Prague Summer Seminar Days 3 & 4

Day 3 - Tuesday, May 17

Let the library fun commence!

On this day we visited the National Library of the Czech Republic, which is located at the historical Jesuit complex, the Klementinum. In addition to modernized aspects of the complex that now house the National Library, we visited the the original astronomical tower and observatory built by the Jesuits, and the picturesque and famous Baroque library. (We weren't allowed to enter the library nor take pictures of it! -- we peered in through the doorway.) The Jesuits were very instrumental in bringing higher education to the Czech lands, and the Klementinum is the evidence.

Plants in libraries are a big trend in the Czech Republic. Stay tuned for more evidence in coming pictures.
I wonder if it is for their air filtering benefits or something more cultural?
Do the Czech people have a word for cosy like the Dutch "gezellig" and house plants add to the unique definition? 

View from the astronomical clock tower at the Klementinum.
The tower off in the distance on the hill is Petřín Tower. 

View of the reading room at the National Library. 

Evidence of the Jesuit legacy.

We also received 2 lectures from Reference Librarians from the National Library. The first lecture was an overview of their services and how they are utilized -- the National Library gives a lot of support to students as well as ordinary citizens. They have a service called "Ask your library," and I found it interesting that 94 libraries in the Czech Republic actively participate. Since last year (2015) they have archived the questions and answers in a wiki-like format where users can sharpen responses and add information.

The second lecture was about the E-Books on Demand service. This is a clever scheme where the library offers any person in the world the ability to pay for a digital copy of historical printed works in the collection. For two months, the digital surrogate is available to only that patron. Then, the entire text of the ebook becomes available for anyone to use. This is an innovative way to fund the digitization of historical books.

Before we left the Klementinum, we visited the chapel, which was a great example of Baroque architecture as well. It was completed from 1723-1724.

After lunch at a typical Czech cafeteria style restaurant, we headed over to the Parliament Library, and by extension, Parliament itself. The Parliament Library's first objective is to serve members of Parliament, but also provides public access to information, like the income and expenditures of political parties. Their main services are completing research for Parliament members and conducting media recaps on particular topics. A few of us were a bit surprised at the small size of the Parliament Library -- the location is considered temporary (they are only renting it) and the librarians hope for a larger, more permanent location in the future.

2016 is the 700 year birthday of King Charles IV, so there were many celebrations and special exhibits going on throughout Prague. Here is one part of an installation at Parliament celebrating K*700.  

There was some very interesting architecture and light fixtures.
The woman with dark hair and the scarf was the librarian that gave us the tour.  

Cool reflection picture from a ceiling in Parliament. 

Afterwards we briefly stopped at the Church of the Infant Jesus, and later in the evening, Erica and I had Indian food down the street from the hotel. It was pretty good, even though they didn't use coconut milk in the curry sauce like I expected.

Altar at Church of the Infant Jesus. 

Day 4 - Wednesday, May 18

This was a formal, intense day. We went over to the Institute of Information Studies and Librarianship, Faculty of Arts, Charles University for a morning of lectures.

Welcome note from Dr. Drobíková, Director of the Institute

Dr. Drobíková gave us a brief introduction to Charles University and the programs offered at the Institute. An undergraduate degree takes three years, masters two years, and PhD three years. One focus offered is book culture -- early printed works, manuscripts, and historical books -- sounds pretty cool. They are also working to offer a new teacher credential program.

We also learned about a major research project on which they've been working: cs3889.com. "Czechoslovakia 38-89 is a complex educational simulation for high school students." The project begins with 1938, when the Czech lands were occupied by Nazis, and covers up to the Velvet Revolution in 1989.



Manuscripts and Early Printed Books in Czechia, Dr. Marek

This was one of my favorite talks! So much good stuff.

We were treated to a brief slideshow of various remarkable manuscripts -- an 8th century Psalter fragment in Insular minuscule with majuscule headings and versals to start each verse; an 8th/9th century fragment of the Gospel of Luke in Insular uncial; the Codex of Vyšehrad, which is believed to be made for the coronation of Prince Vratislav II (the first King of Bohemia) on July 15, 1086.

Many of the manuscripts Dr. Marek mentioned are kept in the National Library or the Klementinum, but images of their pages have been made available through the Manuscriptorium Project, a digital library that aggregates records and digitized full text packages from libraries all over the world. The Manuscriptorium contains "manuscripts, incunabula, early printed books, maps, charters and other types of documents." Create an account, compare some objects, have some fun!

I found it! The Codex of Vyšehrad. & the joke about these guys getting out the bathtub lol https://t.co/75tB2Z1WKG pic.twitter.com/jME0jrUyPn

— ₭elci M. ₭elci (@bibliobebe) July 6, 2016

Book Provenance Research in Czech Libraries, Dr. Šípek

Dr. Šípek's talk covered the technical aspects of incorporating provenance data into catalog records for rare and historically significant books. This scheme uses Marc21, but they are trying to update it for RDA. The provenance record can include any/all notes, remarks, or signs that can identify the previous owner: ex libris, bookplates, hand-written notes, probate inventories... but interestingly, it does not include the current library that holds the item. I suppose that is inferred from the catalog one is consulting!

Digitization and Digital Library Aggregation, Dr. Lhoták

Dr. Lhoták gave us a thorough introduction to the Czech Digital Library and how it works with other digital libraries in the Czech Republic -- it is an aggregator that focuses on dissemination. The National Digital Library, in comparison, possess a finite mission of digitally preserving holdings from the National Library. Meanwhile, Kramerius is an open-source digital library platform developed by the National Library and the Academy of Sciences Library that can be used by any library and from which metadata and links to full text can be fed into the Czech Digital Library. And the Czech Digital Library likewise uses Kramerius as its main interface.

The new project is called ArcLib, which is a complex preservation system that engages in bit-level preservation. I am wondering if ArcLib is follows the OAIS Reference Model for Trusted Digital Repositories? Something to look into as it gets developed from now until 2020.

We also learned of Europanea, which aims to aggregate content from the digital libraries of all European countries. However, Dr. Lhoták mentioned that Europanea is in conflict with The European Library, which is a consortium of all the national libraries of European countries.

Academic Libraries in the Czech Republic: Thinking and Moving Forward, Dr. Landová

This talk was the most familiar to me because the trends in Czech academic libraries seem to be in stride with US academic libraries, about which I am very familiar because I have been working in one for over ten years. In many ways, Czech academic librarians are following the trends that American academic librarians have been chipping away at: open access, information literacy, scholarly communication, and more partnership with faculty to become embedded in the academic process. The main difference between U.S. and Czech academic librarians is that in the Czech republic, librarians are not as involved in researching and publishing themselves, and their positions are not tenured. Dr. Landová made a mention that this is something to work on, but I would argue differently -- I think that librarians in the US have become over-professionalized, so it would be nice to see a better balance struck between either extreme.

Gathered around the table at Libri Prohibiti

The group milling around Libri Prohibiti 

In the afternoon, we went to Libri Prohibiti, the library of samizdat and exile literature. This is a special, interesting place because it is the product of decades of censorship under communism. Libri Prohibiti has collected many hand-typed and hand-bound books that were circulated covertly under communism, and these books are called samizdat literature.

We had the pleasure of touching, feeling, smelling, and appreciating many original objects that are only one of maybe 12 copies in the world, and no copy is the same, based on what sheet in the carbon-copy pad it came from. This was a powerful experience for the dedication and philosophy it represents, for the power it entrusts in books as carriers of information/disseminators of ideas, and for the physical object/the artifact. Writing, making, distributing, and saving samizdat literature came with great risks, and a feeling of awe rushed over me when I considered all the danger that was courted for each pamphlet and volume I touched.

Binding detail of a samizdat novel

Type detail of a volume of samizdat poetry

Some examples almost presented as modern zines...

...and did interesting things combining type, print block, and marker.