Joanna Pasztaleniec-Jarzyńska

Project of Microfilming of Collections from the Polish-German Borderlands in Polish Libraries`Holdings. Common European Cultural Heritage

For several years Polish libraries are involved in the realization of the project of Collections` microfilming, known under the title "The improvement of the access to prints from the Polish-German cultural borderlands in the collections of Polish libraries", which has been initiated in 1992 by German foundation Robert Bosch Stiftung. The idea of this venture arose from the belief that library collections are the possession of the whole world’s civilization, irrespective of the nation that had created them or where they had later been preserved. Therefore it is a duty of librarians to process these materials and to create relevant access conditions to all of them for the academia, both in the country, and abroad.

Robert Bosch Stiftung, for many years engaging its means in projects that break historical barriers, further friendly relations and the cooperation between Frenchmen and Germans, and also between Poles and Germans, has played the role of the initiator and the mediator of the project which goal it is to preserve through microfilming and to provide common access to collections that have survived for last several centuries on the territories of Silesia, Pomerania and Eastern Prussia. Methodic and professional issues, as well as organizational and technical problems were discussed by Polish and German experts in the field of collections` microfilming and processing. German party was represented by four experts - Dr. Franz Georg Kaltwasser, the retired former director of Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich, Dr. Klaus Haller, head of the cataloging at this library, Prof. Hartmut Weber, the Director of the State Archives in Baden-Wuertenberg in Stuttgart, the consultant in the field of microfilming, and Dr. Martin Dinges, directly representing Robert Bosch Stiftung.

The final outline of the project was agreed in 1994. The main financing body of the project became the Foundation of the Polish-German Cooperation, with inconsiderable support from Robert Bosch Stiftung, and the participating libraries. The National Library was the very first participant in the project, and had been provided with the subsidy from the Foundation of the Polish-German Cooperation in 1996. In 1998 the following two libraries joined the project: the Pomeranian Library in Szczecin, and the University Library in Wrocław. By the end of 1999 two other libraries joined the project, Gdańsk Library of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and the University Library in Poznań. The remaining three libraries withdrew from the participation in the cooperative project, mainly due to organizational and financial reasons: the University Library in Warsaw, and the Jagiellonian Library had been for several years involved in the construction of the new building (ULW) or in the significant extensions of the existing building (JL), which restricted the possibilities to undertake by those libraries additional complicated and engaging tasks. Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich, among German libraries the one preserving the richest collection of early printed books, became the library partner of Polish libraries.

Due to its complicated organizational structure and scheduled selection of documents, the project is judged and monitored on the regular basis by the Polish-German scientific council, consisting of German partners mentioned above, and the directors of Polish libraries - participants of the project. The council meets twice a year in order to discuss the status of the project realization and to evaluate obtained achievements, hitherto. The representative of the Foundation of the Polish-German Cooperation also attends these meetings. On behalf of the Foundation he gives opinions on the consecutive stages of the project.

Initially the project was scheduled to last 5 years. However, the beginning of its realization has started considerably late (it should be dated since the second half of 1998), as well as the perspective of the termination of the possibilities to finance the project by the Foundation of the Polish-German Cooperation in 2001 (due to earlier predicted cuts on the Foundation’s budget and the alteration of its statutory obligations), all that has led to de facto termination of the project in its present shape, in 2001. The possible continuation of the project shall depend on the location of sponsoring bodies to finance the costs of collections` microfilming.

The rules that have been worked out in 1994 encompass all aspects of the realization of the project: the selection of materials to be microfilmed, methods of cataloging of early printed books, the equipment for microfilming offices, and the organization of the whole process of microfilming. It had been agreed that the microfilming library should produce two negative and one positive copy for its own holdings, and also one diazo copy for the German partner - Bayerische Staatsbibliothek - to enable the distribution and any non commercial access to these materials by German academia.

The second, equally important aspect of the project is to catalog the collection and to give access to descriptions in the form of the computer database to patrons of individual Polish libraries preserving these collections, and for Bayerische Staatsbibliothek.

Thanks to the project Polish libraries have acquired the state of the art. microfilm equipment of two German firms - Zeutschel and IKM, and the National Library has also bought the unique prism camera for microfilming extremely valuable and fragile copies of early printed books, and items especially difficult to be microfilmed with no harm to the original copies (e.g., preciously bound volumes). It is worth mentioning that only a few cameras of this kind are used at the moment in Europe.

Two organizational forms of work have been adopted within the project: to install the relevantly equipped microfilm office at the very library, where microfilms are prepared by the library personnel, or - as in the case of Gdańsk Library of the Polish Academy of Sciences - to hire the external private firm to create microfilms and to process films, together with the preparation of needed copies, while the library is responsible for the selection of the material and for cataloging of the selected materials. In the first case the equipment, after the project is completed, becomes the property of the very library, thus enabling for future preservation microfilming of original documents.

The idea of preservation microfilming of the collections selected according to substance criterion is to be an alternative to many small projects of microfilming of documents, which have for many years been realized. They, however, relate to narrow research topics or to selected minor parts of the collection. Among them the most known is the project of microfilming occasional prints, carried out under the leadership of Professor Garber. This type of activity benefits scientists and their institutions involved in certain narrow topics, while microfilming of big parts of the library collections serves the preservation issues, as well as common user access. After having microfilmed of many thousands of documents with over-regional meaning, proving mutual links of the Polish and German culture, new, commonly accessible information sources shall be created (i.e., microfilms, bibliographic data, databases) that shall provide user access to many not formerly known publications.

During discussions it has been repeatedly stressed that in order to further mutual understanding between our nations, we should remind the epochs when Polish-German relations had been broadly cooperative, the contacts were vivid and the polemics were well disposed. This kind of the positive experience is important from the historic perspective, but also as the precious implication for the future. Therefore the project included, above all, the 16h through 18th century prints.

Polish libraries preserve considerably small isolated collections of this kind of prints that - as a certain entity - would be preserved separately but could be fully microfilmed. That is why the main problem to face was the selection of objects to be microfilmed. It has been mutually agreed that collections would be selected according to the places of printing. The National Library has prepared a list of places in Silesia, Pomerania, and Eastern and Western Prussia, thus to create the basic criterion for the selective process of monographs. Additionally works printed in the central Poland have also been included in the project (e.g., from Cracow), mainly in German or relating to Polish-German problems by the topic. In general the project has covered these regions, where Polish-German historic and cultural relations have been vivid and significant.

Polish libraries have moved a resolution to also include in the project 19th and 20th century (pre 1914) dailies and periodicals. They constitute an important but considerably less known and accessible source of information on recent Polish-German history. Serials to be microfilmed within the project are not known to German libraries` patrons. According to the opinion of Herder Institute in Marburg this project has drawn great interest of German academic circles.

It has been additionally agreed to also include in the project serials in Yiddish. Many Jewish communities located in various spots of the former Polish lands had published numerous dailies and periodicals that are not known to satisfactory extent to researchers, both in Poland, and Germany. After having compared the lists of titles prepared by the National Library with catalogs of the Municipal and University Library in Frankfurt on Main, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich, and with the computer database of serials of Staatsbibliothek in Berlin it turned out to be that some 80 per cent of Jewish serials selected by the Polish party had not been represented in catalogs of any of German or American library.

Aside from Jewish serials it is also considered to include in the project the unique in the European-wide scale collection of Freemasonica, preserved at the University Library of Poznań.

Of great importance to future users of the results of this project is the unified processing of early printed books, conforming with international standards, in order to enable easy access to descriptions in Polish, German, and also international databases. These issues were discussed in details. Before joining the project Polish catalogers of early printed books were hosted by Bayerische Staatsbibliothek to learn about German cataloging rules used in automated library systems, and to agree on organizational and technical details of the cataloging. Due to the adopted rules, slightly different in Poland than in Germany, it has been agreed that the processing of collections for this project should not differ from the cataloging practice of the other resources in Polish libraries. The breaking point would be the possibility of the easy conversion by German partners of data transferred electronically to add them to computer catalogs maintained by Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. Before the very microfilming of early printed books, selected for the inclusion in the project, they are fully cataloged the same way as the other types of documents in Poland in the USMARC format. The National Library has made available for this purpose MAK library computer software, created at the National Library and used by over 300 libraries in Poland. Apart from working internships at Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich all librarians from all libraries participating in the cataloging of early printed books have also been trained at the National Library in the rules of the bibliographic description of early printed books, the original copies and their microfilms, as well as in the use of MAK software. For some librarians involved in the processing of early printed books these were the very first attempts to catalog materials with the use of the computer technology.

However, for present and future readers the most important issue is the results of this project, unique on the European-wide scale. The adopted rule of the selection of documents, according to the place of print, based on the knowledge about the most important publishing centers, beginning from the 16th century, active in Pomerania, Silesia and Eastern Prussia, enabled to carry out many - interesting for the researchers - queries in the inventories and library catalogs. In order to eliminate duplicates, individual copies of the same edition were inspected with annotations made on interesting proveniences. This job was especially difficult at the National Library, where among over 160,000 volumes of the collection of early printed books, including above all Polonica and works coming from the most important European printing offices, one had to isolate the collection presently encompassing over 15,000 titles. Most of them are extremely rare, small in volume occasional prints, most often bound in so-called "klocek" (i.e., bound together several different in type and title items). In substance all 16th and 17th century collections have already been inspected. At the moment 18th century prints are selected and processed. Among places of print the most common names are Królewiec, Gdańsk, Wrocław, Brzeg, Elbląg, Legnica, Leszno, Oleśnica, Toruń, Nysa, Wschowa, Braniewo, Oliwa, Szlichtyngowa, Świdnica, and Stargard. Most of the collection included in the regional selection had been acquired by the National Library after the 2nd world war, as the result of the action of the protective putting together of the abandoned, dislocated or endangered holdings. Among them was the valuable collection of the Schaffgotsch noble family. The most numerous and remarkable collections from the standpoint of this project are preserved at the University of Wrocław. Among over 260,000 volumes of early printed books housed in this library, a considerable part lies within the scope of print places included in the project. Extremely valuable are the collections of the former Municipal Library in Wrocław, former library collection of Maria Magdalene Church in Wrocław, and other library collections. The result of the work of Wrocław librarians is very impressive, as over 20,000 titles have already been catalogued, from which a part has already been microfilmed. The collection of early printed books in the Pomeranian Library is relatively smaller in numbers but contains - however - objects of the unique character, With the same selection method almost 7,000 early printed books out from over 30,000 titles have been selected and microfilmed, originating from the former Stadtbűcherei or Mariacki Gymnasium in Szczecin, Groening Gymnasium in Stargard Szczeciński, former Library of Dukes of Pomerania, and from many other library collections protected after the war.

These collections shall soon be joined by 2,500 titles coming from among 80,000 volumes of Gdańsk Library of the Polish Academy of Sciences and several hundred early printed books from the University Library in Poznań. This way we have already cataloged and microfilmed a considerable part of prints, counting over 35,000 titles. The University Library in Wrocław has given access to this collection in the Internet via MAKWWW software interface. The National Library shall do the same in October, as well as the Pomeranian Library in Szczecin. The copies of databases are successively transferred, together with microfilms, to Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich, where they are converted to be made available for readers, very soon.

Basing on the experience and practices of Polish libraries, so far, I can say that by the end of the next year the number of processed and microfilmed early printed books published from the 16th through the 18th century in printing offices of Silesia, Pomerania and Eastern Prussia shall reach almost 50,000 titles. It shall become an extremely valuable source for researchers of the history of this region.

Slightly different selection rules have been adopted with relation to serials. Serials, according to the assumptions, shall not exceed 40 per cent of the microfilmed frames. German partners are especially interested in titles mostly published before 1914 on territories similar to those relating to early printed books, i.e., Polish-German borderlands, lacking in the holdings of German libraries. Therefore the prepared lists of titles are checked in German serials databases. It means that the microfilmed serials are rare in libraries or are preserved with certain gaps. The University Library in Wrocław has microfilmed, among others, "Breslauer General Anzeiger", and "Breslauer Anzeiger", and also "Schlesische Presse", while the Pomeranian Library has microfilmed several dozen of titles, among them "Stettiner Tageblatt", covering the years 1877-1910, "Neues Stettiner Zeitung" (1852-1905) and others. The National Library proposed to process and microfilm Jewish serials published on the territories of the Polish Republic before 1939.

Similarly to the case of early printed books, the selective works have brought many new data on the state of preservation of this resource at the National Library. The collections somehow unappreciated during last decades and poorly described, not only in Polish libraries, have been isolated and over 600 titles have been selected, 280 of which have been cataloged and microfilmed, to reveal for researchers of the whole world those unappreciated titles. During the realization of the project the National Library has tied working cooperation with Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw that also preserves collections of Jewish serials. As the result of this cooperation the Library of the Jewish Historical Institute has arranged and cataloged its holdings, under the guidance of the National Library specialists, encompassing 430 titles, and the National Library (while comparing both resources) has discovered that 187 titles are held only by the Jewish Historical Institute. The National Library intends to complete its own Jewish serials holdings by microfilming those lacking titles and providing the Library of the Jewish Historical Institute with their microfilm copies. The unique and valuable Jewish heritage, microfilmed at the National Library, has already drawn great attention of researchers not only in Poland and Germany, but also in Israel and the United States.

Summing up the achieved so far results of the Polish-German cooperation, one has to state that even if it will not be possible to process and microfilm within the frames of the project financed by the Foundation of the Polish-German Cooperation of all works preserved in Polish libraries coming from Pomerania, Silesia and Eastern Prussia, including Jewish serials, the present achievements of Polish librarians have already given valuable material for researchers and shall stimulate at the same time the continuation and the completion of this task.

Translated by: Ewa Krysiak

EBIB special edition
Joanna Pasztaleniec-Jarzyńska: Project of Microfilming of Collections from the Polish-German Borderlands in Polish Libraries`Holdings. Common European Cultural Heritage
Issue for Frankfurt Book Fair, 2000. ebib.oss.wroc.pl/Frankfurt/paszt.html