Current Bibliography Section

Compiling a current bibliography that records all recent publications has been one of the primary challenges for our infrastructure since the early 1960s. The Current Bibliography Section emerged in its present form in the early 1990s when work began on the real-time processing of the latest domestic publications related to Czech literature in an organised database. This is the oldest and largest CLB group, and it efficiently processes the most recent print editions of 300 periodicals and approximately 2000 books every year. The main focus of this work is the Czech Literary Bibliography database, which the team not only revises but also expands with new entries and newly discovered facts (particularly author attributions).

The scope of this work is very broad. The section handles academic periodicals (in literary studies, Slavic studies, history, museum and library studies, etc.) along with daily newspapers, general, regional and student literary magazines, anthologies and yearbooks. Some staff also specialise in formats such as books (e.g. academic publications, fiction, dictionaries, encyclopedias, exhibition catalogues, fine-arts monographs) and associated paratexts (author profiles, introductions, annotations, commentaries). More than three quarters of the journals processed are available via the Institute of Czech Literature library catalogue while other titles can be found at other libraries (the National Library and the National Museum Library) or online.

Staff of the section not only document contemporaneous publications but also compile specialised bibliographies and publish their own research on bibliographical methodology and practice. In addition, they work on the CLB’s Bibliographica book series, and often present and promote our activities at events and conferences in the field. Lastly, these bibliographers organise regular lectures for CLB database users, particularly higher education students.

Head: Mgr. Pavla Hartmanová, Ph.D.

Contact address: clb@ucl.cas.cz