The state-of-the-art library system in use at the National Library since 2018 has now been implemented at the library of the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin. Co-cataloguing is a priority within the national library network. Broad cooperation within this framework, possible thanks to the use of uniform rules for processing the collections, benefits both library staff and readers: staff can manage the collections more efficiently, while readers gain faster, easier access to more extensive information.
The new system makes it possible to create a “network zone” incorporating all the institutions involved in the project. The aim of this network zone is to promote co-cataloguing by applying standard cataloguing rules and the use of the National Library Descriptors. This speeds up library processes in the institutions in question. It also makes the search engine katalogi.bn.org.pl possible, which includes the combined catalogues of the National Library, the Jagiellonian Library and the other libraries forming part of its library information network, two Voivodeship libraries (in Kielce and Lublin), the Nicolaus Copernicus University Library in Toruń plus the University’s specialist libraries, and the library of the Catholic University of Lublin and all its specialist libraries. Together the catalogues of the combined libraries contain around 25 million items.
The National Library was the first in Poland to implement an integrated resource management system with real-time co-cataloguing. A similar approach is used in Harvard University, Oxford University, the national library networks of Denmark and Switzerland and other university libraries in those countries.
The cloud-based library system and combined catalogues allow libraries to develop new forms of activity and provide users with relevant information about their collections, presented in a uniform fashion.
To search the combined catalogues, visit katalogi.bn.org.pl.