Access and Use in Libraries and Archives of the Czech Republic Katie Curler Submitted in completion of: North Carolina Summer Seminar Libraries and Librarianship in the Czech Republic 29 January 2007
Introduction to Access and Use in Czech Libraries and Archives Archives and libraries in the Czech Republic share several guiding principles as information repositories dedicated to the organization and use of information, but they are nonetheless fundamentally different institutions. According to the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic, the governmental body that oversees the nation s archival institutions, archives are responsible for the care of historical records and documents, which the Archives Administration arm of the Ministry defines as such records that were selected for permanent preservation owing to the time of their origin, contents, provenance and external traits, and were accepted for archive registration ( Archives ). Libraries, however, are far less constricted in the scope of their collections than archives; they are not limited as archives are to the collection of unique, unpublished materials. In fact, in addition to its traditional library collection of published materials, the National Library of the Czech Republic has its own archives in which it collects records related to the activities of the National Library as well as select private collections. Archives and libraries, in addition to having different collecting scopes, have different means of presenting their collections to users and providing access to patrons. While most library collections (especially public library collections) are housed in open stacks through which users can browse and choose materials as they see fit, archival materials are stored in closed stacks from which archivists retrieve records according to patron requests. Users do not enter the stacks to retrieve items themselves, nor do they take archival materials out of the archives. There are many more intricate differences between libraries and archives involving the arrangement, description, and management of materials housed in the different institutions, but is not within the scope of this paper to delineate Curler - 2
all of these differences in detail. The differences in the content of collections, however, as well as in the method of access to collections provide examples of how the institutions differ in significant ways. Despite their differences, Czech libraries and archives (and American libraries and archives, for that matter) have one fundamental characteristic in common. Both libraries and archives are dedicated to providing access to the materials they collect to researchers and other patrons. Although libraries and archives may limit their user groups to select populations, this paper will focus on the wider user group of all inhabitants of the Czech Republic and, in some cases, international users. Article 2 of Czech law no. 257/2001 Coll. on libraries and the terms of operating public library and information services (also known as the Library Act) defines a library as the facility in which public library and information services are provided in a manner ensuring equal access to all without distinction ( Act on Library Services ). Similarly, the Czech Ministry of the Interior claims that the archives take all-around care of historical records and documents and of their safe storage; they process them professionally and make them accessible ( Archives ). Both of these statements place providing access to materials and services on equal footing with collecting and/or caring for materials. As Czech libraries and archives move into the twenty-first century, access has grown to mean more than simply providing physical access to materials within the confines of the library or archive buildings. Users are no longer content to travel great distances to thumb through card catalogs describing an institution s collections. Computer technology, particularly since the Velvet Revolution of 1989 in which communism was overthrown, has catapulted the Czech Republic into the technological Curler - 3
era, stimulating the creation of computerized library and archival catalogs and the development of full digital repositories in which library or archival materials are replicated for users on computer screens, eliminating the necessity to view the physical object at all. Whereas libraries and archives may have countless differences, they stand together on the brink of this digital revolution and wrestle with many of the same questions. Czech libraries and archives share a growing concern for the development of advanced technological solutions in order to improve access to library and archival collections. History of Libraries and Archives in the Czech Republic Before examining the current issues regarding access and use of archival and library materials in the Czech Republic and the role technology has to play in these issues, it is worthwhile to consider the different developmental paths taken by libraries and archives in Czech lands. Their differing routes to the modern age can help explain why so little literature exists that connects libraries and archives in a shared mission of technological development to improve access. Czech librarianship traces its roots from as early as the ninth century, but public libraries and a concern for public access to library materials did not begin to appear until after the invention of the printing press. The end of the eighteenth century saw the beginning of public reading rooms, and the first municipal public libraries were established in the early nineteenth century. The first library act was passed by the Czechoslovak parliament in 1919 requiring each municipality to establish its own public library (Machova 69). These early developments fostered the creation of a robust public library system in the Czech Republic. Curler - 4
Czech libraries have undergone a major change since the Velvet Revolution of 1989. Whereas libraries were once controlled by the state under a cooperative system in which large, urban libraries with full-time, qualified staff were obligated to lend assistance to smaller, rural libraries that lacked the resources to provide extensive services or to employ a staff of professionally trained librarians, after the Revolution such cooperation ceased to be mandatory. Public libraries are now run by municipal and local authorities (Burgetová 25). Technically, Law No. 53/1959 Coll., which first established the unified system of libraries during communism, remained in effect for more than ten years after the Revolution, but it was rarely enforced as librarians struggled for a new law that would formalize the profession s break from communist ideology (Machova 71). Under the Unified System of Libraries Act of 1959, libraries fell under the control of the Ministry of Culture, and that governmental body oversaw the libraries efforts at centralization (Vásová 70). The Ministry of Culture still plays an active role in library administration, despite the fact that the 1959 law has been superceded by the 2001 Library Act. The Ministry currently governs three of the largest libraries in the nation (the National Library of the Czech Republic, the Moravian Regional Library, and the K.E. Macan Library and Printing House for the Blind) and co-authors library legislation, but it no longer controls all aspects of librarianship in the regional and local public libraries as it did during communism. The Ministry of Culture also maintains a centralized register of public libraries in the Czech Republic, and libraries can be denied entry in that register if the Ministry of Culture decides that they do not adequately provide library and information services to the public ( Act on Library Services ). Curler - 5
Despite the Ministry of Culture s continuing role, the lack of centralized control after the Revolution brought hardship to many libraries. Librarians became concerned solely with the good of their own institutions, and common issues in librarianship were no longer addressed, leading to a breakdown in cooperative services designed to facilitate access like interlibrary loan (Burgetová 26). This situation seems to have improved, however, with the passage of the new Library Act in 2001. Although this law is a revocation of Law No. 53/1959 Coll., the new law nonetheless stipulates that in order to be a part of the public library system in the Czech Republic, libraries must engage in certain cooperative efforts with other libraries across the country. Interlibrary loan is a fundamental requirement for any library to be considered part of the public library system. Article 4 of the Act stipulates that libraries are obliged to make available library documents from the library collection of the library or, through inter-library services, from the library collection of another library ( Act on Library Services ). Only if the library abides by this requirement (as well as several others defined by the Act) and is listed in the registry of libraries maintained by the Ministry of Culture is that library eligible for state subsidies. These subsidies help to rectify the problems incurred in the breakdown of the cooperative library system. For example, after the Communist regime the prices of books and other library materials rose sharply. Without the support of large libraries, as they would have had according to law under communism, rural libraries struggled to keep up with patron demand for new materials (Burgetová 26). State subsidies make it possible for libraries to obtain necessary materials and provide services without relying on other libraries for assistance. Curler - 6
The end of communism also prompted a change in attitude for librarians. According to a paper delivered at a library conference in Ljubljana, Slovenia in 1997, freed from the strictures of communist ideology, Czech librarians began to see that the primary task of a library is to provide services and that they have to concentrate their efforts on satisfying the needs of readers and users (Burgetová 26). The inflated price of books and other media also provided public libraries with an influx of new patrons, as private individuals could no longer afford to purchase their own collections (Vásová 71). Modern Czech librarians have reoriented themselves to focus on satisfying their patrons rather than reflecting state ideology, and this renewed commitment emphasizes the importance of providing access to the information their users want. Czech archives evolved over a different course than the nation s public library system. Since it represents the nation s largest archival repository, much of the archival literature on access and use concentrates on the Central State Archives in Prague. The Central State Archives began as two separate branches that eventually merged to become the Central State Archives. The first branch originated as the Archives of the Crown of Bohemia in the twelfth century and became the Provincial Archives of Bohemia in 1920. The second branch that eventually formed the Central State Archives went by a variety of names according to its governing agency; it began as the Bohemian Chancery and Chamberlain Archives in the sixteenth century and, beginning in 1919, was known as the Ministry of the Interior Archives (Kadorek 9). These early archives did not have a history of allowing researchers to access archival materials through research rooms located within the archives themselves, as is the common practice in modern archives. Research Curler - 7
rooms did not become customary in archives until the second half of the nineteenth century (Benesová 80). During the Second World War, archivists were primarily concerned with safeguarding important archival material in locations outside of Prague, so research and study of archival documents were necessarily restricted (Benesová 80). After World War II, the creation of a unified state archive gained support, but it was not until 1954 that the Central State Archives was established under the management of the Ministry of the Interior. The new Central State Archives included the Provincial Archives of Bohemia as a department of the Central Archives of the Ministry of the Interior. Initially, the joining of multiple archives (including the Central Agriculture and Forestry Archives) under the banner of the Central State Archives did not do much to change local practice. However, beginning in 1956, the Archives began to implement more rigid central planning, and the collective approach that was typical of the communist regime gradually overtook the local practices at individual archival institutions (Kadorek 10-11). Under the communist regime, archives and archivists became tools for state ideology. Access to archival materials was severely restricted according to Czechoslovak Law Code no. 97/1974, which forbade citizens from obtaining archival records less than fifty years old on the grounds that such access would be contrary to the state s interests. Access to twentieth century documents was all but impossible, and the law stipulated that permission could similarly be denied to researchers requesting older documents (Kajlik 413). Such denial of resources created a deep rift between Czech archivists and perspective researchers, and since researchers grew to associate archivists with the communist regime, ill will toward the archival profession did not immediately dissipate Curler - 8
in 1989. Since the fall of communism, Czech archivists have dedicated themselves to the model of other Western European nations in promoting open access to information in archives (Kajlik 418-422). According to the current practices of archival institutions registered with the Ministry of the Interior, documents and records older than thirty years are available for research, and certain historical materials that date before January 1, 1990 are also available. Perspective researchers are required to submit applications in order to carry out archival research, but the proscriptions against research are far less strict than during the communist era ( Archives ). Archivists provide access to materials free of charge in the search rooms of various archives, and an inter-archival lending practice exists to transfer archival materials between institutions to increase access for users with geographic constraints. Users can also request more extensive searching of archival collections by archivists, but such activities require the payment of a fee (Benesová 79). The history of libraries and that of archives in the Czech Republic have some important commonalities regarding their attitudes toward access and use, as the above paragraphs show. Although libraries trace their origin to an earlier date (the ninth century) than the archives (the twelfth century), both institutions began providing research and reading rooms for patrons during the nineteenth century, suggesting an increasingly open attitude toward researchers and other users. In both cases, this openness was severely curtailed during the communist regime. Although the library and archives fell under the management of two separate ministries under communism (as they still do), both were subject to the same rigid centralization of control, and both were forced to place severe limits on the materials available to users. Archives restricted Curler - 9
access to any records that did not support the ideology of the state, while libraries disposed of dissident literature, ensuring that library collections toed the party line ( Libraries and Librarianship 7). Since the fall of communism, both libraries and archives have lessened the restrictions placed on users, allowing increased access to a greater breadth of material. Archives still have stricter policies regarding access than do public libraries, requiring potential researchers to submit applications outlining their research interests before permission to use any records is granted, but both types of institution are striving to serve users in new and better ways. Both institutions provide basic services to patrons free of charge, limiting fees to the cost of reproducing items from collections or that of time spent by staff members doing advanced research for patrons. These efforts to provide services to users with as little restriction as possible encourage the open exchange of information in the Czech Republic. Technological developments in both fields have also mirrored one another, as both librarians and archivists attempt to further facilitate access through the use of computers and the World Wide Web. Available English-language literature regarding access and use of library or archival materials focuses squarely on activities in the library or the archival sphere. Cooperation or collaboration between the two professions is rarely (if ever) mentioned, despite the fact that the activities of both in the technological arena are remarkably similar. Whether this separation of the two entities is due to their oversight by different ministries or to a fundamental difference in ideology is unclear based on an examination of extant literature. Libraries and archives in the Czech Republic are, nonetheless, Curler - 10
focusing on the same issues of increased access through automation and digitization of library and archival materials. First Steps in the Technological Development of Libraries and Archives In their articles describing the development of digital archives in the Czech Republic, Oskar Macek and Michal Wanner of the Central State Archives attribute the nation s rapid technological development to the sudden influx of computer technology after the Revolution in 1989, which ended restrictions on the import of computers and other technologies. Whereas the Czech Republic had previously been attempting to process information using large-scale computers, Czech researchers and programmers suddenly found that previously complicated tasks could be easily completed using a PC ( Automated Information System 64). This led to the swift adoption of computer technology in the country, unhampered as it was by any reliance on existing software that was continually at the risk of obsolescence ( Czech Republic on the Road 185). Although the authors use this historical shift to explain the increased use of technological solutions in archives, the same cause can undoubtedly be assigned to libraries speedy technological development. Sudden access to previously unused technology encouraged both libraries and archives to explore the potential benefits of these advances in their respective spheres. The creation of online catalogs to replace paper-based systems is an important first step in the technological development of libraries. Online catalogs present library holdings to expanded user groups, and they facilitate cooperation among institutions. According to a 2005 publication produced by the National Library of the Czech Republic, Czech libraries are in the midst of an ongoing effort to convert all library records to Curler - 11
electronic form funded by various grants from the Ministry of Culture. While a large percentage of bibliographic records are now available through OPACs, the Czech Republic still lags behind other European countries in its automation of its holdings due to its delayed entry into the technological arena ( Libraries and Librarianship 41). Karel Sosna of the Parliamentary Library of the Czech Republic underscored the importance of full retroconversion of library catalogs to electronic form in his 1998 article New Developments in Library Services and Technology: Modernization of Information Services of the Parliamentary Library of the Czech Republic. In it, he insisted that the retroconversion of card catalogs was the only way a library (in this case, the Parliamentary Library) could hope to be connected to both national and international information networks. Archives, too, are actively involved in making records of their holdings available to potential users electronically. Archival catalog records and finding aids, however, have not been subject to the same levels of standardization as library catalogs, so efforts to convert these records to electronic form also require some form of standardization in order to share information across institutions. Catalog records and finding aids representing archival collections do not lend themselves to the same degree of standardization as library catalog records, because the information necessary to describe different collections is not always the same. Since every archival collection is unique, certain collections may require more involved descriptions than others. Individual institutions develop their own preferred methods for describing archival collections, and they are loath to conform to a strict professional standard. In 1994 the Archives Administration of the Ministry of the Interior proposed that certain database fields be Curler - 12
required in archival description in order to ensure that the structure of archival records remain uniform across multiple institutions in the country, thus allowing the exchange of information between these institutions. Still, due to differences in local practice and the difficulty agreeing what fields belong in such a standard method of describing archival material, the question of standardized database fields had not been firmly resolved as of Macek and Wanner s presentation at the 2001 conference on archives in Warsaw, titled Automated Information System of Czech Republic Archives. Such disagreements regarding the appropriate structure and content of archival descriptive products have not prevented the creation of a searchable online catalog of the holdings of select archives across the country, however. Currently, interested users can search for archival collections in the Czech Republic using the Archive Groups in the Czech Republic database accessible through the Ministry of the Interior s website (available at http://www.mvcr.cz/vozidla/peva/index.php?lang=en). Catalog records and some finding aids are searchable from a variety of archival institutions including the National Archive, public regional archives, municipal archives, private archives, and archives of other cultural institutions such as museums. (Several archival collections originating from the archives of the National Library are also accessible through this database, an indicator of a degree of cooperation between the library and archival spheres.) The records accessible through this database share certain data elements in common (collection title, originating archive, etc.), but the records do not appear to be strictly standardized, as certain information (such as thematic description) appears in some records while not in others. The catalog records available in this database also Curler - 13
provide information regarding the availability of archival collections; they specify whether collections are available for study or are inaccessible to researchers. The Archive Groups in the Czech Republic database that brings together catalog records for archival collections across the country in a format accessible to users around the world as well as the availability of online union catalogs in the library world represent important first steps in the technological development of Czech libraries and archives. Both libraries and archives are seizing the potential of computer technology and the World Wide Web to promote the access and use of their materials to an ever-growing pool of potential patrons. Still more advanced work is being done, however, in the creation of wholly digital libraries and archives, moving away from the conception of libraries and archives as physical spaces and toward the provision of information to users when and where they want it, regardless of format and physical location. From Automation to Digitization in Czech Libraries and Archives While the automation of library and archives through retroconversion of card catalogs and paper-based finding aids to form union catalogs representing the collections of multiple institutions remains an ongoing effort, libraries and archives continue to explore more advanced means of providing access to their collections through the creation of digital libraries and archives where documents can be viewed electronically. An examination of extant literature regarding digitization projects reveals a significant overlap in the programs of libraries and archives, especially since the majority of the digitization projects undertaken by the National Library involve their archival collections of old manuscripts and other historical documents rather than their traditional library collections. In fact, the distinction between the digitization efforts of libraries and those Curler - 14
of archives becomes somewhat artificial when discussing the projects undertaken by the National Library, since these projects encompass primarily archival collections (both those of the National Library and those of other institutions across the Czech Republic). UNESCO s Memory of the World Program, which began in 1992, was the primary starting point for digitization efforts in the Czech Republic. The aim of UNESCO s program is to initiate, support and co-ordinate projects for preservation of cultural heritage worldwide (Karen 403). As one of the first participants in the UNESCO program, the National Library published the Memory of the World CD-ROM in 1993, which included 110 images from the library s Manuscript and Old Printed Books Department. This CD-ROM included software that allowed searching of the images as well as some basic manipulation of the images. In April of 1995, the library expanded its digitization program by publishing entire manuscripts on CD-ROM ( Digitization of Old Documents 44). The first manuscripts to be completely digitized were Antiphonarium Sedlecense and Chronicon Concillii Constantiniensis, the first in a series of digitized documents representing Czech cultural heritage known as the Memoriae Mundi: Series Bohemica. These early CD-ROMs served a dual purpose of providing more efficient and expanded access to these materials (before the CD-ROMs, only select researchers were permitted to handle the fragile documents), and protecting the documents from destructive wear and tear from repeated handling by researchers (Karen 403-404). These CD-ROMs were available for use in libraries, with copies distributed across the Czech Republic and abroad. Czech libraries digitization programs have expanded since these initial projects, and routine digitization of manuscripts at the National Library began in 1996. According Curler - 15
to Adolf Knoll, Deputy Director at the National Library, more than 700,000 pages from institutions including the National Library as well as smaller institutions like castle and monastery libraries have already been digitized from manuscripts, printed books, and historical maps (Adolf Knoll Lecture 30 May 2006). The Czech Ministry of Culture officially launched two large-scale digitization programs for libraries in 2000. The first program is known as Memoria and is an extension of the Memoriae Mundi: Series Bohemica project that began in the early nineties with the UNESCO Memory of the World Program. This digitization program exists to digitize historical documents of important cultural value. Documents digitized as part of the Memoria program as well as their bibliographic descriptions are available online at http://www.manuscriptorium.com. The second program is known as Kramerius, and this program allows the digitization of previously microfilmed periodicals ( Czech National Digitization Programmes ). Whereas the Memoria project exists primarily to digitize documents of an archival nature (e.g. unique, irreplaceable, generally unpublished material), Kramerius undertakes the digitization of documents more frequently found in libraries. The records of documents digitized for Kramerius are available online at http://kramerius.nkp.cz. Although users of the Kramerius website can see which pages of which periodicals have been digitized, they can only access the digitized documents themselves at the National Library or via document delivery because most of the material digitized as part of the Kramerius program is protected under copyright law. It is significant that the products of both of these digitization programs are available via the Internet. In an effort to extend access to digitized materials beyond the confines of library buildings, Czech librarians decided early in the development of their Curler - 16
digitization programs that they wanted digitized documents to be accessible using standard Web browsers. Initially, documents were encoded using a proprietary SGMLbased standard known as DOBM to allow for the specificity needed to describe the documents. However, encoding was changed to XML upon its development to allow for greater flexibility ( Czech National Digitization Programmes ). Through not only digitizing documents for the Memoria and Kramerius programs, but also making them available for free on the Web, libraries of the Czech Republic have used technology to drastically increase the potential users of their library collections and promote open access to information. Like libraries, archives have taken great steps toward the digitization of their collections. Although the focus of the majority of archival literature seems to be on online access to archival descriptive products like catalog records and finding aids, archival institutions have not completely refrained from the digitization of complete collections. For example, the same company that partnered with the National Library in the digitization efforts begun with the UNESCO Memory of the World Program, Albertina icome Praha, went on to assist the Central State Archives with the digitization of the letters of Clemens Lothar Metternich (Karen 404). Still, implementation of technology in the archival sphere seems to focus on descriptive products rather than on the digitization of entire collections. Two primary possible reasons exist for this differing focus in the archival world. One is that it can be extremely expensive and timeconsuming to digitize entire archival collections, and the digitization of only portions of a collection for availability online would divorce it from its context and aversely affect accurate interpretation of the records by researchers. Another (and perhaps more likely) Curler - 17
explanation is that access policies in archives, although they have become more open since the fall of communism, remain more restrictive than the access policies of most libraries. Free and open access to entire archival collections on the Internet would effectively undermine these access policies, rendering them useless, so it stands to reason that the information freely available to researchers regarding archival collections on the Web would focus on explaining what collections exist and how to find relevant collections rather than on the content of the collections themselves. As repositories of the records of Czech society, however, archival institutions have an additional responsibility that distinguishes them from libraries in the digital realm. In addition to digitizing precious documents to facilitate access and preservation, archives must find ways to preserve and provide access to born-digital documents that provide a record of the activities of modern Czech society. Issues of long-term preservation of born-digital archival documents are intimately tied to the question of future access and the preservation of Czech national culture. As more documents are created digitally by the Czech government and other national bodies, the preservation of such documents becomes essential to ensure future knowledge of current Czech society. The documents described by Macek and Wanner in their article The Czech Republic on the Road to Digital Archives: Research in the Field of Long-term Preservation of Documents in Digital Form, if not preserved in a manner allowing access to their content, would represent a significant loss of much of modern Czech history. Digital technology evolves at such a rapid rate that if these born-digital records were not adequately preserved, access to such documents even in the near future would be virtually impossible. According to Macek and Wanner, while the archival community Curler - 18
was quick to explore digitization projects like those created in the library community and described above, the problems most connected with archiving, i.e. long-term preservation and accessibility of documents in digital form, paradoxically came to the fore relatively late ( Czech Republic on the Road 185). As of the authors 2004 article, the Archive Administration department of the Ministry of the Interior was still contemplating further research into the issues surrounding long-term preservation of born-digital documents. The Future of Access and Use in Libraries and Archives Despite the fact that libraries and archives developed in the Czech Republic along different paths and under the supervision of different ministries of the Czech government, their tendencies toward increasingly open methods of access and use are nonetheless similar. Both libraries and archives went through similar struggles after the fall of communism. After conforming to state ideology and limiting the information accessible to patrons, they had to regain the trust of their users and establish themselves as repositories where information could be accessed freely and without repercussion from the state. Access to library and archival materials became more open after the Velvet Revolution, and both libraries and archives have continued to expand their methods of access since 1989. The Czech Republic s late adoption of modern computer technology (hampered by the communist regime) has resulted in a simultaneous focus on basic technological advances to facilitate access (such as the retroconversion of catalogs) and on advanced digitization projects (like Memoria and Kramerius) that allow unprecedented access to library and archival materials via the World Wide Web. Curler - 19
Currently, digitization programs in the Czech Republic provide access to digital records (whether they be facsimiles of paper documents or born-digital items) to a wider audience than ever before and both librarians and archivists attempt to ensure that access to such materials will be possible for users in the future. Despite fundamental differences between the professions involving the scope of collections and access to these materials, both have grasped the potential offered by advanced computer technology to improve services to users. Libraries and archives are both actively involved in harnessing technology to facilitate greater access, yet little scholarly literature connects the two professions in the Czech Republic. Since the current technological efforts of both libraries and archives share so many characteristics, it seems logical that the two types of institution would collaborate in their development of improved methods of access. The presence of archival records in library-based projects like Memoria and the inclusion of records from the National Library in the Archive Groups in the Czech Republic database suggest that libraries and archives do cooperate to some extent, but their oversight by different ministries in the Czech government seems to have hindered any large-scale collaborative effort. Both professions would benefit from further research on areas (or potential areas) of collaboration between libraries and archives in their technological endeavors. Such collaboration could assist both types of institution in encouraging the use of their materials, as it would foster a discussion of the commonalities and differences between archival and library collections and make both professional communities aware of the resources offered by the other. Curler - 20
Based on the experience of Czech libraries and archives since the fall of communism, it appears that both institutions will only continue to expand the methods of access available to library and archival materials in order to provide more users with the information contained in their collections. As retroconversion efforts progress, the catalogs of more libraries and archives will be searchable online. Projects like Memoria and Kramerius will continue to digitize documents, both published and unpublished, and make these documents available to interested readers. Czech archives will carry on wrestling with the problem of preservation of and access to born-digital documents, and libraries and archives will confront an increasing number of born-digital documents as Czech society progresses toward greater reliance on computer technology. Libraries and archives will face similar challenges in providing information to a society that grows more accustomed to finding everything they seek online whenever they need it. Libraries and archives as physical spaces have become less attractive when compared to the ease of information access on the World Wide Web. Current technological efforts being made by libraries and archives in the Czech Republic represent a valiant effort for these institutions to remain relevant in modern society, but greater innovation in methods of access will be necessary to satisfy contemporary users. As information providers and protectors of Czech history and heritage, the only way that libraries and archives can hope to survive as valuable institutions for the modern public is to collaborate in finding new and pioneering ways to satisfy users needs. Curler - 21
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