RCIN project (2011-2014)

In Autumn 2010, the Nencki Library joined the Consortium “Digital Repository of the Scientific Institutes” (RCIN), bringing together fifteen Institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and one branch Institute.

The RCIN project was implemented thanks to co-financing from the European Regional Development Fund under the Innovative Economy Operational Programme; Priority Axis 2: Investments in the development of IT infrastructure of science; Sub-measure 2.3.2; Projects in the area of the development of digital information resources of science.

The leader of the project, “Digital Repository of Scientific Institutes”, was the Museum and Institute of Zoology PAS in Warsaw.

The Repository project covered not only digitization of archival and library resources of sixteen leading scientific institutes, but also the creation of a IT infrastructure for storing, processing, providing access to, and managing, these resources. The materials to be digitised – scientific publications, research documentation, and written cultural and scientific heritage – were successively selected, scanned, processed, and published, on the RCIN platform.

The repository not only made the scientific achievements of Polish scientific institutions available to a wider audience, but also helped to popularize digital publications in Polish society, facilitated access to knowledge in educational and scientific circles, and secured for future generations those materials whose condition was poor, and those which are sometimes preserved only in single copies.

Project implementation

he digital collections of the Repository have become a part of the Polish Digital Libraries Federation and the European Digital Library Europeana.

The value of the Project POIG.02.03.02-00-043/10 amounted to PLN 36,347,949.15, of which the contribution of IBD PAN was PLN 2,269,560. The RCIN project was implemented in the Nencki Institute from January 2011 to March 2014. The Institute’s collection comprised manuscripts, old prints, printed books from the 19th and the first half of the 20th century, and periodicals from the 19th and 20th centuries, with particular emphasis on publications by Institute staff.

Detailed tasks of the RCIN Project:

• consolidation and modernization of scientific, research and IT infrastructure of scientific units forming the Consortium,
• enlargement of digital Internet resources with scientific achievements of Consortium member Institutes,
• preservation for future generations and simultaneous access to valuable collections of libraries and archives of Consortium member institutes,
• dissemination of research results of the Consortium institutes, which will allow for an increase in the number of citations of publications based on them,
• popularization of digital publications in Polish society and expanding the group of their recipients,
• support of education through making available the contents reserved so far for a narrow group of researchers and specialists, as well as through promoting the search of scientific literature via Internet,
• promotion of Polish science, history, culture and values of natural environment and Polish writing heritage in the world through the presence of RCIN resources in the European digital library Europeana.

After three years of the RCIN Project, the result was to have access to at least 25,455 metadata items, along with publication files, consisting of approximately 13,238,500 scans of paper publication pages, manuscripts, file cards and microfilm frames, 18,880 hours of recordings, and 800 tapes. These will include publications of the Consortium Institutes, research records, and items included in the National Library Resource.

RCIN Project Participants:

• Museum and Institute of Zoology Polish Academy of Sciences (leader of the Consortium)
• Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology PAS
• Institute of Literary Research PAS
• M. Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology PAS
• Mammal Biology Institute PAS
• Institute of Physical Chemistry PAS
• Institute of Organic Chemistry PAS
• Institute of Philosophy and Sociology PAS
• Institute of Geography and Spatial Management PAS
• Institute of History PAS
• Institute of Polish Language PAS
• Institute of Mathematics PAS
• Institute of Experimental and Clinical Medicine PAS
• Institute of Fundamental Technological Research PAS
• Institute of Slavic Studies PAS
• Institute of Electronic Materials Technology

Scanning laboratory

In preparation for the RCIN Project, the library of the Nencki Institute has taken a number of actions:

• modernization of the Library premises and the purchase of necessary equipment
• the assumptions of work progress and correctness of Project implementation were created
• IT equipment, software, and scanners were purchased
• staff were recruited and trained

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Creating digital publications is a process that consists of several activities.

1. typing of publications (selection) to be placed in RCIN, taking into account existing copyright laws, status of publications, presence of publications in other digital libraries, technical possibilities).
2. cataloguing and creating planned publications (cataloguing is done in Horizon system and then descriptions are imported to dLibra platform where planned publications are created)
3. scanning (on cradle scanners in RCIN labs at MiIZ PAN and Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology PAN or on Canon scanner in the Library of IBD PAN).
4. control and processing of files (straightening, levelling, color processing, cropping to the desired size)
5. preparation of the presentation version in pdf files (text recognition, text recognition correction, adding links, tables of contents, etc.)
6. adding to the digital library and archiving on a server.

Promo

• The RCIN project was promoted through an information board and a roll-up advertisement, which were displayed on the premises of the Nencki Institute.
• Appropriate advertising was placed on the Internet, on the website of the Library, and on the website of the Nencki Institute (both websites have already been replaced by new ones)
• Advertisements were published in scientific journals: Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentalis and Progress in Biochemistry.
• Printed materials, brochures, leaflets, and advertising gifts were also prepared.