Anna Komperda, Bozena Michalska

What is EBIB?

EBIB - Electronic Information Bulletin for Librarians
A journal and an information service
ebib.oss.wroc.pl/

EBIB is a service which has existed for over a year and is being created by an informal group of librarians on the basis of "public domain". (It means that the producers make it free of charge and it is distributed without any limitation). The official publisher of EBIB is The National Ossolinski Institute which let use its server to distribute the service on Internet.

I. How did it start - some history

The idea of creating EBIB was introduced on the discussion list INFOBIB-l (INFOBIB-l@man.torun.pl) of the information specialists of Polish librarians. The organising meeting took place in Warsaw in a National Library on the 29th of January 1999. 10 members having experience at work and creating electronic information sources come from National Library, academic libraries, schools educating librarians (Institutes for Library Sciences) and a library of a foreign private firm working on a Polish market. The committee consists of editor-in-chief, art editor, and assistant editors (together 17 persons). Additional information can be available at the address: ebib.oss.wroc.pl/redakcja/index.html

The main tasks of the project were set down in Warsaw:

• integration of the library environment
• building up the discussion forum
• supplying with a quick and professional information
• creating internet sources for librarians

II. The structure of Bulletin

1. A monthly on-line journal consists of:
   • the editor`s-in-chief paragraph
   • articles
   • reports
   • communications
   • letters
   • polemics
   • worth knowing (the latest information, the forthcoming conferences).
   Each single number has its separate theme. Regardless the particular theme, important and current information can be published.
2. The information service (permanent chapters):
   • Conferences (information on Polish and foreign conferences for librarians)
   • Law (full texts of legislation law concerning librarianship)
   • Education (education centres for librarians on various levels)
   • Journals (a list of Polish journals for librarians, tables of contents of some of them, foreign e-journals)
   • Links (Polish libraries, OPAC catalogues via Internet, international library services, foreign OPAC catalogues, national and virtual libraries, journals, books, publishers, bookshops, library systems and various library organisations)
   • Grants (supporting organisations where the librarians can apply)
   • Editorial news (short information about the people involving in EBIB).

   All the services are updated regularly.

3. Additions
   • EBIB on Internet (addresses on free of charge networks`s services which pay the additional information about the bulletin.
   • Archives of the back numbers.
   • Plan of the numbers for next year.
   • Subscription (the possibility of giving e-mail addresses to receive communications about the issues and the changes in the services).
   • Statistics of last year
   • An estimation form (possibility of estimation EBIB by the readers)

   The editorial board is communicating via Internet. EBIB has ISSN number 1507-7187 and is regarded as a professional journal by State Committee for Scientific Research.

III. Principles of work

EBIB (as mentioned before) is settled on a server of a well known The National Ossolinski Institute (Zaklad im. Ossolinskich) in Wroclaw www.oss.wroc.pl which is also an official publisher. One editor is responsible for preparing one particular number. He is responsible for the theme, organisation of all materials and the advertisement on a country discussion list INFOBIB-L. The material is distributed among the correctors and translators. For today the staff consists of 17 persons working in 3 subgroups (editors, correctors and translators). A new project will take into account an English version and possibly more people involved in it.

Generally we can say that:

• the initiative of work in EBIB is voluntary and not payable
• there is a little fun, romanticism and exploration of new possibilities
• being conscious that such state of being cannot last for ever, the staff takes into account the possibility of changing EBIB into a professional electronic issue existing on the same basis as all traditional publications.

IV. Statistics

Since April 1999 till December 1999, 10458 readers visited out pages. Since January 2000 till July, 13776 visitors (the editorial IP is not counted).

Particular numbers: (state for 15.07.2000)

V. Future

How will we see our future? We prepare abstracts in English which let enter the foreign professional services. We also are going to prepare a promotional version of EBIB on CD ROM which will be available at a Book Fair 2000 in Frankfurt in Germany. This year the title is "POLAND" and EBIB will be shown in a module devoted to Polish libraries as an example of our professional activity and up-to-dateness. We can realize that we do not "discover America" and in fact we are only a drop in the Internet ocean but we still hope that this drop will be at least noticed in a place where we expect that. So far the editors are full of ideas and we presume that they can also be interesting for the colleagues abroad and more often than in the past we are partners in discussions and presenting ideas.

The most important matter is to receive a proper law status. We would like to get sponsors and have financial support for our project. An electronic journal does not need great money to reach the readers all over the world. Polish e-journal needs also higher activity of the librarians themselves and engagement in creating a wider discussion forum. A spontaneous year experiment should be closed if we have ambitions to carry on a professional activity and represent the similar level as LIBLINK service in England www.liblink.co.uk.

Translated by: Jolanta Wróbel and Dorota Jaglarz

EBIB special edition
Anna Komperda, Bozena Michalska: What is EBIB?
Issue for Frankfurt Book Fair, 2000. ebib.oss.wroc.pl/Frankfurt/what.html