Case Study: 8
Annual MLA-seminars (Croatia)
Themes
'Archives, Libraries, Museums - Possibilities for co-operation within the environment of the global
information infrastructure' is the theme of a series of annual seminars which have taken place in the
coastal town of Rovinj since 1997. The seminars are organised by three Croatian professional associations:
the Croatian Archival Society, Croatian Library Association, the Croatian Museum Association and the Chair
of Museology at the Department of Information Science of the Faculty of Philosophy (University of Zagreb).
On average 120 professionals participate in the seminars, 80% return every year.
Keywords: Croatia, cooperation between professional associations, mla-seminars
Relation to wider policy agendas
e-inclusion: widen access
e-business: cultural tourism
Demand
The Croatian seminars began when libraries realised that collaboration with related institutions
will ensure the quality of their services in a rapidly changing technological environment. It was
felt that museums, archives and libraries all owe their users complete, precise and professional
answers to queries through user-friendly coherent approaches to the various information sources.
Description
- To research, present and discuss theoretical and practical issues related to information management
and interoperability of collections and systems in the cultural heritage sector;
- To promote the use and development of common digitisation standards to enhance interoperability;
- To bring together experts;
- To motivate participants to exchange ideas, knowledge and experiences;
- To identify possible directions for collaborative working.
Products/ services
- An annual seminar, organised by professional associations;
- A seminar website ;
- The creation of joint working groups;
- The print publication of seminar proceedings;
- An online discussion list on the web pages of the seminar;
- A survey of various methods of electronic data processing in the three domains.
Barriers/constraints
- Initially a lack of common vocabulary was a barrier but this has been resolved by establishing
a cross-domain glossary produced by the terminology workshops in the first four seminars.
Keys to success
- The workshops within the seminar enabled practical cooperation between the professionals from the
three domains to overcome 'fear of the unknown' and ensure people get to know each other and start
learning from each other;
- Poster sessions allow people to give a paper on their own projects and / or research;
- The introduction of new topics such as cultural tourism and conservation to find more common ground;
- A non-institutional approach enhances the exploration of new ways of thinking and working;
- The participation of students from the Faculty of Philosophy, Department of Information Studies,
University of Zagreb who help with technological aspects of the conference;
- The programme is always centred around state of the art topics;
- Each domain in rotation takes a turn in the organisation of the seminars;
- The very low fee (40 euros for 3 days) ensures participation at every level;
- The voluntary cooperation of key-note speakers helps to keep costs low;
- The excursions on 4th day encourage informal networking and most participants take part;
- The testing of products by a foreign university (Strathclyde University, Centre for Digital Library
Research, UK).
Impact
- The Ministry of Culture in Croatia has always been invited to the seminars; as a result mla-cooperation
is the norm for policy making and the Croatian government was an early adaptor of CALIMERA;
- The Ministry of Trade and Ministry of Culture have started to collaborate on cultural tourism as a result
of the seminars;
- Seminar proceedings are used as literature at the Schools for Librarianship in Zagreb and Osijek and at
the Faculty of Tourism in Dubrovnik;
- There is interest from public librarians and archivists in Slovenia to introduce the concept of a
yearly MLA-seminar in their country;
- At an institutional level, participants to the seminar bring into practice lessons learned.
Dissemination of lessons learned
Seminar website
Publication in print of seminar proceedings
Presentations at two meetings in Slovenia (2003 and 2004) organised by public librarians and archivists
Domains involved
Museums, libraries, archives
Geographical coverage
Croatia, Slovenia
Standards/Guidelines used
Standards in the field of description and authority control:
IFLA's ISBDs, FRBR, FRANAR, UNIMARC,
ICA's ISAAR(CPF) and
ISAD (G);
ICOM-CIDOC Guidelines;
Dublin Core,
Digital preservation standards: OAIS, OAI
Internet standards: ISO 23950 (Z39.50), XML
Partnership
Croatian Library Association
Croatian Museums Association
Croatian Archive Association
Chair of Museology at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Zagreb
Funding sources
Ministry of Culture: 1,350 Euro for organisation of the seminar and publication of proceedings
Registration fee: 40 Euro per person
Lifespan of project
1997 - 9th seminar planned for autumn 2005
Status of project
ongoing
Relates to
http://www.ffzg.hr/infoz/muzej/standardi.htm
An article by Tatjana Aparac, and Mirna Willer,
'Some Fundamental Principles of the Knowledge and
Information Organisation for the Purpose of Improving the Citizen's Access to the Digitized Heritage
and Convergence in the digital age: challenges for libraries, museums and archives: proceedings of
a conference held in Amsterdam on 13-14 August 1998', (organised by TNO and supported by the European
Commission under the Telematics for Libraries Programme)
Host Organisation
Organisation type
Organising committee representing the four organising partners plus one expert depending on key theme
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