The article deals with the history, the present and the goals of library automation in Czech libraries. Although there are nearly no funds available either for software or hardware, there exists a very detailed unified exchange format (CSMARC) which has been accepted in almost all the libraries in the Czech (and also Slovak) Republics. That is why there are nearly no serious problems concerning data conversions within Czech libraries. CSMARC permits the capture of UNIMARC records made in Czech libraries as a source for cataloguing of Czech documents in any foreign library.

2. MISSION

Our mission is to constitute a whole-nation library information network providing its users - according to their differentiated needs - with fast, easy and unrestrictive access to any piece of information stored in any member library and all over the world. This could be achieved by stepwise building of OPACs as gateways into the collections of different member libraries. The OPACs will replace existing printed and microfiche catalogues and they will integrate into the publicly accessible Union Catalog in the National Library in Prague contain-ing all the Czech and foreign documents available in Czech libraries. The Automated Circula-tion and [International] Inter-Library Loan Subsystems would facilitate the delivery of documents to the final user. There are several distinctive sources for building the catalog:

• Cataloguing of new Czech books and other types of documents (serials, printed music, antiquarians, cartographic materials, non-book materials, computer files) based on the legal deposit,

• cataloguing of new acquisitions of foreign books and other types of documents, retros-pective conversion of current card catalogues, foreign databases and machine-readable catalo-gues.

The Acquisition and Serials Control subsystems add substantially to the integrity and cost effectiveness of the whole-library system. The close connection with the document suppliers should be considered both on the input side of the System (e.g. machine readable publisher's plans) and on the side of the primary document supply.

3. HISTORY & DEVELOPMENT

3.1. 1982 to present

Czech National Bibliography - Books project was launched and put to operation. About 6 - 10,000 records per year created on Wang text processor served the sole purpose of the photo-typesetting the Czech National Bibliography - Books (Bibliografickò katalog - ÄeskÇ knihy) printed according to ISBD rules. Accepting ISBD recommendations (completely different from those used in Czech libraries for many years) resulted in the well defined data structure that allows converting the accumulated file (approximately 50,000 records) to the UNIMARC and CSMARC (see below) formats.

3.2. 1985 to 1989

A five-year 50 million Ks state grant following initial analyses brought the selection of the UNESCO CDS/ISIS as the base software. Since CDS/ISIS was a general database system and not a library one, it was necessary to prepare its library application. The product most appreciated by the libraries community is the MAKS (Modular Automated Library System) defining the base of any library system, i.e. the rules for cataloguing of all types of documents corresponding to international rules and recommendations. Its substantial part is the definition of the CSMARC format. The recommended selection of approximately 1500 UDC (top level) codes and the rules for selection and syntax of the keywords were published together with the MAKS. Important "side effect" was the strengthening of the role of the National Library in Prague in the revision of the Czechoslovak Standard 01 0195 Bibliographic Description. The revised standard fully reflects the ISBD recommendations.

3.3. Present

At the moment the only full-scale project running is the Czech National Bibliography - Books mentioned above. All the other projects running on 16 PCs (all the hardware currently available for both projects development and operation) are:

• National ISBN agency

• Czech theses

• Books: Foreign Bohemical literature, Samizdat and exile literature

• Serials published in CR

• Selected foreign periodicals available in Czech libraries

• Component parts : Articles published in selected Czech periodicals

• Conference materials available in Czech libraries

• Librarianship and Information Science : books and articles

• New acquisitions of British books

• Directory of libraries, information institutions and publishers in CSFR

Other projects are in different stages of readiness but the main constraint is the lack of hardware. Over two years' effort on mastering the mainframe CDS/ISIS has been abandoned because of the lack of an user friendly environment, resulting in extremely high requirements on manpower. The achieved on-line version of some 50,000 records of Czech National Bibliography was so difficult to use and maintain that it was replaced by a more user-friendly PC version. The PC version was improved in the National Library in Prague. It is suitable for smaller libraries, but not for the National Library in Prague, the largest Czech library with about 6 million volumes responsible for cataloguing of all Czech documents (CDS/ISIS does not provide a full authority control).

3.4. Future

Integrated "assembly lines" should be created through connecting the ISBN agency, Legal Deposit processing and Cataloguing of the Czech documents and the Acquisition and the Cataloguing of the foreign documents. Czechoslovak Union Catalog will start by processing the conference and congress proceedings.

Cooperative processing of the articles in Czech journals has already started. Member libraries are sending the processed data to the National Library in Prague, but we are currently unable to store them and make them accessible.

In the farther future the goals are:

• Retrospective conversion of the General Catalogue,

• Creation of whole-nation Union Catalogues of books, periodicals and other types of documents,

• Circulation system based on OPAC and using barcodes for both documents and readers identification,

• Distribution of important databases on CD-ROM:

- Czech National Bibliography: Books, Serials, Printed Music, Antiquarians, Non- Book Materials, Cartographic Materials, Computer Files and Component Parts),

- General Catalogue of the National Library in Prague

- Union Catalogue of books and serials available in Czech libraries.

• Digitization of manuscripts, rare prints and deteriorating old treasure newspapers - possibly on optical media (CD-ROM) together with the searchable records,

• New version of CSMARC closer to UNIMARC than the present version.

3.5. Some Relevant Data

Home production

• National book production - approximately 10,000 records/year, with current machine- readable file cca 60,000 records

• Czech articles in selected journals - cca 170,000 records/year

• ISBN agency - some 20,000 records/2 years

• Czech theses - 1,200 records/year

• Foreign Bohemical literature - cca 3,000 records/year

Foreign production

• Foreign acquisitions of National Library - 60 to 70,000 records/year - represents a

substantial part of next item

• Union Catalog of foreign literature - current rate 100,000 records/year will hopefully grow

Retrospective conversion

• National Library General Catalog contains approximately 4,5 million cards

• Union Catalog of foreign literature contains about 1,7 million cards

• Future Union Catalog of all member libraries could contain tens of millions of records

Users

• About 70,000 readers registered, 20,000 of them active in each year

• Approximately 1.6 million transactions - loans, returns, reservations etc - per year.

4. CONCLUSION

Library automation in Czech libraries started on several PCs with CDS/ISIS which was not an ideal software, but it was free and thus the only possible solution at the beginning. But library automation is not only judged by having perfect hardware and software - it involves hundreds of librarians who are afraid of a new technology, accustomed to their stereotypes etc. It is important for them to realize what the common goal is, the necessity of unification, the need to respect both - national and international standards and recommendations. Because most of our standards were completely different from those used in Western countries, changing all these standards and encouraging the librarians to use them and overcome their stereotypes has been a long and hard effort.

We believe the CDS/ISIS orientation could serve well at the beginning but it can hardly be considered the real working solution attainable in reasonable time/price span. Experiences

acquired while creating the library application of CDS/ISIS enabled us to assess and choose a

suitable system for the National Library in Prague (and possibly for other Czech libraries).

We can exchange or sell Czech National Bibliography in UNIMARC on magnetic tapes or CD-ROM. We have prepared MAKS as a unified base for library automation in the Czech

Republic. We have done everything possible with CDS/ISIS and PCs. Our goals formulations and projects are on a good level, but now it is necessary to buy a suitable hardware and software to be able realize them and constitute a whole-nation library information network, providing its users - according to their differentiated needs - with fast, easy and unrestrictive access to any piece of information stored in any member library and all over the world.

REFERENCES

Príbramská, Iva. Návod pro tvorbu a vyuëívání bází dat [Creating of Library Databases in CDS/ISIS. [aj.]. Praha : Národní knihovna v Praze, 1991. 80 s.

Príbramská, Iva, & Stoklasová, Bohdana. Knihy a periodika [Books and Serials : Cataloguing]. Praha : Národní knihovna v Praze, 1991. 66,[262] s.

Stoklasová, Bohdana. Vymenny formát [The Exchange Format]. [aj.]. Praha : Národní

knihovna v Praze, 1989. 2 sv.

Stoklasová, Bohdana, Kneidlová, Miloslava, & Príbramská, Iva. Národní biliografie - Knihy [Czech National Bibliography - Books : Cataloguing]. Praha : Národní knihovna v Praze, 1991. 200 s.

Stoklasová, Bohdana, & Koudelková, Libuse. Analytickò popis [Component Parts] : Cataloguing.[aj.]. Praha : Národní knihovna v Praze, 1991. 2 sv.

Svoboda, Martin. Modulární automatizovany knihovnicky systém [The Modular Automated Library. [aj.]. Praha : Národí knihovna v Praze, 1989. - 7 sv.