According to the IFLA 2007 report, there are 199 public libraries in Croatia, with 314 branches. Eleven of these are bookmobiles (bibliobus). There are 8 central libraries for minorities, 94 academic libraries, 116 special libraries and 1,264 school libraries.
Public libraries are not free institutions as they are in the United States. At the Zadar Public Library, the annual membership fee is around $20. In Zadar, they also have a limit of six items per checkout, and overdue fees are about 10 cents a day. Although public libraries vary by area, many offer a variety of materials to checkout, with books, movies, music and magazines being among the most common. Programs for all ages are offered throughout the year. In Zadar, many of these involve partnerships with local organizations and individuals.
In 2007, internet access was available at 81-100% of university libraries, research libraries and school libraries and 61-80% of public libraries.
Public libraries are not free institutions as they are in the United States. At the Zadar Public Library, the annual membership fee is around $20. In Zadar, they also have a limit of six items per checkout, and overdue fees are about 10 cents a day. Although public libraries vary by area, many offer a variety of materials to checkout, with books, movies, music and magazines being among the most common. Programs for all ages are offered throughout the year. In Zadar, many of these involve partnerships with local organizations and individuals. My observation of the academic libraries that we visited in Zadar was that they are severely short of both space and money. Both the Zadar University Libraryand the Research Library/Archive have closed stacks due to lack of space. Electronic catalogs are only available for items from the last 20-30 years, and card catalogs are used for the rest. This is primarily due to budget and staff restrictions. Both the university libraries and the public libraries allow inter-library loan within the country, however there are some difficulties, primarily due to the lack of comprehensive online catalogs.
Croatian libraries face the same problems found in libraries around the world. Budget restrictions do not allow for expansion of buildings and staff, leading to cramped quarters and a lack of the necessary staff to increase electronic access to information. However, plans are in the works, and when the recession ends, several libraries hope to be able to relieve some of these problems.
References:
(2007). Croatia. Retrieved from http://archive.ifla.org/faife/report/41%20IFLA-FAIFE%202007%20CR%20-%20Croatia.pdf
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