrieval and management and provides personal assistance to help users satisfy their information needs. It also promotes the concept of partnership with the library throughout the university and develops co-operation with external information organisations (from the Mission of the Information Services Department at: www.biblos.pk/bge/information.html).
Automation
In the beginning of the 1970s, the first efforts toward an Automated University Information Library (ZUBIN) were initiated at CUT. They were followed by the creation of the Regional System of Information on Journals Collected in Cracow Libraries (KRAKUS), work which started in 1975. These activities demonstrated the necessity for the automation of library processes. Józef Czerni, PhD, the Director of the CUT Library at that time organised a team of librarians and coordinated all the activities to develop the KRAKUS system. Finally, the Jagiellonian Library took over the coordination of the already implemented system.
Work on the KRAKUS system was the basis for further research on the automation of library processes and led to the development of the automated control system of the journal collection at the CUT Library. During 1992-1993 the library decided to buy a professional integrated library system to automate all the library processes. After detailed analyses of many products accessible on the market at that time, the British TINLIB system produced by IME Ltd was selected (at present it is called T-Series and developed by EOSi). The very first modules were tested in the library in 1993. The implementation of the system started in 1994 and was completed in 1998. Since then all the library processes have been automated.
National and International Cooperation and Projects
The Library of CUT cooperates with all the academic and research libraries in Cracow within the Cracow Library Group. It is also a member of the National Standing Conference of the Directors of Academic Libraries. In 1998 the CUT Library was one of the initiators of the establishment of this body. In 1994,the CUT Library became a member of the International Association of Technological University Libraries (IATUL).
For many years now the CUT Library has been involved in different environmental, national and international research and implementation projects focused on improving library processes. An example of such projects is the one concerning the automation of Cracow academic and research libraries, initiated by the CUT Library. It gained approval of the Collegium of the Rectors of Cracow Universities as well as the Mellon Foundation and was awarded a grant for its realisation and success.
In 1994 the CUT Library became a co-ordinator and contractor of a TEMPUS JEP+Project financed by the European Union. The main goal of the Project was to enable the exchange of information between libraries of the technical universities involved in the project (eight Polish and three European institutions). Following that grant, the Library of CUT was awarded two more grants from the EU. The last one, completed in 2001, concerned the development of modern techniques, including TQM, in library management as a part of the parent university management. As a result of that Project, detailed functional analyses of the libraries, as well as the common system of surveys, elaboration and presentation of the results of such analyses had been worked out. Effectiveness of library performance indicators was formulated as a basis for qualitative and quantitative analyses of libraries.
In the elaborated library model, an important final outcome of library performance and evaluation proved to be most difficult to identify and define. It is assumed that in the following years, as more data are collected and more changes are introduced and assessed, such a model will serve as a basis to examine the results of achieved research that can be used for benchmarking purposes. The fact that the elaborated model ought to be used for the comparison and assessment of different types and functions of libraries (different size of collection, type and number of users etc.) which are difficult to compare, the effectiveness indicators of library performance are already formulated and can be applied. They can enable the presentation of relations between input and output data.
The results achieved so far will be the basis for further activities, which will aim to introduce TQM in academic libraries. They also have called attention to the Polish library environment and some foreign libraries, e.g. the University Library in Bogota (Columbia).
Within the above mentioned projects, the CUT Library cooperated with many foreign libraries, e.g. the University of Hertfordshire, FHTW Berlin, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Universidad de Cadiz, Delft University of Technology,National Technical University of Athens.
The CUT Library actively participates in a global science environment through its involvement in conferences and by its presentation of many papers and the release of many publications by its staff in Polish and foreign professional journals or proceedings.
The CUT Library organises national and international conferences. In 2004 it will host the 25th IATUL Conference – the very first IATUL conference in Poland and Central Europe (www.iatul.org/conference/index.html).
Detailed information on the CUT Library can be found at: www.biblos.pk.edu.pl
Marek M. Górski (gorski@biblos.pk.edu.pl) is a Librarian at Cracow University of Technology, Cracow, Poland.
