HYBRID LIBRARY PROJECT OF THE CROATIAN NATIONAL BANK

Tvrtko Ujević
Croatian National Bank
Library and Documentation Center
Zagreb, Hrvatska
Tvrtko.Ujevic@hnb.hr 

1.	INTRODUCTION

The contents of the library holdings in possession of the Croatian National Bank specialized library are constrained on topics that are of preponderant importance in central banking operations and thus mainly focus on macroeconomics, monetary economics and finance. The main purpose of specialized holdings is to fulfil the needs of the CNB's employees.

Influenced by its users requests, the CNB library decided to build and to promote a completely new information and data system that will try to incorporate and enlarge the current library holdings with material represented on various word-supporting mediums. In order to accomplish such a concept, the Hybrid Library Project was first initiated as a transition stage from traditional (or conventional) library to the truly digital one. The hybrid library is nothing but a place where electronic and printed materials are equally represented. This organizational concept enabled the CNB specialized library to develop, in a relatively short time, an efficient system that entirely satisfies the current needs in data and information searching, storing and circulation.

According to the project, the process of CNB's library holdings computer systematization is well under way. All relevant references are electronically accessible (via the so-called meta data supported by documentation operating program). As well, to its final users, the library forwards two streams of relevant information: OPAC (Online Public Access Catalogue) and SDI (Select Dissemination Information). The CNB library shaped its official web page in accordance with this organizational scheme. The web page also represents the starting point in reaching various components of Informational System (Library, Archive, and numerous data basis). The access to CNB's internal LAN database is also developed (their main purpose is to enable perusal and storage of the PDF publications).

Furthermore, such an organizational approach gives the CNB library easier and better access to library holdings and the ability to interact with various related institutions such as foreign central banks, research and academic institutions, bureaus of statistics, commercial banks and other financial institutions.

2.		SURVEY OF THE CNB SPECIALIZED LIBRARY EFFICIENCY 

The specialized library (and this type of library also includes the central bank library) designs its activities and provides its services to users in accordance with pre-set and adopted goals, taking into account the special features of the institution to which it belongs. The specialized library users should be able to tell precisely what they want, i.e. which degree of accuracy (depth) they would like to achieve when searching for information, and the librarians (archivists) acting in accordance with the rules of their profession should enable them the access to such information. Such approach leads us to a desired situation where the users themselves determine the contents of the library holdings in accordance with their personal needs.
The Survey of the CNB Specialized Library Efficiency was carried out between December 15, 2000 and January 2001. Until January 15, 86 completed questionnaires were submitted to the library, which makes 15% of potential users of the Library and Documentation Center. On the one hand, the number of persons surveyed seems relatively small when compared with the total number of the CNB’s employees. On the other, it is relevant in statistical terms, especially with the view to the anonymity, willingness and readiness to express personal opinion on the Library and Documentation Center which at this point still plays the role of research and educational center.
The questionnaire was divided by topics into three parts: the first part focused on highlighting personal opinions on services currently provided by the Library and Documentation Center; the second part focused on determining the usefulness of planned activities; and the third part focused on comments or suggestions related to the work of the specialized library.
The first two questions were simply formulated: Please, state to which degree do you find the borrowing of books necessary for your work? The persons surveyed were offered three possible answers: it is not necessary for my work – it is necessary for my work – it is extremely necessary for my work. The biggest advantage of such questions is their unambigousness and simplicity, especially in relation to the technique of the survey and the statistical processing of data. When they are once given a more definite shape they become useful and the survey results can be expressed in one sentence or judgement. On the basis of methodology applied (i.e. final results), it can be concluded that:
-	97% of the persons surveyed supports the development of the OPAC catalogue; 
-	86% of the persons surveyed finds the on-line magazines and other network services necessary for performing their daily tasks, as well as for their professional improvement;
-	83% of the persons surveyed finds that they will require certain Select Dissemination Information services (SDI), shaped in accordance with pre-set topics (current or retrospective);
-	80% of the persons surveyed states that they will need "ad hoc" solutions for required information.

services currently provided by the library	not necessary for my work	necessary for my work 	extremely necessary for my work	
borrowing of books	6	61	33	
borrowing of magazines	10	69	21	
borrowing of documentation	21	64	15	
xeroxing of articles	20	50	30	
access to on-line magazines	14	70	16	
weekly survey of publications	24	60	16	
requirements for information	20	58	22	

service continuously developed by the library	won’t be  necessary for my work	will be necessary for my work	will be extremely necessary for my work	
library web catalogue	3	59	38	
OPAC system	16	79	5	
Select Dissemination Information (SDI)	17	65	18	
subscription to new on-line magazines 	13	75	12	

Table 1. Review of Survey Results (in %)

Different departments currently hold specialized magazines (e.g. magazine dealing with legal matters are located in the Legal Department). The CNB library users would like such practice to end and to have all magazines centralized (i.e. located in one place - in the library). Many users find that preference should be given to electronically readable materials over traditional ones and would like to have access to large databases containing “full texts” such as Emerald or JASTOR. Users are unanimous in the opinion that books, magazines and documentation should be processed by contents and would like to have the possibility to search them from their offices. Some of them would also like to have additional uninterrupted access to the Internet, i.e. to various financial databases and the possibility to use them. Finally, many of them expect that in the near future the CNB library will be connected with other libraries and documentation centers: the Institute of Economics, the Faculty of Economics, the Central Bureau of Statistics and the Institute for Public Finances.

The general conclusion could be summed up in two statements: persons surveyed would like to have at their disposal services currently provided by the library and more than 97% of them gives support to the library’s developmental programs. 

3.	DESIGNING OF DEVELOPMENTAL PROGRAM

Stimulated by users requirements, the highest priority of the CNB library was to develop, in a relatively short time, an efficient system that satisfies all needs in information searching and uninterrupted circulation of library holdings.
With this in view, we have decided to acquire the “LabTerinog” program for documentation, developed by the IT firm LabTERA d.o.o. headquartered in Zagreb. The program is designed for keeping records on documentation located in libraries and documentation centers. It is based on UNIMARC data standard, ISO 2709 standard for data exchange, and ISO 2788 and ISO 5964 standards for developing multilingual or multilingual thesauruses.
The catalogue was installed within the internal Novell network and is available via computer terminals (read only) to employees who have the access to Intranet (LAN). 
The acquisition of this program provided the library with the powerful on-line system, and its installation within the CNB server resulted in:

•	the parallel alphabetical and systemic (hierarchic) access to data, 
•	the establishment of multilingual normative database with the following features: structuring in accordance with standards for developing thesauruses,
•	two different accesses to the same database (code tables and descriptor vocabulary),
•	the development of system of sub-files (e.g. UDK – auxiliary tables),
•	the connection of records within the database,
•	the connection of records of documentation databases within the same system, 
•	the review of data (i.e. catalogue forms by scrolling the cursors through records presented in Windows 95 and Windows NT system, as well as in UNIMARC format).

Currently, data on documentation holdings, i.e. working papers, discussion papers, occasional papers, preprint and proceedings are not recorded and processed within database. Titles of these documents are periodically published in the SDI publication "Weekly Survey". By converting the Word document (which is used for printing the "Weekly Survey") into the database and by refreshing and recording data within the database, the documentation becomes ready for saerch by title, author, publisher, date of issue and title of the documentation series. The contents of data entered in such manner can be further processed with the help of the Eurovoc thesaurus, which was chosen for processing the contents of library holdings. 
Data on documentation holdings may be used for various purposes, printed out for Bulletin or other publications that are prepared in printed or electronic form (CD ROM), and made accessible via CNB web page.

4.	EXPECTED AND ACHIEVED RESULTS RELATED TO DEVELOPING THE HYBRID LIBRARY PROJECT OF THE CROATIAN NATIONAL BANK 
 
•	UNIFICATION OF HOLDINGS PROCESSING INTO A UNIQUE INFORMATION SYSTEM (DATABASE)

Results achieved:
-	monographic and serial publications may be searched by formal and subject references,
-	documentation (grey literature) may be searched by title, author, publisher, date of issue and title of documentation series,
-	"Weekly Survey" in printed form (SDI publication),
-	it may be searched via Web interface (HTML format)

•	UNIFICATION OF ALL CNB LIBRARY ACTIVITIES INTO A UNIQUE INFORMATION SYSTEM (DATABASE)

Stable program support which enables the unification of all operational tasks ranging from making orders (keeping records on orders, limited and serial publications, including the control over receiving individual publication series - numbers) to designing the inventory book, processing the catalogue and bibliographical data and the contents, peruse, borrowing, the revision of holdings and the development of unique OPAC system enabling us to see processing phase for each unit of holdings (borrowed, ordered, etc.) into web interface with corresponding statistical indicators.

Results achieved:
-	location (in accordance with professional schedule - JEL)

Results expected to achieved by the end of 2001:
-	keeping records on made orders and on the value of holdings in one place (time saving),
-	control over publication series received and the possibility of making complaints if certain number has not been received 
-	inventory-making and the introduction of BAR code (the automated revision of holdings)
-	availability (answers to inquires on individual copies – ordered, borrowed, etc.)

•	INCORPORATION OF MULTIMEDIA DATABASES IN INFORMATION SYSTEM 

Many documents are recently being issued in multimedia form in order to present in more qualitative manner the topic they deal with. Therefore, photographs, texts of various formats, sound or video recordings, often accompany bibliographic data presented in catalogues.

Results achieved:
-	links to URLs of significant magazines presented on Internet
-	magazines displayed in PDF format
-	links to the full text of article or document

Results expected to achieved by the end of 2001:
-	the photograph with the contents of relevant number of magazine or publication (the contents scanned and linked with recorded publication)
-	scanning of the contents of publication and its conversion into text by using the text recognition software (e.g. Recognita), which offers two possibilities:
a)     the fast generation of analytical records of publication (articles, paragraphs, etc.) by using Windows cut/paste functions, and the possibility to search them by contents
b)    to Joyce the record of textual document publication with the contents which can not be searched at the same time when the catalogue base is searched

4.1.	SYSTEM AUTOMATION AND ITS APPLICATION

•	AUTOMATED PREPARATION OF BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DATA FOR PUBLISHING 

In order to simplify the weekly preparation of SDI "Weekly Survey" containing all new publications received and included in the library holdings, the procedure for developing the selected part of catalogue with indices has been automated and now directly produces a word document that is distributed via e-mail addresses to external users. For the CNB users needs, the "Weekly Survey" is converted from Word document into a PDF document and filed within the network server.

•	AUTOMATED PREPARATION OF STATISTICAL PART OF WEB 

It has been envisaged that the statistical web should show an index of selected records that highlight a certain part of catalogue, the inflow in some time-period, topics it is dealing with, etc. Since the refreshing of such indices is a regular activity, it was necessary to automate the whole procedure of creating the HTML index suitable for easy browsing. The statistical index activates the dynamic display of catalogue forms, analytical units, etc. (the procedure is the same as the one used in searching the whole database). 

•	STATISTICS OF SEARCHING THE WEB CATALOGUE

In order to be more efficient in acquiring the library holdings it is necessary to pay attention to users needs. Statistics of monitoring database containing information on borrowed publications and web catalogue searches is the source of these data. 

•	SELECTIVE APPROACH TO DYNAMIC WEB INFORMATION

Some web functions can be limited only to some users or groups of users, e.g. User Id/password mechanism.

5.	INTELLIGENT SEARCH OF INFORMATION SYSTEM (CATALOGUE OF LIBRARY HOLDINGS) VIA STRUCTURED NORMATIVE SYSTEM INFRASTRUCTURE 

The use of descriptor for processing data contained in bibliographical databases results in one-dimensional alphabetical indices used as a tool for direct access to units. The complete descriptor includes the context represented by hierarchical structure, and this structure is the one that is included in the thesaurus. Standardized databases are used for keeping records and for processing the following categories of data.
-	personal names
-	corporate names
-	geographic concepts
-	subject references
•	Descriptor contents, followed by textual note, also explain:
-	related terms - relationship is defined and than marked within the database in different manners; they link up mutually related data and at the same time make delicate differences between them.
-	multiple higher and lower terms - due to mulitiple-meanining of terms, all dictionaries and thesauruses are in fact network structures, enabling us to choose one criteria as a condition under which hierarchic access is possible, that is subsequently graphically displayed within the program
-	synonyms, pseudonyms, acronym and other variant forms - are used as a possible access to descriptor, variant forms should cover all possibilities under which the user might search for information
-	descriptors in foreign languages – are important for transparency towards the world community, and sometimes also for achiving better understanding of term contents
•	Intelligent search can be demonstrated by describing steps of the process:
-	the search of normative database focused on finding the adequate descriptor (name, title, subject...)
-	the choice of descriptor that will be used for searching the catalogue of publications, documentation or other databases indexed with the help of standardized infrastructure 
-	the search of database by using the selected descriptor
-	results: outline of units found, print-out...
-	no results: you are asked to choose and to search by using higher/lower terms, related terms and terms that approximately match...

6.	CONCLUSION 

An information system (IS) is created by connecting different services into one unit. Connections used for networking different services are not only telecommunication lines, but also different types of organizational relations and standards aimed at achieving the new quality in information activity. The linking up of related services (archive, documentation, library) within the IS ensures more reliable and relevant information. However, we do not state that information disseminated from certain IS will be more accurate or fair than information from other source. They will be more uniform (stable) through all phases (from the source to the final user). The IS is the feature, the quality of the overall capacities of services that form an IS. There is the new quality in information and the new type of services. Certain services are only aimed at providing information on library holdings related services (or activities), while the IS provides information relevant for the whole area or certain activity (which is logical since it includes and links up all services relevant for one area or activity). 
Cumulativenes of information within the IS can not only be achieved by accumulating documentation (which is currently the case in the most of larger information centers). Informatization can not be achieved by collecting and adding the new data to the old library holdings. It should be achieved by summing up the large volume of data on different topics and making them available in suitable and acceptable proportions. This includes the integration that should cover the whole process of data exchange. 
The CNB library currently views itself as the “provider” of expertise and specialized information on all areas of economy (however, the hybrid library, when viewed from the point of the final user, should be defined as a port). The CNB information system should be focused on forwarding external and internal users requirements to the source of desired information, i.e. to the external pre-paid databases and all other charge-free sources of information.
Modern information systems are not longer required to provide only references or summaries. Moreover, they are required to provide documents or parts of documents containing the relevant data. Users do not want to know how and where from data are generated. They want information now, on their tables, the system that is available during 24 hours and “user friendly” as much as possible. IT experts transfer their expertise to users, and users are not interested in becoming IT experts. They should be successful in incorporating their expertise in solutions offered by library interface.