News Library Society Zagreb, Croatia

Name of Project:

Electronic News Library in Croatia

Area of work:

This is an infrastructural news library, database project, an information highway: in close connection with media, human rights, and national minorities areas of concern.

Description:

• Digitalisation of hard copy newspapers and selected articles from the period in Croatia starting 1990 until 2000, in such a way that the produced databases can be searched. Making a large part of the collection available in electronic form, a image of every printed article. Building a service in support of research and communication in the SEE. Facilitating access to information by all domestic and foreign researchers and journalists working on different topics about the war in Croatia during 1991-1995 and the period of reconstruction in  countries of the former Yugoslavia.

• To create an information base for all users: existing state institutions, NGOs, international organisations as ICTY Den Hague and newly formed media especially independent which do not have their own news archive. To provide professional services to researchers in the form of quick and accurate information retrieval from a database of newspapers in Croatia and SEE.

• Electronic News Library, The News Library Society, in Croatia will collect, scan, digitalise, electronically index, store and search Croatian newspaper articles from 1990–2000 as a prototype being the most advanced in the region in this field. It will create databases covering war, war crimes, human rights, refugees, national minorities etc. and prepare information from various sources that is needed by users. The Electronic News Library shall operate as a cooperative effort to build a comprehensive info, research and professional service. The classification system and descriptive indexes will enable users to electronically search for articles by author, newspaper, date, journalistic form, thematic field, geographical reference, names of places, names of personalities, companies or other key words.

• The Electronic News library, headquartered in Croatia, will be focal point for the creation of Croatian common professional standards necessary for developing a common classification system to improve access to published articles on the period of conflict.

Background

The transition from closed society to democratic society obliges researchers and journalists to be well informed. But, in practice, we are faced with rather limited access to the sources of information in SEE. Since the largest archive collection in some countries are kept in paper form and are in poor condition and increasingly less accessible for users, there is an evident need for establishing an electronic news archives. Many of newspapers articles have archival value since the historical events for the region are happening now and here: war, refugees, ethnic cleansing, return of refugees, reconstruction, war crimes and trials, transitions, new states etc. Memorialising the present events for future generation is the overall goal.

There is not one newspaper in Croatia from the war period that is available on CD-ROM, online or on microfilm and there are no computerized newspapers indices. Newspapers from that time are in bindings without implementation of any kind of searching methods except by date. Information access to back issues of newspapers is limited.

Even more urgent is the development of the news librarian profession. The usual professional standards and networking opportunities are lacking. Electronic News Library  can facilitate this development.

Progress to date

In 1997, first Electronic News Library (ENL) as a pilot project was established in Croatia. It was supported as 'new initiative' by OSI New York. The ENL project has accomplished its basic goal in providing free access to databases of computerised newspaper articles from 1997 - 2000. Since Croatia didn’t have newspapers in an electronic form, it was necessary to start archiving and scanning newsprint. What we have developed could be considered as a unique news library model for the countries in transition. The model is very suitable for the newly formed countries of former Yugoslavia where news libraries because of war or electricity shortages are not computerised and newspapers didn’t save their electronic copy. The ENL team has completed customisation of newspapers electronic archiving. We have developed our standard for storing, indexing and searching. The model is based on an experince of Konard Adenauer Stiftung, Press Archive in Bonn, Germany.

The model was implemented in the Macedonia NGO, EuroBalkan. ENL organised training and helped Macedonian colleagues to design the users interface for their specific need. Plans: Under development is the establishment of the model in other countries and organising the training courses for different users.

Organization involved

At the first regional meeting, "Electronic News Libraries: Storing, Indexing, Searching," which was held on 5th November, 1999 in Zagreb, Croatia, regional co-operation between news archives was established and there were preliminary agreements on co-operation.

• Electronic News Archive, News Library Society, Zagreb, Croatia – pilot project

• Electronic News Archive, EuroBalkan, Skopje, Macedonia – model implemented

• Media Centar, Sarajevo and Banja Luka, BIH - work in progress in Sarajevo

• Media Centar, Beograd, Yugosalvia 

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