Objectives and benefits of the implementation of the “Jagiellonian Digital Library” project

The main objective of the project is: “Protection and preservation of antique collections of the Jagiellonian Library and development of digital library resources to preserve the cultural heritage of Polish writing being an element of the National Library Resources”.

It will be achieved owing to the implementation of detailed objectives:

• preventive maintenance and archivisation of unique library collections;
• protection of antique library collections against theft and destruction;
• digitisation of unique across Poland library collections endangered with destruction in view of permanent preservation and making their contents available;
• development of the Jagiellonian Digital Library as a basic platform of making the library collections available in the electronic form;
• making the library collections which are not currently used available for academic purposes.

These objectives are closely related to the objectives of priority 11 of the Operational Programme Infrastructure and Environment.

Among long-term benefits of social and economic nature which will be achieved through the implementation of this Jagiellonian University project, in the culture sector one has to enumerate the following:

• popularisation of antique library resources, being the national cultural heritage, at the trans-regional level;
• increase of the level of availability of the cultural offer through elimination of spatial and time barriers in using library resources by potential users;
• increase of the significance of culture as an attractive and available way of activating milieus requiring the Internet access in their everyday practice (including the youth);
• increase of the quality level of the cultural offer through its recognition as an accessible, cheap, fast and modern method of distribution in the society;
• development of modern digital technologies in order to ensure the more and more extended access to academic resources for research on the Poland’s cultural heritage;
• permanent protection of the cultural output of Polish writing in view of its preservation for the purposes of future generations;
• development of information society through an increased level of knowledge and information circulated via electronic way;
• activation of the disabled through providing access to virtual infrastructure of JBC (interface for disabled people).