Ewa Piotrowska, Renata Zając The Internet sites of pedagogical libraries as a source of scientific information for the net users (on the example of Bibliothek der Pädagogischen Hochschule in Freiburg and the Main Library of the Pedagogical University in Cracow).
	The Main Library of the Pedagogical University in Cracow
	This article was translated thanks to the grant received from the Open Society Institute

Modern library systems aim at a full integration with extensive webs. They reach beyond managing a collection of separate libraries in favour of servicing scattered information resources (multicatalogues, CD-ROM webs, and information resources of the Internet). Although their own collections remain the basis of libraries' work, their traditional tasks: gathering, elaborating and making printed documents accessible, have been enriched with electronic media. Libraries have transformed into, so called, hybrid^[1] libraries giving access to both printed and electronic information resources and publications.

A very rich source of information is the Internet, the more valuable that it is often charge free, therefore creating library portals and digital libraries, understood here as systems supplying the users with access to huge, organised information resources^[2], has the first rank significance.

More and more frequently, library users take advantage of the Internet resources and their expectations that a library should deliver the ordered documents via an electronic way directly to the workplace are no longer a novelty in the western scientific libraries. In 1999, experts of LITA (Library Information Technology Association) in the USA described the major tasks of academic libraries in a new way. Libraries should concentrate on web services adapted to individual needs of users and dynamic library portals should function as tools for ensuring interactive access to integrated resources and data bases. While creating the portals, one should provide well designed OPAC catalogues integrated with the resources, precise metadata, explicitly elaborated text resources, as well as interactive information services.^[3]

What is an internet portal? "Netopedia- Encyklopedia Internetu Online" (The Online Encyclopedia of the Internet) gives the following explanation "A gate, the entrance to the Web, a complex internet service playing the role of the Internet's vestibule, like the ancient portals decorating the entrance to a shrine. The portal is the place from which the users should start surfing (...)^[4]. There are also vortals in the net- "portals specialising in certain topics, for instance finances, information technologies, medicine, law, etc."^[5]

The authors of the article will analyze on concrete examples how two libraries of pedagogical academies, a Polish and a German one, cope with constantly increasing expectations of readers at the beginning of the 21st century, by creating their own Internet sites on WWW pages. They will discuss German and regional projects or, like in case of the Polish library- internal ones, whose aim is to facilitate access to different kinds of information for the Internet users. Evaluating the Internet sites, one cannot be restricted to analyzing a separate creation act, but we should concentrate on assessing the visible elements of the management process as they are a dynamic and constantly changing structure.^[6] We suggest adapting the following features as the criteria:

• Accessibility 24 hours a day;
• Regularly updated information;
• Teleaddress information;
• Possibility to send comments to the page editors;
• The structure of the site;
• Information about a library;
• Current information;
• Library resources (data bases, electronic documents, etc.);
• The Internet resources.^[7]

Bibliothek der Padagogischen Hochschule in Freiburg has been a partner of the Main Library of the Pedagogical University in Cracow since 1994. As far as the tasks, the library resources, the number of readers and the degree of library processes automatisation is concerned, it is comparable to Biblioteka Główna AP in Cracow. The essential difference refers merely to the finances obtained by Bibliothek PH to buy books and electronic media (e.g. in 2001- 542. 050 DM plus sums paid by the ministry for participation in consortium Baden- Wurttemberg, thanks to which the users have access to electronic magazines). Similarly to other scientific libraries of Baden- Wurttemberg area, the library has a server accessible 24 hours a day, with its own Internet site. On the main page there is information on the latest updating and e-mail links. Teleaddress information is placed only in the Contact section. The pages are structured hierarchically and the whole information has been divided into maximum three levels. It means that the user visiting Bibliothek PH site, using the subsequent menus, reaches the demanded site maximum after three subsequent clicks.^[8] The main sections are: Current News, Opening Hours, Online Catalogue, Lending System, Contact, About Us, Service, Catalogues, Data bases and Electronic Publications, Documents Delivery, WWW Links.

Current News
Information concerning current events in the library and important announcements (for instance: information on new data bases purchased by the library or training for the readers) can be found here.

Opening hours.
Readers can check the working hours of the library.

Online Catalogue
The electronic library catalogue working in the German OLIX system contains all new books since 1990, video cassettes, magazines, scientific works (also in an electronic version). The remaining books are planned to be electronically elaborated within 2 years.

Lending System
If a reader wants to order a document, he/she must leave OLIX system and enter another one, EDV, which serves the function of prolonging, reservation, ordering and checking the readers' records. Unfortunately OLIX and EDV cannot co-operate which is inconvenient for both the users and librarians.

In the About Us section, there is information about the library. In the service, the users may find out what programs are necessary to take advantage of electronic periodicals which are accessible on the pages of Bibliothek PH.

Catalogues
In the first position of this section, there is another link to the online catalogue of the library and annotations concerning sub-sections: New purchases, Videocatalogues, SWB (Sudwestdeutschen Bibliotheksverbund, that is the central catalogue of Baden- Wurttemberg, Rheinland, Pfalz and Sachsen), ZDB- OPAC ( a catalogue of periodicals and newspapers published all over the world, there are also electronic periodicals), KVK (a multicatalogue thanks to which one can look through central catalogues of all German lands and more important libraries as well as world catalogues, for instance Library of Congress, British Library, Central Catalogue of French Libraries), EUCOR (a catalogue of books and periodicals possessed by European Confederation EUCOR). The first three sub-sections refer to Bibliothek PH catalogues.

Data bases and electronic publications
Here the access to publications and data bases is located. Sub-sections are entitled: Data bases and Compendia,, Electronic Periodicals- Elektronische Zeitschriftenbibliothek EZB, Electronic Publications of the Academy- Freiburger Dokumentenserver FreiDok, Videocatalogue, Woman's data base and sex- research (FRAUGE). At present, the readers of Bibliothek der Padagogischen Hochschule have access to 65 electronic publications (lexicons, encyclopaedias, bibliographic and text data bases). Clicking the Data Bases and Compendia sub-section, one obtains an index of publications. The access code should be given only after choosing a particular position. Access is organised by ReDI (Regionale Datebank Information). It is a project financed by Baden Wurttemberg land. It provides the participants of the system with access to many data bases in the same environment, by means of the Internet.

Electronic periodicals- Elektronische Zeitschriftenbibliothek EZB
The library readers have access to electronic periodicals through an all over Germany consortium EZB. The personnel and the students of Padagogische Hochschule in Freiburg have 16 electronic periodicals at their disposal. ReDI gives the possibility of searching by means of an index of titles. All full-text periodicals on which licence has been purchased are visible in online catalogue and the sign 'ggf' at the title informs that the periodical is available in both electronic and printed version.

Electronic publications of the academy- Freiburger Dokumentenserver FreiDok.
On this server all the Internet users are provided with full texts of scientific works published online in academies of Freiburg. The server is a part of a German project which has been successfully functioning since 1998 and gives the German scientists the possibility of publishing their doctor's theses only in the web.Universities and scientific societies elaborated pragmatic strategies guaranteeing authenticity, integrity, accessibility on a global scale and safe archives of electronic disertations.^[9] The last two sub-sections Videocatalogue (the second link) and Woman's Data Base and Sex- Research (FRAUGE) are data bases created in Padagogische Hochschule.

Documents delivery
In this section, a reader can take advantage of three documents delivery systems: Subito, DBI-LINK, FASTDOK. Subito is a payable system of delivering articles from German periodicals and fragments of books from large, central and university German libraries. The ordered materials can be obtained by e-mail, FTP, fax or mail. DBI-LINK provides access to overregional library catalogues (of over 3000 German libraries) and data bases. Through Document Order System, there is a possibility to order documents from over 25 large German libraries, as well as from the British Library and the Library of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Science. FASTDOK is a charge free system intended only for students and workers of Padagogische Hochschule in Freiburg, who can order articles from periodicals and fragments of books kept in Universitatsbibliothek Freiburg. The articles are scanned and delivered through e- mails, in PDF format, directly to the computer of the ordering person. Owing to such a system Bibliothek der Padagogischen Hochschule is transforming from a 'Hol-Bibliothek' to which one must go and bring something, into a modern 'Bring Bibliothek'- a library delivering the ordered documents directly to the user's workplace (eg. a computer).^[10]

WWW Links
Here, cross-references to scientific German libraries, institutions dealing with education, pages offering important information for librarians, school publications and a few international data bases connected with pedagogy can be found. Unfortunately, the names of sub-sections are not always completely relevant to the content of links gathered in them. Furthermore, the links do not have any annotations which would let the internaut find out about the content of the recommended page. The links are divided into following sub-sections: Libraries (with three parts: Scientific Libraries of Baden- Wurttemberg, Libraries and Institutions Dealing with Education, and Services for Libraries), Publishers of School Coursebooks and Electronic Information. The users of Bibliothek PH can take advantage of the Internet on five terminals placed in the main hall. There are so many persons who want to use electronic mail and look through WWW pages that one computer post can be occupied by one person only for an hour. With such a large offer concerning electronic information, it is necessary to improve constantly the information competence of both the students and the lectureres. Bibliothek PH conducts training for volunteers, in groups consisting of around 5 persons. Information on training can be found on the Internet pages of the library. Another form of classes for students are seminars conducted in the school's rooms if the lecturers wish so.

The Main Library of the Pedagogical University in Cracow
(http://www.ap.krakow.pl/biblio)
Its aim is to create, on its portal, a virtual library^[11] for scientists and students of the academy, as well as for teachers individually improving their knowledge. Such a library is an electronic information centre, providing access to its own online materials and thematically grouped addresses to interesting locations in the net. The library's WWW pages are placed on the big academy server, which is accessible 24 hours a day. On the main page there are all address data (address of an institution, telephone numbers, faxes, e-mails), the date of the latest updating and the visitors' counter. Each user can send their comments or questions by means of electronic mail. The site has a hierarchical structure and every demanded page can be reached after maximum three clicks. The main sections are: About the Library, Current News, Opening Hours, The Rules, OIN Recommends, Videoteque, Data Bases, Online Catalogue, The Address Book, Our Academy, Libraries in Poland, Interesting Links. The sections About the Library, Current News, Opening Hours, Online Catalogues and Data Bases can also be found in Bibliothek der Padagogischen Hochschule portal.

About the Library
Here, the information on the library profile and book collection can be found.

Current news.
In this section the visitor can find information on training, current exhibitions, new data bases and other events in the life of the library. In the next two sections: Opening Hours and The Rules, the user can find the rules of the library and the opening hours.

OIN recommends
This short title refers to the service, established in October 2001 by the Department of Scientific Information, including updated information sources from the areas of psychology, pedagogy and related subjects. Besides a collection of footnotes, the service offers bibliographic lists (including 'Education abroad- bibliography for 1996- 2001' created by OIN employees) and full text articles of the Pedagogical University workers published earlier in a printed form. Short annotations enable a quick orientation in the context of WWW page or a document. The whole section was divided into three main parts: Education, Periodicals, Psychology. In the first part, in alphabetical order, there are foreign sites enabling a free access to full texts or article summaries as well as addresses of numerous Polish electronic periodicals specialising in education and psychology, with information on which of them provide full texts of articles.

Education part is concentrated on gathering information in Polish, addresses of the best German and American educational vortals are placed only at the beginning. This part has been divided into topic based sub-sections: Portals and Educational Services, Educational Data Bases, Didactics, Education on Distance, Exams- Matriculation Exam- Assessing, Montessori, Teachers, Special Pedagogy, Education Reform, Educational Systems.

The Psychology section contains, at the beginning, world portals and information services in alphabetical order, in further parts there are Polish Internet sites as well as electronic documents collected according to the topics. At the end, there are addresses of Polish psychological and psychiatric periodicals.

Videotheque
Here, there is a list of video cassettes obtained from Ministry of Education and Sport. They contain television programmes useful as didactic materials, broadcast earlier on educational TV.

Data bases
A reader can check here what data bases are owned by the library. Unfortunately, they are not accessible online, except for the bases included in EBSCOhost service. Biblioteka Główna AP is a participant of EIFL Direct (Electronic Information for Libraries) project created within EBSCO and offers, through it, access to bases: ERIC, MEDLINE, Agricola, Academic Search Premier, Newspaper Source, USP DI Volume II, Advice for the Patient, Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition, Health Source- Consumer Edition, Business Source Premier, and Business Wire News. The users of this service have to give the access code.

Online catalogue
In this section, the library has placed the most important information about its catalogue, and clicking the Online Catalogue title, a reader starts a net connection. The Main Library fo the Pedagogical Library in Cracow has possessed an electronic catalogue accessible online in the VTLS system since 1997. At present the readers have the possibility to look through the catalogue and order books. All pedagogical periodicals and the majority of books have been elaborated electronically since 1992. Work on introducing the most frequently lent books to the electronic catalogue is being conducted all the time.

The address book
E-mail addresses of all the library's workers are placed here, grouped according to particular departments of the institution.

Libraries in Poland
It is a service run since 1995 containing, in alphabetical order of towns, all the Polish libraries possessing their sites in the Internet. At the beginning of the list, electronic libraries, that is the ones existing only in the web have been placed.

Interesting links
Here, the Internet addresses used every day in work with the readers have been placed. Each address is provided with an icon, which differentiates this collection from the footnote lists created in other libraries and makes the usage easier as the horizontal layout of icons is more legible for the eye than a vertical list of addresses. Small icons do not affect the speed of page loading. At the beginning, there are cross-references to the full scientific texts from all over the world and to the bibliographic data base created by Oœrodek Przetwarzania Informacji (Information Processing Centre). Next two addresses are: The List of Polish Periodicals Scored Within a Parametric Evaluation of Units and Institute for Scientific Information Master Journal List. Further links are Krakowski Zespół Biblioteczny (Cracow Library Group), Narodowy Uniwersalny Katalog Centralny (National Universal Catalogue), repetition of cross-reference to our service Biblioteki w Polsce (Libraries in Poland), a site for teacher librarians Biblioteki szkolne w Rybniku (School Libraries in Rybnik) and library bulletins EBIB and Biblioteka z Horyzontem (A Library with a horizon). At the end, there is a cross-reference to KVK multicatalogue (also possessed by the library in Freiburg) and the list of Central catalogues in the world. To help the readers, each catalogue has been described in detail. Together with enlarging the number of cross-references, the page will be modified and will have a hierarchical structure. In the Main Library of the Pedagogical Univeristy, similarly to Bibliothek PH, access to the Internet has been shortened to one hour. In our library, users can take advantage of only three computers placed in the Department of Scientific Information. With such a small amount of equipment and a high number of users the services offered have been restricted. The library readers can look through WWW pages only to find information necessary for them in their scientific work. The authorities of the Pedagogical University in Cracow have been aware of the necessity to make the students familiar with the srevices offered to them by a big library. Therefore, students of the first years take part in obligatory classes 'techniques os using a library'. Lectures and classes on using an electronic catalogue^[12] are conducted within this course. The Main Library, like the library in Freiburg, leads training for 5 person groups, for all the students and scientific workers interested in operating data bases and online catalogue. Information on such training is placed on WWW pages of the library in the Current News section. Another form of classes are seminars for students preparing their master's theses, run in a special room of Biblioteka Główna- a mediatheque. The mediatheque gathers and offers information on media different from traditional ones (national and foreign data bases in the local net on CD-ROMs, video cassettes, data bases and electronic periodicals in expanded nets, online catalogues and others).

Conclusions

The sites of both pedagogical libraries are characterised by many similarities in organising the access to information. Taking the criteria of library services assessment into account, they fulfill most of the conditions that ensure obtaining the demanded information to the user. Servers of both the libraries are accessible 24 hours a day and the reader can easily find data concerning the latest updating on the main page. Libraries offer information on the institution's functioning as well as current news. They provide access to online catalogues, electronic magazines and data bases. The library in Freiburg additionally offers the possibility to deliver documents in electronic form directly to the computer of the ordering person. In comparison to the German library, the Main Library of the Pedagogical University has created a larger list of cross-references to WWW pages and documents, providing them with short annotations that give the internaut information on their content.In addition to links, the service contains bibliographic lists and texts of scientific articles of University workers. Both pedagogical libraries ensure access to the Internet on specially separated posts, but, unfortunately, the Cracow library, unlike the German one, restricts the usage merely to scientific purposes becauses of the equipment shortage. The libraries run various forms of training, including obligatory classes for students of the first years in University, which has not been introduced in the Freiburg library The sites of both libraries try to concentrate on the needs of the Internet users, taking their suggestions sent by electronic mail into consideration. They also base on electronic sources accessible in the library (eg. data bases). They help the librarians in searching for information in their work with readers (links). Owing to creation of complex sites, both libraries are very successful in more and more effective usage of the Internet in their work as well as in transforming into hybrid libraries.

Footnotes

[1] P. Glanzner: Biblioteka Wyższej Szkoły Pedagogicznej we Freiburgu - partner Biblioteki Głównej AP w Krakowie. Konspekt 2002 no 10 p. 75.

[2] M. Nahotko: OPAC biblioteczny i portal internetowy - podobieństwa i różnice. Praktyka i Teoria Informacji Naukowej i Technicznej 2001 no 3 p. 6.

[3] A. Lakos, Ch. Gray: Personalized library portals as an organizational culture change agent. Information Technology and Libraries 2000 no 4 pp. 169-174.

[4] Netopedia [access 15 September 2002]. Access mode:
[http://netopedia.techtech.pl/netopedia/portal.php].

[5] In the same publication.

[6] M. T. Ciolek: The six quests for the electronic grail. Current approaches to information quality in WWW resources. Review Informatique et Statistique dans les Sciences Humaines (RISSH) 1996 no 10 pp. 45-71 [access 15 September 2002]. Access mode: [http://www.ciolek.com/PAPERS/QUEST/QuestMain.html].

[7] While selecting the portal assessment criteria, we followed the model of R. Sapa's article: Ocena jakości serwisów WWW [In:] Społeczeństwo informacyjne: jakość edukacji i pracy bibliotekarzy. Cracow 2001, p. 65-73.

[8] The structure of WWW sites was described on the pages of "WEBDESIGN w praktyce" by J. Stychuta see. J. Stychut: Struktura witryny www [access15 September 2002]. Access mode: [http://webdesign.art.pl/typografia/struktura.html].

[9] A detailed description of the project can be found ini Ch-R. Huthloff: Elektroniczne dysertacje w niemieckich bibliotekach [In:] Elektroniczne publikacje w bibliotekach i ośrodkach informacji: teoria i praktyka. VII Międzynarodowa Konferencja Naukowa. Cracow 2001 pp. 39-43 (conference materials).

[10] P. Glanzner: Biblioteka Wyższej Szkoły Pedagogicznej we Freiburgu - partner Biblioteki Głównej AP w Krakowie. Konspekt 2002 no 10 p. 76.

[11] Virtual libraries are also called 'libraries without walls' or digital libraries. S. Skórka: "Biblioteka bez ścian" czyli internetowa prezentacja biblioteki szkolnej [In:] "Nauczanie ku przyszłości" w szkolnym centrum informacji. Cracow 2002 p. 128.

[12] A more detailed information on preparing our students to use electronic sources of information and on training can be found in the article of A. Strzebońska: Przygotowanie użytkowników a możliwości korzystania z elektronicznych źródeł informacji w Bibliotece Głównej Akademii Pedagogicznej w Krakowie [In:] Użytkownicy informacji elektronicznej. Cracow 2000, pp. 102-106.

Translated by Joanna Patrzyk