Centralne katalogi online bibliotek europejskich

W kolejnej części mojego instrumentarium chciałbym przedstawić kilka zagranicznych bibliotecznych katalogów centralnych (rejestrujących piśmiennictwo ze zbiorów dwóch lub więcej bibliotek). Ma to być nie tylko wskazówka dla poszukiwań informacji bibliograficznej, ale przede wszystkim pomoc dla osób wyjeżdżających na stypendia zagraniczne. Dlatego też zwracam tu uwagę szczególnie na te kierunki, w których najczęściej udają się polscy stypendyści z zakresu nauk humanistycznych.

Unione Romana Biblioteche Scientifiche – URBS jest siecią łączącą biblioteki rzymskich placówek naukowych. Założona została ona w 1992 r. celem stworzenia jednolitego katalogu online. Wchodzące w jej skład instytucje gromadzą księgozbiory z zakresu archeologii, historii, historii sztuki i architektury, filologii, historii Kościoła, prawa i nauk społecznych.

The union catalog of the URBS consortium currently consists of ca. 500,000 bibliographic records: in addition to monographs and periodicals, it includes records for photographs, prints, electronic resources, maps and musical scores. Over the years the catalog has been increased through the projects for retrospective cataloging undertaking by the various member institutions, and by daily accessions through current shared cataloging.

Innym włoskim projektem, niezwykle interesującym i daleko wykraczającym poza ramy centralnego katalogu bibliotecznego, jest The Italian Digital Library Portal and Cultural-Tourist Network

The Italian Digital Library Portal and Cultural-Tourist Network, www.internetculturale.it, proposes an integrated access system to the digital and traditional resources of libraries, archives, and other Italian cultural institutions, in order to promote and enhance the knowledge and availability of the cultural heritage to a national and international level. The Portal offers didactic, professional and institutional information concerning the Italian cultural heritage and related activities. The Portal presents both the general and the specialized user with the opportunity to search bibliographical information and digital contents coming from different information sources. The version online offers, at present, a first nucleus of information and services. Future releases will be focused on new contents and tools.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL SEARCH. Through the SBN OPAC (the National Librarian Service OPAC) it is possible by way of simple or advanced queries to search records kept by 3500 Italian libraries belonging to universities, local organizations, public and private institutions, all working in different disciplinary areas, concerning works published since the history of the press began until today. It is also possible to search through a number of „historical catalogues”, viz. manuscript catalogues bound in volumes or in card format, belonging to 35 Italian libraries. Moreover, users are allowed to peruse „special catalogues”, such as the BibMan and Manus data files (regarding manuscripts) and Edit 16 (regarding 16th century editions). The latter gives access to archives of authors, titles, publishers, printer devices and relevant digitized images (frontispieces, colophon, brands).

Zarówno wyjeżdżającym na stypendia, jak i badaczom (oraz bibliotekarzom) poszukującym informacji katalogowej celem realizacji wypożyczeń międzybibliotecznych bardzo pomocny będzie Karlsruher Virtueller Katalog KVK

KVK nie jest katalogiem centralnym, lecz podobną do naszego KARO bramką do przeszukiwania katalogów wielu bibliotek niemieckich, austriackich, szwajcarskich oraz wielu innych dużych bibliotek z całego świata (w tym Biblioteki Narodowej w Warszawie), a także pełnotekstowych baz danych oraz księgarni internetowych (tych ostatnich funkcjonalności KARO nie posiada).

Bardzo ceniony przez polskich badaczy jest również brytyjski Copac: National, Academic, and Specialist Library Catalogue

Copac is a freely available library catalogue, giving access to the merged online catalogues of many major UK and Irish academic and National libraries, as well as increasing numbers of specialist libraries.

Copac has c.36 million records, representing the merged holdings of:
• members of the Research Libraries UK (RLUK). This includes the catalogues of the British Library, the National Library of Scotland, and the National Library of Wales / Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru.
• increasing numbers of specialist libraries with collections of national research interest, as well as records for specialist collections held in UK academic libraries.

Fiński katalog centralny nosi nazwę LINDA: Union Catalogue of Finnish University Libraries

LINDA is the union catalogue of Finnish University Libraries, including also the National Repository Library, the Library of Parliament, the Library of Statistics and the Lahti Science Library. LINDA contains references on monographs, serials, cartographic materials, audiovisual materials, electronic resources, multimedia and archives, along with the loan status of the material. LINDA does not cover sheet music, recordings or articles.

Tego samego typu narzędzie szwedzkie nosi nazwę LIBRIS

LIBRIS is a national search service providing information on titles held by Swedish university and research libraries, as well as about twenty public libraries. Here you can find books, periodicals, articles, maps, posters, printed music, electronic resources, etc. LIBRIS is the joint catalogue of the Swedish academic and research libraries and is updated on a daily basis. The libraries providing cataloguing input all contribute jointly to building up the database contents. At present the LIBRIS database contains 6.5 million titles.

Przenosząc się teraz na zachodni kraniec kontynentu powiedzieć należy o PROBASE: The Portuguese Union Catalogue

Created in 1986, PORBASE is coordinated by the National Library of Portugal and has been available to the public since May 1988. Its primary objectives are the permanent update and promotion of The National Library’s general catalogue, current national bibliography and the Portuguese libraries collective catalogue.
Currently, PORBASE is the largest bibliographic database in Portugal and reflects the collections of the National Library and over 170 Portuguese libraries of different types and dimensions, both private and public.

PORBASE contains records which refer to diverse bibliographic materials, both Portuguese and foreign, without chronological or thematic restrictions. At present, the database has approximately 1 500 000 bibliographic records and over 1 200 000 authority records. The database’s annual average growth is estimated at 100 000 bibliographic records and is updated daily.

Na koniec wreszcie wspomnieć należy o specyficznym narzędziu, dającym nieomal nieograniczone możliwości wyszukiwania różnego rodzaju dokumentów – WorldCat

WorldCat is the world’s largest network of library content and services. WorldCat libraries are dedicated to providing access to their resources on the Web, where most people start their search for information. You can search for popular books, music CDs and videos—all of the physical items you’re used to getting from libraries. You can also discover many new kinds of digital content, such as downloadable audiobooks. You may also find article citations with links to their full text; authoritative research materials, such as documents and photos of local or historic significance; and digital versions of rare items that aren’t available to the public. Because WorldCat libraries serve diverse communities in dozens of countries, resources are available in many languages.

O zagranicznych katalogach centralnych przeczytać można również w artykule Ewy Piotrowskiej i Renaty Zając Centralne katalogi bibliotek udostępniane na stronach WWW.