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You are here: Home Services Links Rules and regulations Rules for the use of electronic information resources and digital libraries

Rules for the use of electronic information resources and digital libraries

Annex No.  8 to the Library Rules of the Czech Republic

1. Protection of access data

The registered user is not authorized to provide access data to his/her reader account in the automated library system or access data intended for remote access (i.e. including on-site access from his/her own device) to electronic information resources created or mediated by the NL CR and to digital libraries to any other person and at the same time is obliged to protect these data and his/her access to the reader account, to electronic information resources and digital libraries from misuse.

2. Access to electronic information resources created by the NL CR

2.1. The NL CR makes available to the public the electronic information resources (hereinafter referred to as „e-resources“ or „Resource“), the content of which it created. E-resources are usually made available online, in individual cases where e-ressources are stored on a physical medium, they are made available to registered users with a valid reader card in a special reading room.

2.2. The List of e-resources is available at www.nkp.cz, or in the NL CR online catalog.

2.3. The use of the content of e-resources created by the NL CR is governed by Act No. 121/2000 Coll., the Copyright Act, as amended (hereinafter referred to as the "Copyright Act"), their content can be used for personal use, for study, scientific or teaching purposes. In accordance with Act No. 106/1999 Coll., as amended, and the Directive of the European Parliament and the Council (EU) 2019/1024 of June 20, 2019 on open data and the repeated use of public sector information, the NL CR makes available selected e-resources in the open data model. With the exception of Resources in the open data model, it is not permissible to use various forms of robots or other tools for automatic content download when working with the Resources of the NL CR. For Resources in the open data model, their overloading during machine processing is not permitted. Users who use robots or other tools to automatically download the content and work with it when searching, browsing or saving data from e-resources may have their access to e-resources suspended or denied.

3. Access to electronic and digitised documents

3.1. Electronic documents on physical media (CD-ROM, DVD, CD, data cards, etc.) that are part of the NL CR collections are accessible only on the NK CR computers in the NL CR reading rooms. Selected electronic documents on these carriers can also be used for off-site loan services.

3.2. The NL CR makes digital documents from its library collections available to the public in the digital library environment. A guide to the individual digital libraries of the NL CR can be accessed at www.nkp.cz.

3.3. The National Digital Library and other digital libraries of the NL CR contain digitised documents primarily from the NL CR collections, but also from collections of cooperating libraries. Content or works that are not subject to copyright protection or so-called free works are accessible without restriction. Works made available in the regime of Out of Commerce Works can be accessed remotely with restricted login; i.e. they can only be read (viewed), no copy can be made from them (see also section 4).

3.4. The Manuscriptorium digital library includes written cultural heritage primarily focused on documents of a book nature (manuscripts, incunables, early printed books and maps originating up to and including 1800). The digital library is freely accessible online.

3.5. The Webarchive digital library preserves and makes available Bohemical web resources. The content of the Webarchive is partially freely accessible online (on the basis of licenses from the respective rights holders or executors and the publication of the source according to the Creative Commons license), the whole Webarchive content is accessible on selected computers in the reading rooms of the NL CR

3.6. Access to documents in the NL CR digital libraries  is governed by Copyright Act.

a) The Copyright Act allows the works to be made freely available on the Internet when it is 70 years from the death of all authors and other originators of the work contained in the document (translators, illustrators, etc.), and 50 years from the date of publication of the document, as well as the official works. The Copyright Act also regulates the use of the content of digital libraries as databases, i.e. their content can be used for personal use, for study, scientific or teaching purposes, to a limited extent and with the prior approval of the NL CR for other purposes as well.

b) Users who will use various forms of robots or other tools for automatically downloading content and working with it when searching, viewing or saving data from digital libraries may have access to digital libraries suspended or denied.

c) The copyrighted works may only be displayed on the NL CR premises on selected computers in the reading rooms (with the exception of Out of Commerce Works - see section 4). The user is entitled to use them only for his personal, study, scientific or teaching needs.

d) Reproduction of the content of electronic documents made available on the terminals in the reading rooms of the NL CR by saving them on USB or other memory media or reproducing them in any other way (e.g. via mobile phone, camera) is not permitted. However, a hard copy of the document made available as above can be made on the NL CR´s equipment. Exceptionally, a digital copy can also be made if the content is distributed under a public license.

e) Reproduction of digitized documents made available on terminals in the NL CR reading rooms by downloading them on USB or other memory media or by reproducing in any other way (e.g. via mobile phone, camera) is not permitted. However, in connection with such access, a hard copy of the documents can be provided on the library's equipment (except for the content of the Webarchive).

4. Access to the National Digital Library – Out of Commerce Works

4.1. The NL CR makes available to users of the National Digital Library service – Out of Commerce Works (hereinafter referred to as "NDK-DNNT", or "DNNT") the full texts of documents for reading in the following way:

  • Monographs (books) and other documents (magazines, newspapers, etc.) published on the territory of the Czech Republic are made available on the basis of a license for Out of Commerce Works using remote access (online) and from terminals in the NL CR network in accordance with the Copyright Act.

- For books, it must be at least 20 years from the last publication of the individual work (including any publishing in the form of an e-book).

- For periodicals (newspapers, magazines), it must be at least 10 years from the last publication (if not published in the electronic form).

4.2. The DNNT documents are made available in particular in compliance with the terms of the license agreements between the NL CR and the collective administrators DILIA and OOA-S, which are expressed in the General Terms and Conditions for the Provision of the NDK-DNNT service accessible from the website https://ndk.cz/. They are available here whenever a user logs in NDK-DNNT to access a document in DNNT mode in a digital library environment. Every time the user logs in NDK-DNNT, he/ she is obliged to express his/her consent with the set conditions. The user is only entitled to read the displayed documents, to use their content for his own personal use, for study, scientific or teaching purposes (including citing), but it is forbidden to make copies of them.

4.3. The DNNT access service is provided by the NL CR to users in cooperation with libraries providing public library and information services and other legal entities in the CR.

5. Access to the mediated electronic information resources

5.1. The NL CR makes foreign and Czech licensed databases (hereinafter referred to as "Licensed Databases", "Databases" or "Licensed Resources") available to its registered users in the environment of its computer network or through its websites. For access to the reading rooms of the NL CR and subsequent access to the licensed databases on-site, the registered user is required to present his/ her valid library card.

5.2. Access to the online Licensed Databases is available to all registered users of the NL CR. Access to the Licensed Databases on a memory medium (CD-ROM or similar medium) is permitted to users with a valid library card.

5.3. Online Licensed databases are made available on designated computers in the NL CR reading rooms or, if the license conditions allow, through so-called remote access, even from premises outside the NL CR. In the reading areas, it is possible to access the online databases from your own devices via a wireless Wi-Fi connection. Licensed databases on memory media are made available only on designated computers in the NL CR reading rooms.

5.4. To access the online Databases remotely a registered user must enter his/her login data. To log in, the registered user will use the same username and password as for logging in to his/her reader account in the library system of the NL CR. The authentication system blocks login if the registration is already invalid or if the registered user has unsettled obligations to the NL CR, the fulfillment of which is not suspended (e.g. unreturned loans, unpaid contractual fines or other obligations to NL CR arising from delayed return of the loan).

5.5. All users accessing the Licensed Resources are obliged to follow the Library Rules and other valid rules, guidelines and instructions of the NL CR. They are also obliged to respect the conditions of use of the Licensed Resources established by individual or consortium license agreements, on the basis of which the NL CR provides access to the Licensed Resources to its readers. These conditions are summarized at www.nkp.cz.

5.6. The registered user is obliged to use all data made available as part of the Licensed Resources of the NL CR in accordance with the license conditions provided for familiarization when accessing the Licensed Database, as well as in accordance with the Copyright Act, usually intended only for personal, study, scientific or teaching needs, using only the tools offered by the selected Licensed Resource. When using licensed databases, the registered user undertakes to comply with the conditions of use indicated on the access to the particular licensed database. The usual conditions include, in particular:

5.6.1. the registered user will use the Licensed Resources exclusively for non-commercial purposes, i.e. for educational, study or scientific purposes, or for his/her  own use and will not systematically (especially automatically/robotically) or regularly download the entire content of the Licensed Resources or its essential parts, in particular he will not download, copy or print entire issues of e-journals or the texts of entire chapters, much less entire e-books, nor will he/she make its own copies of databases;

5.6.2. he/ she will not shorten, modify, translate or create any derivatives of the available licensed databases or their parts;

5.6.3. in the available Licensed Databases, he/she will not remove, hide or modify any Copyright notices or other notices contained or displayed there;

5.6.4. he/ she will not pass on the obtained texts or data (directly or indirectly) to other persons for any further distribution; i.e. he/ she will not further disseminate, reproduce, copy, lend, share, distribute them (and on a public computer network either) for free or for a fee (note: the licenses of some licensed databases allow specific forms of distribution for educational purposes);

5.6.5. the user acknowledges that all rights to, authorisation for and interests in the licensed databases remain with the licensor and its possible suppliers, and that unauthorised distribution of the documents made available or parts thereof may significantly harm the licensor and its suppliers.

5.7. When working with Licensed Resources, it is not permitted to use any forms of robots or other tools for automatical downloading their content and work with them. It is not permitted to create your own copies of the databases. Access to e-resources may be suspended or denied to registered users who use non-standard tools when searching, browsing or saving data from Licensed Resources.

6. Protection of personal data

6.1. The protection of personal data of users and registered users of the NL CR is included in a separate Annex No. 9 of the Library Rules.