Collections management

Administration of the National Archival Collection (NAC)

The collection preserves bohemical book production from 1901 to the present. It contains monographs, periodicals, and special documents. The main task is the long-term preservation of all modern bohemical book production published since 1901. It also assigns call numbers, prepares materials for circulation, selects materials for binding, and builds and manages local catalogues and records. It makes proposals for the inclusion of individual documents and their collections in the NAC. It collaborates on projects focused on digitisation, preservation, and mapping of library collections. The primary source of additions to the NAC is the legal deposit copy, as well as purchases, donations, and exchanges. The collection includes monographs, periodicals, and special documents. All the documents have the status of archival specimens and due to their preservation character, strict conditions apply for making documents from the NAC available to researchers. The basic one is the unavailability of lending outside the library premises. Loans are transported to the Hostivař Study Room.

Administration of the Universal Library Collection (ULC)

With a wide-ranging collection, from books to special documents published from 1801 to the present, the ULC is one of the largest library collections in the Czech Republic, with 3,000,000 monographic and periodical volumes. A large part of it is accessible in the usual way in the Klementinum, while the more valuable units are in the Hostivař Central Depository. It is built on the basis of legal deposit copies, purchases, and donations. Legal deposit copies can be borrowed only in one of the study rooms in Klementinum; the study collection permits off-site borrowing. In addition to books, the library has access to special collections: audio documents (tapes, CDs), audiovisual documents (VHS tapes, DVDs), and large-format documents (maps, posters, calendars, and a microfilm collection).

Administration of the 19th Century Collection and the Hostivař Archival Collections

These collections are separated from most of the collections under the administration of the ULC by their publishing date, specifically the years 1801-1900. They are subject to a higher level of protection. The 19th Century Collection contains a set of date-based call numbers under the management of the ULC. The collection is catalogued in the ALEPH library system. It contains bohemical books but also a collection of 19th-century maps. The Hostivař Archival Collections include the more valuable holdings from the ULC, which either have special call numbers or are separate from the ULC. There are libraries of selected personalities (such as Svatopluk Čech) or special types of literature - militaria, calendars, school programmes, etc. Both collections are stored in the Hostivař Central Depository and made available in the Hostivař Study Room under the same conditions. As archival specimens, all documents have a higher level of protection.

Administration of the Central Depository Library (CDL)

The Central Depository Library Department ensures dispatch of materials to the study rooms and acquires materials for the library collections of the NLCR. The department administers and builds the CDL, formerly known as the Reserve Collections. It negotiates with other public libraries on the disposal of their collections, actively taking over these collections from them and co-determining their use within the modern library collections of the NLCR. It collaborates on projects focused on digitisation, preservation, and mapping of library collections. The CDL catalogues individual books from 1850 to the present. The department also deals with provenance marks (stamps, ex libris, etc.) of bohemical production and creates a database of them.

Project Activities

The staff of the CMD are involved in projects in the management and permanent preservation of collections, digitisation, and digital data. The CMD agenda includes one of the research areas within the framework of the Long-Term Concept of Development of a Research Organization, which deals with modern publishing production in the Czech lands after 1800. The CMD also works on other projects such as NAKI, TAČR, VISK 7, and VISK 4."

Working Group - Unit Commission

The CMD ensures the activities of so called Unit Commission. The working group deals with the issue of creating units in the library system of the NLCR and actively addresses requests for changes or modifications in the methodology.

Lecture, exhibition and publication activities

CMD staff are engaged in lecture, exhibition, and publication activities resulting from their professional competence or from the results of individual research projects.

Exhibition loans

The CMD handles requests for loans of documents from the modern collections of the NLCR in cooperation with the PR and Marketing Department. Requests for loans of documents from the modern collections of the NLCR must be submitted at least six months before the opening of the exhibition and are assessed with regard to the condition of the specimens and their uniqueness. Archival specimens from the modern collections (NAC, ***HAC, 19th Century Collection) cannot usually be loaned for exhibitions. Institutions requesting the loan are obliged to ensure appropriate climatic conditions and compliance with the lender's security requirements, while also covering all costs associated with the loan (e.g. restoration, preparation for exhibition, mounting or framing, packaging, transport, photography, etc.). The terms and conditions of the loan, including the insurance price and the conditions of exhibition, are contractually secured.

Selection and preparation of documents for digitisation

Selection of titles for digitisation, determination of the most suitable specimen, its physical preparation and possible correction, verification of the accuracy of the record, prevention of duplicate digitisation, insertion into the digitisation workflow. The selection of modern documents for digitisation is governed by an internal strategy that sets out the criteria and procedures on the basis of which specific titles are prioritised. The responsible staff will physically inspect the volumes of these titles and select the most suitable copy, which will then be prepared for digitisation, i.e. they will examine its physical condition and the cataloguing status and ensure any corrections to the record in the library catalogue. The document is registered in the Digitisation Register, which is used to record documents digitised in the Czech Republic. If another institution is processing a document, it is excluded from digitisation to avoid duplication. This prepared document is entered into the digitisation workflow (software that allows you to follow the path of the volume through the entire digitisation process), and a master data set is created for further processing in the digitisation line.