Digitization and IT Section

The Digitization and IT section is responsible for data management of the CLB, together with the development and operation of its IT infrastructure. Digitization and open-access activities also fall within its purview.

With regard to software support of the infrastructure, it is the job of IT staff members Marcin Giersz and Josef Svoboda to manage the user interface of the VuFind search system, as well as development and management of control scripts and tools for monitoring data integrity. The control module currently consists of several interrelated scripts, in particular the control script (daily screening of updated records for about 200 conditions), statistical scripts (monthly monitoring of the number of processed and updated records, which also involves keeping track of the extent of connectivity with the set of national authorities), and export module (a special interface for export of all database fields to csv, xml, and json formats in connection with the SOLR indexing tool). An online form is also prepared for collecting bibliographic data from members of the Czech Studies Consortium. Individual scripts are published progressively on a newly created account within the GitHub platform.

The coordinator of open-access and digitization activities is Veronika Zemanová, who has played a decisive role bringing contemporary standards in this field to the daily practices of the CLB and ICL. In this regard, ‘Open Access’ analyses and follow-up ‘OA Strategy’ documents have been prepared, as well as the key output document Strategy of Open Access to Scientific Information 2022–2027, which was approved by the ICL Council in the fall of 2022.

In 2023, the CLB began carrying out its project Digitization and Accessibility of Literary Sources from the ICL Library Collection, which is supported by the Czech Ministry of Culture as part of the VISK 7 programme. Its goal is to ensure online access to unique typescripts in ICL collections.