The Current Bibliography of Education, in the form of a computer database, is created in cooperation with 30 centres across the country – primarily provincial pedagogical libraries and provincial methodological centres. It is compiled using the Micro CDS/ISIS package (obtained free of charge from UNESCO) and SAP1 – the Application System for the ISIS Package, developed by Jan Jackowicz-Korczyński of the Teacher Education Centre in Gdańsk. This centre, which includes the Provincial Pedagogical Library headed by Dr Maria Etmańska, is the initiator and coordinator of the work. The idea of cooperation among libraries in this area was presented by Dr Maria Etmańska at the nationwide conference of directors of provincial pedagogical libraries in Białystok in January 1994. It received the approval of the participants and the support of the Ministry of National Education, including the then inspector Lucja Błońska, which was particularly important during the initial phase, when the first achievements were being coordinated.
The Pedagogical Library in Bolesławiec has participated in compiling the Bibliography from the beginning of the project – that is, since 1994.
The Bibliography includes articles from journals devoted primarily to education, but also to social and cultural, scientific, literary and historical subjects – both nationwide and regional publications issued by local scientific and methodological centres. In total, more than 200 periodical publications are covered. Each centre enters data from several assigned titles, as well as selected regional materials. We document journals mainly in the field of information technology: Komputer w Edukacji, Enter, Zagadnienia Informacji Naukowej and Internet, and, among regional publications, Kurenda, Rocznik Jeleniogórski, Karkonosze and Euroregion Nysa, among others. The compiled materials are sent on a diskette to Gdańsk, and in return we receive the complete collection from the other libraries. In the future, we plan to purchase a modem, which would significantly improve the ongoing transmission and merging of data.
The data has been collected since the beginning of 1994, and therefore covers the most current literature. This is of great importance to readers looking for studies in fields such as economics, information technology and ecology. The database is constantly being supplemented and currently contains nearly 17,000 records.
For people with even a minimal knowledge of computer operation, using the Bibliography will not cause the slightest difficulty. We invite everyone interested who has not yet had any contact with computers every Monday from 10:00 to 15:00; however, we ask you to contact us by telephone in advance and arrange the exact time of the meeting. During the 1996/97 school year, Monday is a day for internal work, when the collections are not made available – hence our request.
We hope that the steadily expanding bibliographic database will become a valuable source of information, helping teachers in their everyday educational and pastoral work.
We especially invite students and people pursuing further education who are writing term papers or master’s theses, as well as pupils participating in subject competitions, for whom compiling an appropriate bibliography is a very important stage of their work and determines the quality of the final study.
We remind you of the Library’s opening hours: Tuesday to Friday from 10:00 to 18:00, and every Saturday from 9:00 to 12:00.