Austrian Library Rijeka – a separate Collection in the Library of Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Abstract

The Library of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Rijeka received the collection of the Austrian Library with more than four thousand items of donated material, thus becoming part of the network of Croatian libraries that embrace the Austrian Libraries as a part of their own collections. The aim of the paper is to show the challenges that marked the implementation of this project, especially from the aspect of overcapacity of accommodation space and taking over donated materials in relation to the planned construction and design of the fund, as well as the positive effects that have been achieved by taking over this collection.

The paper will present a brief overview of the Austrian libraries in Croatia and reflect on their importance, explain the process of establishing and housing the collection of the Austrian libraries in Rijeka, and through a descriptive analysis to comment on the practice of accepting donated materials, the issue of accommodation capacities and other issues that academic libraries face when accepting donated materials.

The results show that by receiving the Austrian Library, the Library of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences collection increased by 5.35%. Activities promoting the collection among users influenced the number of educational workshops as well as increasing the dynamics of the Library's cultural activities. It is expected that the inclusion of the collection in the fund will also increase the lending indicators and the number of users of the Library, which will be visible in the next statistical reporting period.

Academic libraries have specifically designed funds intended primarily for the implementation of study programs and research preferences of the parent institution. It is a common case that gifts to academic libraries are perceived as unwanted, especially in case a larger amount of donated material. The example of the integration of the collection of the Austrian Library into the collection of the Library of the Faculty of Philosophy in Rijeka is an example of good practice from which it can be concluded that cooperation and flexibility in business are key to the success of an academic library.