Public Libraries Section

Country Report: Czech Republic

August, 2000

The transformation process after political and economical changes in November 1989 was also reflected in public libraries. It has been demonstrated not only by the loss of the independence of local libraries and by the disintegration of the cooperation systems, but also by the transfer of district libraries from the district authorities to the municipal ones. This transfer has been accompanied by many risks and negative phenomena. In the re-evaluation of the activity of former district libraries some of the functions are sometimes abolished which were ensured by the district library, the numbers of employees and the budgets are reduced and this, from the point of view of the long-term prospects of the development of Czech libraries, may have an unfavourable effect on the functioning of the library system in the Czech Republic in the future.

In spite of the problems mentioned, however, the development of public libraries in the Czech Republic has not ceased. Many of the libraries returned to the administration of the community have better conditions of existence today - larger premises, more money for the purchase of literature, the prestige of the library in the community has improved. In the past nine years many libraries have been adapted and modernized. A further positive factor is that there are now being published immense quantities of books, periodicals and other media which should not be lacking in public libraries.

The first half of the nineties in the Czech Republic is characterized, as far as public libraries concerns, by the rapid introduction of computer technology. It can really be described as a boom. A number of libraries are completely automatic today - including a lending protocol using the bar code. For the Czech public libraries it is already a matter of course that they are equipped with further technical appliances such as copying machines, CD players, and databases on diskettes and on CD-ROM are used. The access of all public libraries to INTERNET is also not very far off in the future. All these facts go to show that the public libraries of the Czech Republic have retained their place in the cultural life of the country.

Since 1990 the professional public has been discussing with bodies of the state and territorial government a new legislative amendment which should reflect the social changes since 1989 and define the standing and tasks of public libraries in connection with this. Considerations on the new Library Law must, of course, be based on the present state of the reform of territorial administration which is now prepared.