Flood damage in the Czech Republic

The following is posted on behalf of Ann Russell

    Here is an update on flood damage in the Czech Republic.

        The National Library of the Czech Republic Please, help the
        Czech Libraries

        The collections of the National Library of the Czech
        Republic, based in the Clementinum in the capital city of
        Prague, have in no way suffered from floods that recently
        struck a large part of the country, and Prague in
        particular. However, the basement of the baroque Clementinum
        building with the library vital technological facilities,
        such as electrical transformer and central heating unit, was
        inundated. Consequently, the LAN (local area communication
        network) and telephone system have been put out of order.

        The National Library will probably not be able to operate
        for several weeks. Neither will it be able to provide
        services to its readers, nor the access to its databases.
        And it will also be impossible for the Library to comply
        with its obligations concerning the international library
        services.

        The Library makes every effort to establish a provisional
        electricity supply, since the renewal of the permanent one
        may take several months. Another task of the top priority is
        the sanitation of the basement and adjacent ground-floor
        level in the Clementinum. The library staff based there will
        not be able to communicate from their offices through
        regular extensions for several days, at least. The staff
        will be accessible through their cellular phone devices.

        A crisis library management has been established right on
        the site in the inner city. Besides that, a consultancy and
        support centre has been established for other libraries and
        cultural institutions in the Czech Republic, whose
        collections were inundated by floods. Even in this moment it
        is evident, that about one million volumes from various
        library collections, among them several incunables, early
        prints and printed books up to the 1800, and some rare
        collections have been damaged. Losses of archives and
        museums are even heavier. Libraries, museums, and archives
        in the country are in a great need of vacuum sublimation
        chambers for freeze drying. Condensation and heat drying
        equipment is lacking, too.

        The National Library of the Czech Republic appeals to
        libraries and other memory institutions abroad to help to
        remedy the damages caused by the floods, the extent of which
        had not been recorded in the history of our country.

        Instead of common e-mail addresses of the National Library,
        several temporary ones have been set up. Please, send all
        the mail concerning the help to damaged collections in the
        Czech libraries to cdh.nkp1 [at] sendme__cz. The mail referring to
        other business matters with the National Library of the
        Czech Republic should be addressed to:

            NatLib-Prague [at] seznam__cz  or
            library [at] tiscali__cz .

        Vojtech Balmk
        Director, National Library of the Czech Republic
        Prague, 20th August 2002.

    Ann Russell


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 16:15
                 Distributed: Thursday, August 29, 2002
                       Message Id: cdl-16-15-001
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