march 2000 rfg/nls national digital libraries: perspectives from russia and scotland fred guy...

RFG/NLS MARCH 2000

NATIONAL DIGITAL NATIONAL DIGITAL LIBRARIES: perspectives LIBRARIES: perspectives from Russia and Scotlandfrom Russia and Scotland

FRED GUYFRED GUYDirector of Information and Communications TechnologyDirector of Information and Communications Technology

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLANDNATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND

MARCH 2000 RFG/NLS

SCOTLAND AND RUSSIASCOTLAND AND RUSSIA400 YEARS400 YEARS

• Mercenaries in Muscovy

• Physicians to the Tsars

• “Caledonian Phalanx” of entrepreneurs - architecture to shipping, industry to photography

MARCH 2000 RFG/NLS

COLLABORATIONCOLLABORATION

• Private sector - airlines; railways; IT

• Public sector - funding agencies

MARCH 2000 RFG/NLS

Creation of an Information System for the Creation of an Information System for the Russian State LibraryRussian State Library

TELRUS 9705

December 1998-June 2000

TACISEUROPEAN COMMISSION - DG 1A Directorate

General for External Relations

MARCH 2000 RFG/NLS

NATIONAL LIBRARIES:NATIONAL LIBRARIES:FUNCTIONSFUNCTIONS

• Acquisition - legal deposit; purchase; donation; exchange

• Retention

• Preservation

• Access

MARCH 2000 RFG/NLS

RSL: HistoryRSL: History

• Founded 1862 as Moscow’s first free public library

• Known as The Library of the Moscow Public Museum and Rumiantsev Museum or Rumiantsev Library

• 1919. Lenin signed Resolution to increase staff

• 1921. Became a state depository

MARCH 2000 RFG/NLS

RUMIANTSEV LIBRARYRUMIANTSEV LIBRARY

MARCH 2000 RFG/NLS

HISTORY (CONT)HISTORY (CONT)• 26th January 1924 named after V.I. Lenin

• 6th Feb. 1925. State Lenin Library of USSR.

• 1955. New building opened

• 1992. Russian State Library

• 1994. Modernisation Plan

• 1996. Plan revised

• Estimates. $750,000,000

MARCH 2000 RFG/NLS

RSL - MAIN BUILDINGRSL - MAIN BUILDING

MARCH 2000 RFG/NLS

RSL - Entrance HallRSL - Entrance Hall

MARCH 2000 RFG/NLS

RSL - Main Reading RoomRSL - Main Reading Room

MARCH 2000 RFG/NLS

NLS: HistoryNLS: History

• Founded in 1680s as Faculty of Advocates Library

• 1710 1st Copyright Act (Queen Anne)

• 1925 National Library of Scotland Act

MARCH 2000 RFG/NLS

NLS - George IV BridgeNLS - George IV Bridge

MARCH 2000 RFG/NLS

NLS - George IV BridgeNLS - George IV Bridge

MARCH 2000 RFG/NLS

GEORGE IV BRIDGE - Entrance HallGEORGE IV BRIDGE - Entrance Hall

MARCH 2000 RFG/NLS

RSL: StatisticsRSL: Statistics

• 3023 members of staff

• 42,000,000 items (books, periodicals, manuscripts, maps).

• 7,000 visitors daily (ca. 1,500,000 pa)

• 30,000 items circulated daily

• Lof C 1,000,000 visitors

• BL 500,000

MARCH 2000 RFG/NLS

RSL - Storage area after refurbishment

MARCH 2000 RFG/NLS

NLS: StatisticsNLS: Statistics

• 250 staff

• 8 million printed items inc. rare and priceless items (eg. Gutenberg Bible)

• 1.6 million maps

• Manuscripts, music scores

• 230,000 items pa via legal deposit

MARCH 2000 RFG/NLS

PROJECT OVERVIEWPROJECT OVERVIEW

• Specification, selection and implementation of a modern, scaleable computer system

• Analysis of data and data flows and input of data into system

• Preparation of a “business” strategy including means of sustaining system beyond project completion

MARCH 2000 RFG/NLS

Creation of an Information System for the Creation of an Information System for the Russian State LibraryRussian State Library

• TACIS funded

• 1,000,000 Euro over 18 months

• Money via EU member countries

MARCH 2000 RFG/NLS

TACISTACIS•EUROPEAN COMMISSION - DG 1A Directorate General for External Relations

•Technical Assistance to the New Independent States (former republics of the Soviet Union except Baltic States) and Mongolia

•Since 1991. 3000 projects worth ECU 3,300,000,000

•For transfer of know-how thereby fostering development of market economies and democratic societies

MARCH 2000 RFG/NLS

THE PROJECTTHE PROJECT• NLS a consortium member. Leader British

Council. Other partners Jouve SA (France) & EDS-LANIT (Germany/Russia). Experts also on procurement and marketing.

• Providing advice

• Writing reports

• Working with Russian colleagues

• Overseeing a key component

MARCH 2000 RFG/NLS

RSL:Automation historyRSL:Automation history

• 1970s - investigations

• 1990 - VTLS (USA) package

• 1996 - Specification prepared jointly with National Library of Russia

• 1998 - MEKA

• 1999 - Aleph 500 (Israel) selected

MARCH 2000 RFG/NLS

NLS: Automation historyNLS: Automation history

• 1978-1985 LOCAS (British Library)

• 1985-1987 SCOLCAP

• 1988-1999 VTLS (USA)

• 1999- Voyager (USA)

MARCH 2000 RFG/NLS

PROGRESS TO DATEPROGRESS TO DATE

• Server (SUN 450) installed

• Aleph 500 installed

• Data (retroconverted) + MEKA data loaded

• Training plan prepared

• Systems librarian training delivered + training on Unix

MARCH 2000 RFG/NLS

BUILDING THE DIGITAL BUILDING THE DIGITAL LIBRARYLIBRARY

• Acquisition

• Retention

• Preservation

• Access

MARCH 2000 RFG/NLS

ACQUISITION - NLSACQUISITION - NLS

• In house projects: maps; manuscripts; photographs

• Deposit of Ordnance Survey data

• Voluntary Code.

MARCH 2000 RFG/NLS

RETENTION & RETENTION & PRESERVATIONPRESERVATION

NLSNLS

• Policies being developed

• Awaiting outcomes from CEDARS and NEDLIB

MARCH 2000 RFG/NLS

ACCESS - NLSACCESS - NLS

• NLS WWW SITE - WWW.NLS.UK

• INHOUSE ACCESS DATABASE

MARCH 2000 RFG/NLS

POSSIBLE DEVELOPMENTSPOSSIBLE DEVELOPMENTSNLSNLS

• New Opportunities Fund Proposal

• Use of EnCompass - software from Endeavor Information Systems Inc.

• Large scale co-operative project using, for example IBM Digital Library

MARCH 2000 RFG/NLS

DIGITAL DEVELOPMENTS - DIGITAL DEVELOPMENTS - RSLRSL

• Memory of the World - First Printed Slavic books of 15th and 16th centuries; archival material relating to Dostevsky and Pushkin

• Access via http://SUN450.agir.ru/memory

MARCH 2000 RFG/NLS

FUTURE PLANS - RSLFUTURE PLANS - RSL

• Project to digitise 50,000 books including many in foreign languages

• SFX Reference Linking Software Solution from ExLibris

MARCH 2000 RFG/NLS

CONCLUSIONSCONCLUSIONS

• Acquisition. In house digitisation strategies to be determined. Legal deposit only voluntary at present.

• Retention and preservation. Awaiting outcomes from other projects.

• Access. Rudimentary.

• Collaboration. Essential.