The Patrimonium project is digitising and integrating the collections of Poland’s National library and its oldest academic library, in the Jagiellonian University of Krakow, into a single online platform, accessible by anyone.
Making Poland’s heritage accessible to everyone
- 25 November 2019
Digitisation of objects from the National Library collections makes them accessible worldwide, from remote locations using desktop or mobile devices. This offers great advantages to people with disabilities. Metadata and digitised items which are available on the web platform will follow open data criteria at their 5th level, according to 5 Star Open Data. The items will be presented in formats that guarantee their usability and reuse, such as voice transcription for individuals who are blind or have low vision.
The project is promoting Polish literature, culture and heritage by making over one million Polish documents available in digital format, for free. Students, researchers and the general public can access them on the National Digital Library of Poland’s website: www.polona.pl.
Digitising Poland’s collective heritage
The project started digitising documents in 2017 with the goal reaching 1 000 734 items by the beginning of 2020. The online database will contain 652 000 items from the Polish National Library and another 348 734 from the Jagiellonian Library. Upon completion, the digital library will have 10 600 maps and atlases, 8 500 manuscripts, 34 000 music scores, 30 000 early printed books, 160 000 19th and 20th century books, 32 000 engravings and drawings, 637 916 periodicals and 87 718 ephemera in its collection.
Over the course of three years, the project has employed over 400 people working daily at the country’s two largest libraries, scanning books, periodicals, postcards, prints, manuscripts and ephemera at the rate of 2 200 items per day. The project is using 38 professional scanners, of which 27 were acquired specifically to facilitate the process.
Thanks to the project’s efforts, it has become easier for both national and international students and researchers to carry out projects and obtain the information they need. Digitalisation significantly increases the accessibility of the documents and artefacts, but also broadens the range of users. The project is extending the use of public domain materials, beyond the scope of academic research, to the general public.
Conserving valuable artefacts and documents
Every item registered with the Polish National Library is marked accordingly and subject to special protection. The oldest items in queue for digitalisation – some from the 16th century – are extremely valuable to Poland’s history and culture. Before passing them under a scanner, every artefact undergoes anti-fungal and neutralisation bath treatments to conserve them.
Patrimonium was set up to avoid time-consuming search queries that could take up hours depending on where the searcher and the document are located. Additionally, the digitalisation of these documents and artefacts makes them available to people with disabilities.
Total investment and EU funding
Total investment for the project “‘Patrimonium’ - digitalization and making available the Polish national heritage artefacts from the collections of the National Library and the Jagiellonian Library” is EUR 23 390 165, with the EU’s European Regional Development Fund contributing EUR 19 595 963 through the “Digital Poland” Operational Programme for the 2014-2020 programming period. The investment falls under the priority “Digital Single Market”.