It all started with a student's essay on the topic "Polish Writers about Ukraine''. The nephew of one of "Kyiv Polytechnic" employees was responsible working on his essay, but soon he simply got stuck in the material. His uncle had to ask the staff of the G.I. Denysenko Scientific and Technical Library of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute about a consultation. A little later, work on the review of the anthology "Letters from Ukraine'' began. The anthology included the originals and Polish translations of 50 modern Ukrainian poets’ texts, and it was difficult to cope without the qualified advice of library specialists. It turned out that they are well versed in Polish topics. And, as the library scientific secretary Svitlana Barabash said, not least thanks to cooperation with the library staff of Polish technical universities in the field of theoretical and methodological aspects of strategic library management and studying its practical application. It is worth adding that the long-standing partnership of Scientific and Technical Library employees with colleagues from Warsaw, Poznań, and Toruń has recently acquired new dimensions. First of all, we are talking about information and technical support and digitization of book treasures in order to provide the widest possible access to them for researchers while simultaneously preserving the original landmarks.
So, at the request of "Kyiv Polytechnic", Svitlana Barabash spoke in more detail about scientific work and research in librarianship, as well as about the experience of Polish technical libraries, the use of which allows improving the work of Ukrainian book repositories.
- Svitlana Ivanivna, in previous publications of our newspaper, you have already mentioned the library of the University of Warsaw. What should have been emphasized in its work?
- The main university library of Poland focused on the creation of comfortable conditions for scientific work and research. Your newspaper has already written about the history of the library, the remarkable architectural design and the utilization of useful space in this book depository.
Our previous visits to the two repositories of Warsaw's largest universities - the Warsaw University of Technology and the University of Warsaw - have always been useful for Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute researchers for many reasons. University libraries all over the world are of value as scientific, cultural and intellectual centers of university campuses. They are spaces where ideas are born. University libraries not only store scientific works, they also provide an opportunity for their further life and development. Therefore, special conditions in them, original architectural and innovative technical solutions are very important for users. It is necessary to adopt such practices, it gives impetus to the development of domestic university libraries, with which scientists of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute fruitfully cooperate.
- It's interesting. It is known that there is a Federation of Digital Libraries (FBC) in Poland. Please tell us more about it.
- Digital libraries are the next stage of creating a network of electronic libraries and repositories in Poland. The name of the service reflects its nature - this service is a set of leading online services based on digital resources available in Polish electronic libraries and repositories operating in the Pionier network. These resources are created in academic institutions such as universities, libraries, archives, museums and research centers. FBC is supported by the Poznań Supercomputing and Networking Center.
- Please tell us more about it.
- The development of market relations, competition for investments in science, education and culture, aggravation of social and environmental problems requires a quick response to external and internal changes. One of the effective tools for such a response is strategic management methods that can be applied by libraries of various types. The results of implementing business processes of strategic management in library activities have a very practical and measurable benefit, they lead to an improvement in the quality and efficiency of library products and services. Their expansion, exchange of experience and further development require a dialogue of specialists, which is successfully realized within thematic scientific and practical events.
What are we focusing on today? First of all, on strategic management: modern approaches and tools; vision, values and mission of the modern library; definition of the library's activities, clients, and the library's value offer; strategizing the development; monitoring and evaluation of library strategy implementation; statistics and assessment of library performance; competence of librarians in strategic management; research support as a strategic priority for the scientific library; library and the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals defined by the UN.
- Svitlana Ivanivna, what other projects have been created in your library thanks to cooperation with Polish colleagues?
- In 2017, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute librarians learned from colleagues from Warsaw University of Technology how to organize a consolidated library catalog. Its feature is functioning as a single point of access to all information resources of the library. And the Scientific and Technical Library of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute is constantly working on improving the consolidated electronic catalog, which is the key to access to global information resources.
In 2018, the scientific library of the Poznań University of Technology helped our specialists familiarize themselves with arranging an inclusive library space and providing services to students with disabilities. What was seen during the visit became a kind of reference point in matters of ensuring accessibility at the library of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute.
At the library of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute librarians studied in detail the directions of work, and processes of providing services, methods of organizing the library space. Considerable attention was paid to the experience of the special collections department. The work of Polish colleagues became useful to the Rare and Valuable Documents Department of our Scientific and Technical Library. In particular, a virtual collection " Documents of KPI social life" was created in the electronic catalog.
Another important aspect of the learning was the subject librarians service, i.e., thematic professional consulting in the relevant field. Such an experience was learned on the example of libraries of two educational institutions: the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń and the Warsaw University of Technology. Thanks to this, the development of the "Subject Librarian" service concept began at the KPI Library, and a group of specialists was formed to provide thematic consultations as a part of this service. Cooperation continues, it is necessary for the development of the library and its services, which in the end should definitely become a source of creative inspiration for students, teachers, scientists and researchers who come to G.I. Denysenko Scientific and Technical Library of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute.