2.2 Academica: A New Quality in Interlibrary Loan Systems

The paper presents the National Library of Poland’s new project: the Digital Lending Library of Scientific Publications ACADEMICA (https://academica.edu.pl), prepared and implemented in 2012–14 in co-operation with the Scientific and Academic Computer Network. The aim of this innovative project was to introduce a new quality to the interlibrary loan system by replacing the traditional form of lending, i.e. sending paper copies by mail, with digital lending of the publications. Users of the portal, which was launched and officially opened at the beginning of December 2014, have access to over 250,000 electronic scientific publications within copyright through dedicated terminals located in scientific and public libraries throughout the country as well as to over 300,000 public domain and licensed publications. Readers using the ACADEMICA system are registered by means of library cards. Sharing of scientific publications is organised in accordance with the provisions of the Act on Copyright and Related Rights, and the works themselves are subject to copying and printing limits. Because of legal restrictions and the rules for interlibrary loans, the ACADEMICA system only permits one user at a time within the territory of Poland to have access to the publication, as in the case of traditional library loans. A booking system was therefore implemented in the ACADEMICA library so that readers can schedule their work at terminals in a selected library. Public domain and open access publications as well as those obtained under licence are available without limits. The paper also presents statistics of usage of the ACADEMICA system in libraries which signed contracts with the National Library.

Katarzyna Ślaska holds a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science from the University of Warsaw. She has worked in the Early Printed Books Department in the National Library of Poland from 1988. She has had many years’ experience in the field of commercial business-to-business publishing and the management of databases, and was able to transfer this experience and the lessons learned to library activity. From 2000 to 2006 she was head of the library in the Institute of English Studies in the University of Warsaw. In 2006 she became Digital Librarian in the National Library of Poland, and Deputy Director in August 2007. She is responsible for digitisation, born digital documents, information services and education in the National Library of Poland and is in charge of a number of digitisation projects.