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The modern age and rapid technological development have
presented the library profession with specific challenges
in relation to which an adequate response has to be given.
While closely observing the experiences of other countries,
we are eagerly expecting a response from the Croatian
library community, which is facing a number of strategic
decisions important for the future of Croatian libraries and
their many users.
The new issue of The Voice of NUL addresses some of these
challenges, always trying to keep abreast of the novel and
interesting developments in the world of library profession.
Therefore our Feature section brings you the article RDA – a
cataloguing standard for the digital world in which the author
presents this new cataloguing standard and the possibilities
for its adoption in Croatia, particularly in the light of the
fact that the National and University Library in Zagreb is a
member of the European RDA Interest Group.
Dijana Machala, Head of the Training Centre of Continuing
Education for Librarians, interviewed Gillian Hallam,
Associate Professor at the Queensland University of Technology
(QUT) in Brisbane. In our Guest of the issue section
we bring you this interview, in which professor Hallam
presents the conditions related to the use of electronic texts
(e-books and e-journals) and the role of libraries in the
system of e-learning in Australian higher education.
Wishing to constantly come up with new ways of presenting
items and materials preserved in its valuable collections
and at the same time trying to comply with IFLA’s
recommendation according to which libraries should be
where their users are, the National and University Library
in Zagreb has recently launched its blog, a popular social
media tool for publishing textual, visual and audio content.
In the focus section brings you a timely article entitled Blog
as a challenge and space for effective communication – from
a phenomenon to a fact with a short review of the blogging
phenomenon, examples of the blogs of the world’s leading
libraries, and a brief ‘chronicle’ of the introduction of the
NUL blog as a new service making part of the Library’s
social software (Web 2.0).
The Collections section presents to you the Official Publications
Collection of the National and University Library
in Zagreb, which assembles the official publications of
the Republic of Croatia, international organizations and
foreign states, and represents the largest collection of this
type in the country and the region. In November 2012,
in collaboration with the United Nations Development
Programme in Croatia (UNDP), the first Energy Efficiency
Green Library (Zelena knjižnica energetske efikasnosti - ZeeK)
in Croatia was opened as part of the Collection. Prompted
by Croatia’s approaching accession to the community of
European countries, the NUL Official Publications Collection
is constantly updating its resources by adding new
materials, at the same time serving as an example to other
libraries in Croatia and beyond in building and developing
similar collections.
Despite our ambition to keep in step with interesting
tendencies on the world scene, we should not disregard
Croatian cultural heritage, of which another tiny part is presented
in this issue’s The NUL gems section. This time the
section has been dedicated to Andrija Maurović, the father
of Croatian comic strip, whose numerous comic strip drawings
are preserved in the Print Collection of the National
and University Library in Zagreb. The Great anniversaries
section also brings our attention to the necessity of valuing
Croatian positive practices by presenting the activities of the
Croatian ISBN Agency and ISSN centre for Croatia in the
article Twenty years of identifying books and serials in Croatia
by Danijela Getliher.
We are always glad to offer our readers the reviews of various
significant events in both Croatian and international
library community and in this issue we bring you the
highlights from the 78th General Conference and Assembly
of the International Federation of Library Associations and
Institutions (IFLA), which was held in Helsinki in August
2012, and the 38th Croatian Library Association General
Conference and Assembly, which took place in Osijek in
September 2012. Conclusions from the 38th Assembly
strongly emphasize the need for achieving close integration
within the library community in Croatia and the region in
order to channel the experience and influence of its members
into the development of an adequate legal framework
significant for the future of the profession.
The new issue of The Voice of NUL, through its presentations
highlighting both the value of heritage as well as
challenges posed by technological progress, and through
its dedicated attempt to bridge the gap between the two by
linking them into one integrated whole, offers its readers
insight into a complex synergy between the traditional and
the modern, without which contemporary library profession
would be unthinkable. The paradigm for this complex
relationship was without a doubt presented by Networked:
Libraries on Social Networks, a poster exposition that was
held on 10 December 2012 at the National and University
Library in Zagreb as part of the 12th Round Table on Free
Access to Information and presented examples of best practice
and experiences of Croatia’s libraries, library associations
and groups on social networks.
Being dedicated to the accomplishment of the abovementioned
goals, the National and University Library in Zagreb
wishes you a successful 2013!
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