Basic information about ODIS

Branch Information Center and Branch Library of the Research Institute of Geodesy, Topography and Cartography

Basic Information about Branch Information Centre (ODIS) and Library

History

The Branch Information Centre (ODIS) at Zdiby near Prague is a part of the Research Institute of Geodesy, Topography and Cartography (VUGTK). The centre ensures the business of ODIS, issues technical publications and organizes training courses and seminars on the subject of surveying and cadastre of real estate.

Foundation of the Library of surveying and cadastre of the ODIS of VUGTK is dated back to 1954 when the library took over funds of all previous professional libraries of the state surveying and cadastral services. Neverthless, the library beginnings go back to the Czechoslovak Republic origination, when the Triangulation Office of the Department of Finance was established in Prague. The Triangulation Office of the Austrian Department of Finance in Vienna (during the Austrian empire period) was the preceding office of the Prague Triangulation Office. Czech geodesians, as František Horský ( krizek

1866), Jan Marek ( krizek

1900) and Ing. Josef Křovák (1884-1951) worked at the Austrian Office at significant work positions. Ing. Josef Křovák was a legendary theoretician and practician who directed the Triangulation Office in Prague since its establishment in 1919. Professional works of Prague institution have founded an exquisite tradition and standard of the Czechoslovak surveying and cadastral services. Its professional library contained triangulation and cartographic tablets, measuring instructions, cadastral and measurement laws, decrees, instructions, and calculation and graphic tools. The library was of service to surveying and cadastre administration personnel.
In the time of its foundation, ODIS library took over funds of the following libraries: in particular, the State Surveying and Cartographic Institute Library and then, libraries of the Central Land Cadastre Record Office, Land Survey Office, editorial offices of technical magazines and other. ODIS library has taken over the above mentioned libraries (or other institutions) or at least over parts of their library funds and, therefore the libraries have been saved for the future. This was a consequence of institutions reorganization or liquidation, or of donations from institutions or private persons. Below find a list of several institutions that have formed the present ODIS library of VUGTK. The table was compiled by Václav Nejedlý in 1998.

INSTITUTION	TIME PERIOD
Triangulation Office of the Ministry of Finance in Prague	1919 - 1942
Land Directorate of Finance in Prague - library	1919 - 1945
X. division (surveying) of the Ministry of Finance in Prague	1945 - 1948
Editorial office of the magazine Zeměměřický věstník (Bulletin of Surveying) - editorial library	1913 - 1930
Dr. Ing. Václav Elznic - private library	1950
Military Geographical Institute in Prague	1919 - 1939
Geographical Institute of the Ministry of the Interior - library	1939 - 1942
Land Survey Office Bohemia and Moravia - library	1942 - 1945
Books confiscated in German educational and scientific institutions in ČSR (ČSR = Czechoslovak Republic)	1660 - 1945
Land Survey Office - library	1945 - 1950
Central Record Office of the Land Cadastre in Prague	1928 - 1950
Library of the Ministry of Public Works	1950
State Surveying and Cartographic Institute in Prague (Czech abbr. SZKÚ)	1951 - 1953
ICRCM (International Center on Recent Crustal Movements) - library	1971 - 1996
Research Institute of Geodesy, Topography and Cartography	1954 - till now

Present activities including edition and training courses

Immense valuable materials, monographs, magazines, collections and other documentation have been collected for more than 80 years of our state surveying and cadastral services. The present library´s collection consists of about 45 thousand volumes of books and, as estimated about 175 to 200 thousand bibliographic references, or annotation records of articles, books etc. (the exact number is unknown). It is the greatest and most complete professional library in the Czech Republic for the following fields: geodetical astronomy, space geodesy, mathematical and physical geodesy, geodynamics, technical surveying and geodesy, gravimetry, mapping, land and aerial photogrammetry, cadastre of real estate, cartography including cartographic printing industry, remote sensing and automation of surveying, mapping and cadastre. At present, the library is being systematically managed, administered and completed. Moreover, it develops its activities as a branch library within the whole country. The library concentrates in its collections not only on books and magazines, but also on encyclopedian works, proceedings of scientific conferences, research reports, progress reports, standards, bulletins and announcements, collections of laws and acts published since 1918 and other documentation. Nowadays, the ODIS library is the largest professional library of its kind not only in the countries of former Czechoslovakia, but even in surrounding countries a library of similar field and magnitude can hardly be found. Regarding the international exchange service, the library provides exchange of materials and periodicals with several foreign libraries of similar field. The oldest book kept here is Pantometrum Kircherianum ad Serenissimum Christianum from 1660, other historical books on mathematics and geometry originated as early as 1674. Foreign literature and periodicals additions to the ODIS library are being notified to Prague National Library database of foreign literature reGIStry.

The new home and foreign literature is being processed for information in bimonthly issued magazine of the library called "News of Surveying Library" (in Czech). At the present time, close attention is being paid to the cadastre of real estate in our country and over the world, to geographic information systems, GPS methods, revolutionary technologies in photogrammetry, electronic technologies, and database systems for automation of surveying and cadastre. The latest activities of information retrieval are concentrated on the cadastre of real estate and all contemporary implications.

Concerning edition activities (in Czech), the library publishes results of research, development and information technology activities of VUGTK employees, and employees working for the Czech Office for Surveying, Mapping and Cadastre. Mono thematic publications and CD-ROMs are issued every year. Publications are provided in own edition. As the matter is relatively low number of copies (up to 500 pcs.) the publishing costs must be subsidised by financial means of the library.

In addition, the Branch Information Centre makes available full texts of appropriate articles through Czech media monitoring (in Czech). The articles are accessed by registered readers (it is possible to register on-line). Monitoring is done on selected key words from the field of geodesy and cartography. Articles af all journals coming out of press in the Czech Republic, TV programmes (ČT1, ČT2, PRIMA, NOVA,...), radio stations (ČR 1, Frekvence 1, BBC - Czech section,...) and articles of all important news servers are being monitored here.

Furthermore, the Information Center organizes seminars and training courses (in Czech), focused on surveying and cadastral laws and regulations interpretation. Graduates from these trainings receive a certificate in accordance with the law No.312/2002Sb. on civil servants in administered state districts. VÚGTK is an educational institution accredited by the Ministry of Internal Affairs for continuous education.

The library is open to public every working day from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and the lending service is free of charge. Books and periodicals may be lent to study as presence loans or may be lent to public out of the building. Many publications are also being sent in the frame of inter-library loan service to other libraries.

Help desk provides information on book funds and catalogues. Bibliographic information service processes literature search and annotations. Express services are provided to persons requiring document copy or copies of pages from literature free of charge, or for a small fee if Document Delivery Service (in Czech) is preferred (a form on our web site has to be filled in), provided the copyright is not violated. The library also provides consultation services and branch information services focused on technical and factographic information.

The average number of loans is 9200 per year, the average number of reference inquiries is 1200. Nevertheless, as the library is located at Zdiby, out of Prague, (although the resarch institute may be reached from Prague underground within 8 minutes) it represents only a little utilized source of professional information. Especially, the number of readers-students is very low. In addition, a part of the library fund is located in a deposit at Geodetic observatory Skalka near Ondřejov, 40 km far from Prague (i.e. 52 km far from Zdiby). Consequently, this leads to reduction of utilization of all information funds of the Center including the library itself. However, as a result of the library automation project, under support of the Czech Office for Surveying, Mapping and Cadastre and further, under support of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (in the frame of the project "Development of the Information Infrastructure for Research and Development" - INFRA (2), project No. LB98051), the situation has fundamentally changed. The book catalogue and bibliographical records are being digitalized and inputted into the library database system. This electronic catalogue is accessible in the Internet. Similarly, the bimonthly magazine "News of surveying library" (in Czech) may also be found in the Internet. Therefore, more and more people have the access to reference and selected fulltext databases.

Information about library automation

Nowadays, requirements of users of information, that is deposited in the library funds, are being changed. These requirements, formulated in librarian-information memorandum, can be briefly summarized as follows:

to have feasible and easy access to information on given subject or to location of a selected publication (preferably via open on-line access from a place outside the library),
being in the library, to have a study place at disposal with a close access to the most important reference funds (reference library), and with a computer connected to a network including internal and external databases, catalogues and other information sources. In addition, to get a qualified advice from a skilled librarian, an information professional and obviously, to use a prompt copying technical device,
to use it all either free of charge or for a symbolic charge.

Automation of library work and on-line accessibility to the information in the library is generally regarded as a way how to solve the above explained task. It must lead to both, a considerable facilitation of library work and, a significant progress in the standard of rendering services and completness of information. From users' point of view, the question is about ensuring the possibility of searching and achieving remote information on literature, i.e. directly from their working place or home habitation, namely in the on-line regime. Any scientific worker, student or, generally speaking, reader can look up the literature source, even at midnight, and order the searched publication immediately by e-mail. In this sense, the corresponding library is not only open non-stop, but is also available from any place on the Earth, where Internet can be accessed.

Therefore today libraries must work with a vision that a personal computer, a terminal or a workstation will represent for users not only an entry to the library, a tool of survey of its entire information capacity, but also an entry to other libraries and the world of information. Any library should represent all other libraries and ensure the access to them for any user. The users should then have a direct and immediate contact with both, documents (on shelves) and, electronic information sources. It is also clear that the fulfilment of these requirements is unthinkable without such a worldwide computer network like Internet, to which the automated library system must be connected.

As follows from the above mentioned reasons, and despite the significant financial costs, in 1997 the Surveying Library ODIS of VUGTK, due to the support of the Czech Office for Surveying, Mapping and Cadastre, started the project "Automation of library work in the ODIS of VUGTK library". The goal of the project is to provide an access to ample collection of branch literature via Internet for every reader. The project is in accordance with the present situation in scientific libraries in the Czech Republic. In order to launch the project, the library received a grant from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (LB98051 in the frame of INFRA2 program) in 1998.

As a suitable automated library system the TinLib system (today called as T-Series) was chosen and purchased in a tender competition. At the present time, this system is being operated by approximately 110 specialist libraries in the Czech Republic. Using TinLib, the library is able to create its own dBase system, accessed by Internet. This represents an ability to execute users´ own search and to get literature information from servers. At the present time the library catalogue database of the TinLib system contains about 110 thousand books and bibliographic records , which represents the largest specialized professional catalog in the world accessed by the Internet.

Last updated: 13.11.2006