Remote access to the collections of the Swiss National Library (SNL)

Citation

Mosberger, M. (2003), "Remote access to the collections of the Swiss National Library (SNL)", Interlending & Document Supply, Vol. 31 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/ilds.2003.12231bab.003

Remote access to the collections of the Swiss National Library (SNL)

The SNL is one of the "younger" national libraries, founded in 1895 for the purpose of collecting Helvetica, back to 1848, i.e. all the literature published in Switzerland, all books and other sources of information produced here, all works published in other countries concerning Switzerland and its inhabitants and naturally all works of Swiss authors. At present, well over 3 million documents in printed or electronic form are stored in its stacks and are to a large part accessible through Helveticat the SNL's OPAC.

Traditional ways of access to the collections of the SNL have – for a national library – always been rather user-friendly with regard to opening hours, lending requirements (documents which have been published within the last 50 years may be borrowed and taken home) and costs. Remote users have access to our collections via the Swiss or the international interlibrary loan system (IFLA or Swiss interlibrary request form by post or fax or ILL requests by electronic mail order). It is also possible to register as a private or institutional user and then order directly via our OPAC.

The SNL's strategic plan 2002-2006

The digital global network, new copying techniques and digital or digitized collections allow for additional possibilities of remote access to the library's collections. The SNL's strategic plan 2002-2006 lists the following aims in connection with remote user access:

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  Original documents can only be consulted in the reading rooms of the SNL.

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  Digital copies are available within 48 hours for loan (at home).

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  Introduction of an electronic document delivery system for copies.

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  Develop reference and information services and document supply according to users' needs.

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  Clear copyright policies.

Accordingly, new copying techniques and services, especially digital reprography, are to be or have been introduced. Registered users of the SNL can have complete works reproduced which are no longer under copyright, i.e. if the author has been dead for at least 70 years. A charge is levied for this service. The work is scanned, printed and then bound. The copy is delivered about ten days later. We can also provide electronic versions on CD-ROM if required.

In a few months time our users will be offered the possibility to order copies of articles in electronic format. The documents will be sent by e-mail in pdf-format to the client. Users can order an electronic copy via our OPAC or by e-mail, fax, letter or interlibrary loan form.

The recently established Swiss Union Catalogue of Posters is an example of a digital library of an important collection. It comprises a wide variety of digitized posters created by artists from all over the country from the end of the nineteenth century until now and can be viewed comfortably (snapshots) via our OPAC.

Remote users still need "personal" contact and one-to-one help. The Swiss Information Centre of the SNL provides bibliographic information or additional advice for tracing Swiss publications or a subject related to Switzerland. They are accessible via phone, fax and e-mail. The Digital Swiss Information Centre – a comprehensive Swiss information platform with a focus on the most popular research topics – will be launched during the second part of 2003.

The goal of the project E-Helvetica, which started in 2001, is to establish a digital archive to preserve electronic publications well into the future. Within the offline-Helvetica segment, disks threatened with being demagnetized are being transferred to a hard disk storage system (under Swiss copyright law, one copy of a work may be made to protect and maintain that work for archival purposes). Within the online-Helvetica segment, online publications from the Biblioteca Universitaria di Lugano and the University of Saint Gall are being copied, catalogued, and archived into a test system under a co-operative agreement with the universities. In the course of the year 2003, the SNL will integrate the online dissertations of all Swiss universities in its archives.

There is currently no off-the-shelf product for the long term archiving of electronic publications and the SNL does not envisage an in-house development of an archival system. As a consequence, the library has contacted related institutions both in Switzerland – especially the Federal Archives – and abroad to clarify potential partnerships. Because the SNL currently has no statutory right to legal deposit, the library must reach agreements with providers of electronic publications and establish clear collection guidelines. Also collection policies for freely available Internet publications are to be defined.

Outlook

Serving remote users worldwide is an essential part of SNL's core function of providing access to the national collection. The new electronic techniques will facilitate the preservation of the original documents and provide a wider range of services. At the same time, the traditional role of our library as "last resort" diminishes even more, since electronic services can considerably lessen user constraints based on preservation issues – which is also one of SNL's core functions – and national boundaries. So above all we try to include the new methods quickly and whenever possible in our range of services for our users. But many options will remain visions for some years to come….

Useful links

Swiss National Library: www.snl.ch;OPAC Helveticat: www.helveticat.ch;Swiss Union Catalogue of Posters: www.snl.ch/posters

Monika MosbergerSwiss National Library, Head Information Centre Helvetica and Swiss Union Catalogue of Monographs