Functions Of National Libraries Research Articles

Increasing Space for Collections Storing: National Libraries Practice

Library collection development is directly related to the issues of placement, storage and delivery of documents. The eternal storage of the totality of documents that make up the national heritage is one of the functions of national libraries (NL), which solve the problem of placing materials with consideration to their financial and other capabilities.An overview of the successful national libraries’ practice in solving the lack of storage space problem is presented (Library of Congress, British Library, German National Library, National Diet Library of Japan, National Library of France, Royal Library of Sweden, Austrian National Library, National Library of the Czech Republic, Royal Library of the Netherlands). The experience of the Russian State Library in solving this problem is also analyzed.Finding place for growing collections with a tight of storing conditions is a challenge that requires not only constant attention, but also a flexible approach. Various options for solving this problem are being considered: construction of new (including remote) storage facilities; efficient use of existing premises (for example, an implementation of high density storage systems or co-opting of premises built for other purposes — idle exhibition centers functional conversion, etc.); lease of rentable areas.The research is based on the analysis of information from official websites of the national libraries.The appendix presents the results of the NL survey on the following issues: withdrawing of certain categories of materials, dispatching them to depositories; construction of new storage buildings; statistics concerning active use and actual availability of collections.

The effectiveness of the National Library and Information System Authority of Trinidad and Tobago in its role as a national library

The National Library and Information System Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (NALIS) aims to provide both the functions of a national library as well as a national library service. The objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of NALIS in its role as a national library. Utilising a qualitative approach, the study used mixed methods: semi-structured interviews with NALIS’ senior management; review of the International Organization for Standardization performance indicators; and comparative analysis of the strategic plans of the National Library of Jamaica and NALIS. Findings revealed that, despite NALIS performing the functions of a national library, key aspects of its services remain unfulfilled. Participants could not agree on the description of NALIS as outlined in the NALIS Act but 60% concluded that, in their personal opinion, NALIS could best be described as a public library which provides a national library service. Point score analysis determined that the most important function was ‘Central Collection of the Nation’s Literature’. The strategic planning of NALIS was found to be in alignment with the age of the organisation, as it is currently in an early phase of operation when policy formulation is critical. Given the turbulent economic environment and the many constraints that NALIS faced, it proved to be effective in the performance of national library functions and continues to strive for excellence in service delivery. It was noted that effective quality management was not adequately performed. Thus, in order to improve the level of service delivery, better quality management measures must be implemented.

Functions, tasks and roles of national libraries in the 21st century

This article reports on work in progress within the Standing Committee of International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA)’s National Libraries Section to develop up-to-date IFLA guidelines for national libraries to supersede the previous published United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) standard (Sylvestre, 1987). The article notes there is no standard or prescriptive definition for the concept of ‘national library’: national libraries exist in a multiplicity of forms determined not least by the size, cultural history and economic development of the country they serve. Nevertheless there has been much written on the functions of national libraries and the literature in this area is reviewed. Thus, the Standing Committee agreed that it would be inappropriate to seek to develop updated guidelines or standards for national libraries that would be prescriptive: rather, it was thought that the adoption of an empirical approach, providing a wide range of exemplars and case studies of actual national library practice, would provide the national library community with a useful development toolkit. An initial pilot study to collate exemplars/case studies from 12 participating national libraries was undertaken in spring 2015. The output of the pilot study tabulated in an annex to this article constitutes an indicative inventory of national library best practice case studies, and for this reason it was thought that its wider dissemination here would be of professional interest. Finally the article reports on the next steps currently being undertaken via an online survey to document comprehensively and at a high level of granularity the functions currently being undertaken by national libraries.

The importance of legislation in the provision of national and public library services in Zambia

Legislation plays an important role in the provision of national and public library services. In Zambia, however, libraries that perform the functions of national and public libraries are operating without a legislative mandate. As a result, there is fragmentation of library services as there is no single institution which performs all the functions of a national library service. Although several efforts have been made in the past to enact national library service legislation, no Act of Parliament has been passed to date (2015). This study provides empirical evidence depicting the benefits of having legislation in the provision of national and public library services. The study identifies institutions that perform functions of national and public library services in Zambia. Quantitative data were collected through questionnaires administered to public library staff and interviews with senior government officials and executive members of the Zambia Library Association and Zambia Library Consortium. The study recommends that appropriate legislation that puts together the functions of public and national libraries under one institution be enacted in Zambia as soon as possible. Failure to transform this pattern will jeopardise the preservation of the country’s cultural heritage.

The National Library of Serbia: Past, Present and Future

In this article, the author presents the National Library of Serbia (NLS), a central, national library and the biggest library in Serbia. A brief historical review and description of the NLS building is followed by a section relating to the basic functions of national libraries – legal deposit and the current national bibliography. The second part of the article gives an overview of collections and user services. The third part describes NLS's new services: the Digital Library, the Virtual Library of Serbia, KoBSON (Consortium of Serbian libraries for coordinated acquisition of foreign databases and full-text services) and SCIndeks (Serbian national citation index). Finally, there is a short overview of Web statistics for 2009, some important aspects of national and international cooperation and a short list of future priorities for development.

National Libraries: Mission and Ministerial Sponsorship

There is no ‘international standard’ for national libraries; indeed national libraries exist in an infinite variety of forms. Schemas that focus on the functions of national libraries tend to emphasize the areas of conformity between institutions while a focus on role, including mission and target audiences, would tend to accentuate the differences between institutions. The British Library has a uniquely broad mission. While its positioning in UK government is under the sponsorship of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the BL also makes major contributions to the objectives of the Department for Education and Skills and to the Office of Science and Innovation within the Department for Trade and Industry. This paper summarizes the findings of a survey by the BL of 30 national libraries related to which government ministry in their country currently had policy and funding responsibility for their national library in the context of: their origin; their mission; the core target audiences they served; the functions they undertook as part of their remit; and other related provision in their countries. The paper also describes two interdepartmental mechanisms introduced in 2006 to improve communications and strategic alignment in recognition of the complex pattern and cross-cutting nature of the British Library's contribution to UK government policy objectives.

A New Star in the Indian Ocean: The National Library of Mauritius

The National Library of Mauritius, formally inaugurated in December 1999, is considered in the context of the history of national libraries in general, and in particular of the debate surrounding the functions of national libraries in the developing world that gained momentum in the 1960s. The paper examines the provision of library services in the colonial period, and describes their growth since the country's political independence, culminating in the creation of the National Library. The Library's functions, governance, collections and services are outlined. The Library now has an Action Plan that sets ambitious short-, medium- and long-term objectives, including improved public services, investment in training and equipment, and the construction of several purpose-built library complexes.

What Prospects for National Libraries in Africa? A South African Perspective

In many developing countries national libraries are caught in a vicious circle of inadequate resources, failure to perform, and lack of recognition. This article attempts to answer the question whether the national library has a future in Africa by considering four aspects: (1) the roles and functions of national libraries generally, (2) what roles national libraries can and should play in Africa, (3) factors affecting national library performance in Africa, and (4) what can be done to improve the prospects of national libraries in Africa. Reference is made to the South African situation and recent thinking at the National Library of South Africa, which is reconceptualizing itself as a ‘knowletage’ institution where ‘knowletage’ refers to the intersection of knowledge and heritage.

The National Library and Information System (NALIS) of Trinidad and Tobago: A Public Library System Performing National Library Functions

In an environment where the continued survival of national libraries is being questioned, this article looks at an example of a public library system providing national library functions. The recent creation of the National Library and Information System (NALIS) in Trinidad and Tobago is evidence that Caribbean public libraries through a process of integration and centralization of existing library services can provide a nationwide national library service while maintaining essential national library functions. The organizational structure of NALIS is presented along with an outline of the functions of the various library divisions. A brief review of the literature on the current status of national libraries precedes the discussion on NALIS.

Digitising Complex Data: Integrating Text, Images and Physical Organisation

The National Library of Norway (NLN) is the Norwegian national deposit library and has a history going back to 1815 when national library functions were taken care of by The University of Oslo Library. In 1989 the Rana Division of the National Library was established and given the responsibility for the administration of the Norwegian arrangement of legal deposit. In 1992 the Norwegian Parliament decided to establish a unified self-contained National Library with its main office located in Oslo. The Office of the National Librarian came into operation in 1994. The Oslo Division (NLN-O) was established in 1999 based on national functions and collections separated from the University of Oslo Library.

National Libraries: The Concept and the Practice, 1700–2000

The scope of national libraries has often been formulated within the framework of three core concepts: universal, nation-oriented or functional. Historically, the impulse was educational, as for the British Museum Library, heritage-oriented, as for the Paris Bibliothèque nationale, or bibliographic, as for the Leipzig Deutsche Bücherei (predecessor of the present Deutsche Bibliothek). In Italy, the national tradition had to find a compromise with local and regional identities and this explains, although it does not justify, the high number of national libraries. The concept of ‘national library’ emerged in different ways in the UK, France, Germany and Italy; there has been a ‘pendulum’ trend, with national library functions first cumulated in one single library and then decentralized in a network of libraries. Globalization, the advent and growth of electronic publications, the ‘convergence’ phenomenon and the need to protect small and less widely spread languages seem to be pushing the pendulum back towards concentration, giving again a leading role to national libraries, at least in strategic and planning terms.

Public Libraries as National Libraries – The Caribbean Experience

While it is essential that national library functions and services are carried out, within the English-speaking Caribbean these functions can be provided by extending the role of the country's main public library. A questionnaire was administered in 1994 to 14 public libraries and one national library in the region to ascertain if public libraries performed any national library functions and if so to assess how effectively, with a view to formulating proposals as to how best this dual role could be achieved. The survey, in which 13 libraries participated, revealed that a majority of the libraries did in fact act as de facto national libraries, performing many of the functions of traditional national libraries, though there were major deficiencies (e.g. only seven had legal deposit, and only four produced national bibliographies). A structure for a dual-function Public/National Library is proposed, with three functional divisions (Public Library Services, Technical Services, and National Heritage) and a powerful National Library Services Board.

Strategie Management in Eleven National Libraries: A Report on a Research Study

In 1996 the national libraries of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, the UK and the USA took part in a study of their experiences with strategic management. A literature review had identified 15 key aspects of strategic management. Respondents were asked their views of the importance of each aspect, and how satisfied they were with the library's achievement of it. In every case the importance attached to the aspect was greater than the library's satisfaction with achievement. Each library was also asked to nominate from a checklist the reason or reasons why it had produced its first strategic document. The centrality of the digital information environment to the core functions of national libraries has been highlighted by the study.

Defining a Role for a New National Library in a Developing Country: The National Library of Jamaica, 1980–1990

The National Library of Jamaica, created in 1979 from the West India Reference Library (WIRL), had to define its role and functions in the light of the existence of a well developed public library system which served the entire island, as well as a university library system and a fair number of small special libraries. Staff first had to be made aware of how the newly designated library differed from the old WIRL, which although well known for its outstanding collection of ‘Westindiana’ was primarily an urban-based library. The media were used to present information on the role and functions of the new library, which would perform all the accepted fundamental functions of national libraries in developed countries, except that relating to the coverage of foreign literature; in addition it would also be involved in interlending and document supply. Jamaica is a small developing country in which the European/North American-based culture and the African-influenced folk culture coexist. The library therefore recognizes the importance of developing collections of ephemera, oral history and folklore. There is a small preservation and conservation facility. In serving as the national bibliographic centre, it produces the national bibliography and creates various other bibliographic tools of national use. As the focal point of the national information system, it has developed a national referral service to aid interlending. Current awareness services are offered to library and information professionals, there is a programme of mounting exhibitions, and strong international links are maintained. Growth and development have been severely hampered by dwindling financial resources, which have resulted in some cutbacks to services. Nevertheless, the library has firmly established itself as an important cultural institution and as a leader in Caribbean library and information work.

National Libraries as Institutes of International Understanding Among Member States of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)

This paper provides an overview of the practice of librarianship at the sub-regional level in West Africa. Functions of national libraries that are widely known are examined. The case is made for the implementation of the proposed Federation of West African Library Association (FWALA). A proposal is also made for the establishment of a sub-regional library and a network of the national libraries of the member countries of ECOWAS at a secondary level. The roles that various arms of the proposed structure can play to promote free flow of information in the sub-region are then discussed.

The Evolution of the Concept of the National Library

The author discusses the current dilemmas facing many national libraries, particularly those in multicultural societies, as they strive to achieve a balanced representation of the country's cultural heritage at a time when budgets are severely restricted and functions are increasingly carried out at the regional level. The changing role and purpose of national libraries is described using Belgium as a case study. According to a law of August 8, 1980, the Belgian government decentralized the management of cultural affairs, which explicitly included museums, libraries, and other research institutions, and granted autonomy to its three communities-French- , Dutch- , and German-speaking-in preserving their cultural heritage. At the same time, the national library remained dependent on the central government and was named one of seven national research institutions guaranteed to be jointly administered by the two national ministries of education for French- and Dutch-speaking Belgium. As a result, the national library continues its responsibility of national coverage while the requisite budgets are increasingly allocated to regional affairs. Other countries, including Great Britain, Switzerland, Germany, and France, have decentralized some national library functions, such as legal deposit, while maintaining cohesive bibliographic coverage of the national literature, namely in the form of the national bibliography, as a national library function. The automation of library functions allows for greater decentralization; each regional deposit can enter data which is compiled and distributed by the national library. A similar solution has been advocated in Belgium, especially by the Dutch-speaking sector which has called for the establishment of a "national library of Flanders" in Antwerp. The conflicting demands of preserving the national heritage and providing ready access to it are considered. National libraries seek to balance efficient services with their obligation to continue the tradition of preservation. To meet these cost demands, some national libraries have "privatized" certain "pubilic" services to gain income. The author concludes that commercial solutions must not become the lifesaver for threatened budgets and that they may lead to an unbalanced "national" collection. The fate of national libraries must be determined by the political system, with consideration of the citizens' desires, not by economic expediency.

The Reorganization of National Library Functions in Denmark

Denmark has seen a major reorganization of national library functions in the last few years. A National Library Authority has been set up to exercise overall planning and coordination. Specifically national functions are performed by two libraries, the Royal Library in Copenhagen (which also acts as a university library for the University of Copenhagen in the humanities and social sciences), and the State and University Library in Aarhus, but several subject specialist libraries also play national collecting and document supply roles. A modernization project took place in the Royal Library in the latter half of the 1980s, with a view to clarifying its functions and of improving its performance; many of the proposals have already been acted upon. Recent developments include a change in the body responsible for the national bibliography, a review of preservation needs, a start on retrospective conversion, and the construction by the National Library Authority of a budget model (now partly adopted) to achieve fairer allocation of funds among libraries.

The National Library of Nigeria: a case study of the Bauchi State Branch

The paper briefly reviewed the characteristics and functions of national libraries in general. It then gave an overview of the National Library of Nigeria (NLN) with special reference to the laws that established it and its functions. The survey was narrowly focused on the present state of the Bauchi State Branch of the National Library of Nigeria. It was found that this branch library is not fully equipped and funded to serve as a bibliographical centre and clearing house to the State. It has also not been effective in providing advisory service on library development and organisation to departments and agencies in the State. Finally, several recommendations were made to improve upon the present level of performance of the NLN Bauchi Branch.

Developing a New National Library in Norway

The increased range and number of information carriers are changing thinking about legal deposit and causing some countries to look at their legislation. In Norway, national library functions, which have hitherto been carried out by the University of Oslo Library, are being transferred to a separate national library. A branch has been set up in the northern town of Mo i Rana with the initial functions of acting as a repository, microfilming, storage of journals and newspapers, conversion of card catalogues, and networking; others to be added later may include the storage of archival copies of legal deposit material, registration and distribution of printed legal deposit, exchange of publications, and conservation and preservation. Some functions may remain in Oslo, including the national bibliographic centre and receipt of non-book legal deposit. Discussions are still taking place on some issues. New legal deposit legislation, to come into force in 1990, covers all publicly available media of recorded knowledge. A government committee, which is looking at the whole area of libraries and information science in Norway, will help to establish where the National Library fits into the national picture.

Retrospective Record Conversion and Shared National Library Functions in Malta: Reflections from the Edge of Europe

Retrospective Record Conversion and Shared National Library Functions in Malta: Reflections from the Edge of Europe