LMAVB informacijos išteklių fondo valdymas: tradicija, ypatybės, problemos ir perspektyvos

Abstract

Straipsnyje siekiama įvertinti LMAVB informacijos išteklių valdymo būklę, nustatyti susidariusias fondo valdymo tradicijas ir ypatybes, įžvelgti kylančias problemas ir pasiūlyti jų sprendimo būdus, taip pat pasvarstyti apie fondo valdymo perspektyvas ir tikslinės skaitytojų, vartotojų auditorijos telkimą. Straipsnio pagrindu tapo 2017–2018 m. LR Kultūros ministerijos užsakymu vykdyto Lietuvos bibliotekų fondo valdymo efektyvumo tyrimo metu surinkti duomenys apie LMAVB informacijos išteklių fondo valdymą. Tyrimo metu buvo atskleista 2008–2017 m. fondo būklė ir raidos tendencijos. Pasitelkus užsienio tyrėjų įžvalgas ir apibrėžtis nagrinėjama, ar LMAVB sukauptas fondas atitinka mokslinių tyrimų bibliotekai keliamus reikalavimus.

The Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences (LMAVB or WLLAS) has been providing information resources to the cultural and scientific community of Lithuania for more than a century. Such topics as the relevance of information resources amassed by libraries to cultural, scientific and educational needs of society, and effective resource management often discussed in scientific and professional literature. In 2017–2018, a study of effectiveness of collection management in Lithuanian libraries was carried out by a decree of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania. Information accumulated during its second stage (March-August 2018) made it possible to take a more in-depth look at the collections amassed in LMAVB and became the basis for the present article. The article aims to evaluate the state of the management of information resources in LMAVB, to determine the already-developed traditions and specifics in this area, to identify arising problems and to propose ways of their solution, and at the same time to envision the perspectives in the collection management, in the formation of a target audience of readers (users). Researchers directly connect the issues of collection development and management of information resources in a library to the type of the library. Therefore, the article first and foremost discusses the place of LMAVB in the Lithuanian library system and how LMAVB corresponds to the concept of scientific library in the international environment. In international literature, the name of scientific or research library is often given to libraries of scientific and educational institutions, sometimes to national libraries. All these definitions infer that essential traits of a research library are possession of comprehensive, authentic, quality collections of information resources and provision of reader services carried out on the basis of these collections. The present article seeks to determine whether the collections of the Wroblewski Library answer these criteria. It was written using the insights expressed by M. Levine-Clark, T. Horava, Sh. Corrall, L. Dempsey, T. Hyry, R. Anderson and others. In the preparation of this article, the plan to analyze data by separate areas and objects of information resources management, used in the study of effectiveness of collection management in Lithuanian libraries, was adapted narrowing down and regrouping selected management areas. Only the quantitative and qualitative data collected in 2008–2017 according to the guidelines prepared by the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania and used in the study of LMAVB’s holdings were used in the present article. Such factors as the historical conditions of the formation of LMAVB’s collections and changeovers in the science system of Lithuania had a great impact upon the state of the Library’s holdings. Starting from 1931, the year when the Wroblewski Library became a state library, the collections of information resources have been acquired taking into account both the interests of the state and those of the reader community. Longstanding acquisition traditions, certain priorities in accumulation of content, the practice of both retrospective and current acquisitions, and coordination of activities made LMAVB’s collections distinctive by their authenticity, informativeness, informational reliability, interdisciplinary content, comprehensiveness and historical depth. Since 1941, LMAVB has been an inseparable part of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, and therefore, of the country’s scientific system. The value of LMAVB’s multidiscipline resource collection has been confirmed by the Law on Libraries of the Republic of Lithuania, while the Library’s efforts in cultural development (achieved via scientific research) were more than once highly evaluated by studies commissioned by the state. LMAVB as a library of state significance, managing its collections of scientific information resources, traditionally carries out two functions: provides information for the needs of cultural and scientific community, and at the same time seeks to preserve this information for future generations. Information resource collections accumulated in LMAVB are hybrid in the aspect of both access and media. LMAVB’s holdings are constituted by collections, some of which are kept on-site and others are accessible by remote access. Even though a larger part of the holdings is made up by print publications because of longstanding priorities in acquisitions, the number of electronic documents has been growing over the last several years. The Library has been considering changing its priorities in acquisitions of certain media, raising the issue whether it should acquire more digital and electronic documents, and if so, how many more, and whether this change in priorities will ensure the optimal use of the repositories and reduce the costs of maintaining the stacks. The dangers of such a changeover have been taken into account (even greater costs of technologies and equipment, the problem of sustainability of access to certain resources), so changing earlier decisions remains possible (increasing the variety of media, the quantity of electronic documents, would lead to changes in the very structure of resource management; the institution would become an intermediary in dissemination of content rather than the creator, developer and keeper of collections). Therefore, the decision on priorities in the acquisition of various media would be made easier by a new study based on users’ survey which would determine how much the users wished to use electronic publications. The library has traditionally been accumulating a great variety of information resources, and a large part of its holdings comprises special collections whose importance and value is steadily increasing (manuscripts, old rare print publications, cartography, photographs, digital collections etc.) as well as original databases created on the basis of scientific research. In the time of mass digitization, electronic journals and aggregated databases, otherwise called the time of “access to everything”, authentic databases created in an institution and original primary sources kept in its holdings increase the distinctiveness and value of the institution, as well as the number of its domestic and foreign readers. One of the traditions and specific traits of collection management in the Library is attention accorded to current and retrospective accumulation of Lituanica resources in all possible ways and document forms. Current acquisitions aim to accumulate all new scientific publications in this area, while the retrospective ones seek to identify and acquire printed literary and scientific heritage. These activities are important not only for today’s researchers and general public, but also for future generations. Based on printed heritage, it could be feasible to create the digital library “The Lithuanian Book”, which would promote research of written culture. Separately, the article addresses issues related to library collections as legal regulations, copyright, library collection studies, dissemination and preservation, challenges arising in reader services. In the conditions when libraries, due to rising costs, tend to prioritize satisfaction of readers’ immediate needs over the development of collections, maintaining and preserving the comprehensiveness of accumulated collections and their relevance for future generations becomes even more challenging. While the Library’s activities are funded from the state budget, LMAVB, unlike public libraries, does not receive special funding for acquisitions. Because of the limited funding, the book exchange program and donations have become the main sources of acquisitions, which resulted in poor growth of the collections over the discussed time period and could endanger the comprehensiveness, depth, and relevance of the collections. The state of the resource collections and trends in their changes in 2008–2017, the traditions and specific features of their management enable us to state that LMAVB’s collections comply with the criteria set for a research library. In order to further develop valuable and relevant collections fit for a state library and rationally use the existing state funding, the Library should prepare the new strategy of acquisitions in line with the state policy of information resource development.