The answers below refer to the new version of the NL CR catalogue.
If you cannot find the answer to your question, or if you have any feedback about the new version of the catalogue, please get in touch. We would be glad to hear from you.
Where can I find the original versions of the NL CR´s catalogues?
The original versions of the NL CR catalogues and databases are still available at https://aleph.nkp.cz/. As well as the Online Catalogue of the NL CR (NKC base) and the Online Catalogue of the Slavonic Library (SLK base), you can use other NL CR databases that are not included in the new interface of NL CR catalogue (e.g. Union catalogue of the Czech Republic, Czech and Slovak Early Printed Books published between years 1501-1800).
I am unfamiliar with the new catalogue interface.
Part of the new interface is short hints to help you find your way around the NL CR catalogue. You can find these hints in various places in the catalogue under the '?' icon.
Does the NL CR catalogue contain information about all the documents owned by the library?
The new NL CR catalogue interface does not include information about all of the NL CR's holdings. However, this version of the catalogue allows a more comprehensive search of the NL CR's holdings than the original Aleph interface.
- The new NL CR catalogue interface provides access to information from:
- Online catalogue of the National Library of the Czech Republic (NKC database)
- Online Catalogue of the Slavonic Library (SLK database)
- Incunabula, Early Printed Books and Maps 1450–1800 (STT database)
- Database of Library & Information Science Literature (KKL database)
- Articles from Czech Newspapers and Periodicals since 1991 (ANL database)
- Documents published before 1995 can only be listed in scanned catalogues.
- Other databases processed by the NL CR, such as the Union Catalogue of the Czech Republic, Czech National Authorities and Czech and Slovak Early Printed Books published between years 1501-1800, are not included in the new catalogue. You can access these via the original Aleph system interface.
- You can also search for articles, e-books, and other types of documents from foreign licensed databases via the 'Foreign e-resources' tab on the new National Library of the Czech Republic catalogue interface.
What are Foreign e-resources?
The Foreign e-resources tab contains a comprehensive index of licensed foreign databases, scientific information, and peer-reviewed publications. Most documents can be accessed electronically. Some are freely available, while the full text of many others is only accessible to users of the NL CR after logging in. To a lesser extent, the index also contains Czech documents, mainly articles.
How can I search the NL CR catalogue?
- help for searching in the Catalogues and databases of the NL CR tab
- help for searching in Foreign e-resources tab
Why do I get so many results when I search?
NL CR Catalogue combines several of the National Library's catalogues and databases into one environment. When searching in all fields, the catalogue also searches the full texts of items in the Czech Digital Library and the contents of books. Tips for getting fewer search results can be found below.
How can I refine my search results if there are too many?
In the “Catalogues and Databases of the NL CR” tab, the default search is 'in all fields'. This means that the search is also performed in full texts from the Czech Digital Library.
You can get fewer results if, for example:
- you specify that you are looking for an author, title or topic
- you specify that you do not want to search also in the full text of digitised documents - i.e. you select the option "all fields (without full text)"
- you refine your query results using the filters to the left of the search results
- select only a specific part of the NL CR catalogue using the "Catalogues and Databases" filter (e.g. the Online Catalogue of the NL CR or the Online Catalogue of the Slavonic Library).
- In Advanced Search, you can enter more information at once and specify your search in more detail (e.g. by combining author, title, topic, language of the document and years of publication).
You can also search information from foreign databases via the "Foreign e-resources" tab. If you have too many results when searching in the "Foreign e-resources" tab (full text search is set as default), you can get fewer results if, for example:
- you specify that you are looking for an author, title or topic
- you refine your query results using the filters to the left of the search results
- In Advanced Search, you can enter more information at once and specify your search in more detail (e.g. by combining author, title, topic, language of the document and years of publication).
How can I search for books and periodicals from the Slavonic Library in the NL CR catalogue?
Using the 'Catalogues and Databases' filter, you can select documents from the Slavonic Library catalogue only from the search results. This filter is the last one available in the search results overview on the left-hand side.
How can I search for books and periodicals from the Library and Information Science Literature Library in the NL CR catalogue?
Using the 'Catalogues and Databases' filter, you can select documents from the Database of Library & Information Science Literature only from the search results. This filter is the last one available in the search results overview on the left-hand side.
How can I search for books and maps from the database Incunabula, Early Printed Books and Maps 1450-1800?
Using the 'Catalogues and Databases' filter, you can select documents from the Incunabula, Early Printed Books and Maps 1450-1800 database only from the search results. This filter is the last one available in the search results overview on the left-hand side.
It is not possible to refine the search; the filters are unavailable.
If you see the message 'Loading page was interrupted' for each filter, try refreshing the page using the F5 key or the refresh icon/button in your browser.
After logging in, I noticed a red triangle next to my name. What does that mean?
A red triangle (violation warning) appears if there is a financial debt associated with your reading account (e.g. unpaid overdue fees or interlibrary loan charges).
- There is a financial debt associated with your user account (e.g. unpaid overdue fees or interlibrary loan charges)
- your account has loans for which the borrowing period has expired
After logging in, I see the following message in my user account: 'Error in cURL request: Received HTTP code 503 from proxy after CONNECT.
There is probably a technical problem on the NL CR side. Please use the original online catalogue interface during this outage. You can also log in to your user account here. Alternatively, please contact us.
How can I change my password?
You can change your user account password by logging into the original online catalogue interface. This option is not yet available in the new catalogue interface.
How can I reset my password?
You can reset your reader account password by clicking 'Forgot Password? the original online catalogue interface'. This function is not yet available in the new catalogue interface.
I can't seem to renew my loans.
There are several possible reasons why you cannot renew your loans.
- The loan period for some items has already expired - you can check the current status of your loans (including which ones are overdue) in your user account under Checked Out Item after logging in.
- Another user may have requested the item - click on the title of the document to view its record in the catalogue. In the Holdings section, you can see that, in addition to your own request, another request for this item has been made.
- The item has reached its maximum loan period - the maximum loan period is four months; in the Slavonic Library, it is up to six months.
- Your registration is about to expire or has expired - you can find the expiry date in the Reader Profile section of your user account after logging in.
- An unpaid overdue fine or service charges - in the Fines section, you will find an overview of currently unpaid fees. Fees for loans that have exceeded the loan period accrue daily in accordance with the NL CR Library Rules and the NL CR Price list.
- There is a message or other violation associated with your account - check the messages in the Reader Profile section.
How can I extend my registration in the catalogue?
Thirty days before your registration expires, you will find in your user account, under Reader Profile, information on whether you can extend it online by paying the registration fee. If you provided your email address when you registered, you will receive a notification when your registration is about to expire.
How can I pay fines for late return, ILL fees etc. online via the catalogue?
In your user account, under Fines, you can see a summary of the amounts due. If you can pay the debt (or part of it) online by credit card, you will also see links for online payment. Please note that fines for late return can only be paid online once the relevant loan has been returned. It is not possible to pay fines for late return for loans that have not yet been returned and have overstayed their loan period.
What does 'Select Source' mean in the detail record?
The NL CR catalogue searches multiple catalogues and databases. For example, a book, journal, etc. may be held by the National Library of the Czech Republic, the Slavic Library and the Library and Information Science Literature Library simultaneously.
In such cases, you can use the drop-down menu in the 'Select source' section of the book's detailed record to choose whether to check its availability in the National Library of the Czech Republic's collection, the Slavic Library's collection, or the Library and Information Sicence Literature Library's collection. For example, you can view information about the book Dějiny knihoven a knihovnictví, which is represented in all three collections.
For holdings, the 'Status' column displays “Live Status Unavailable”.
Refresh the page using the F5 function key or the relevant icon/button in the browser.
There is probably a technical problem on the NL CR side. During the outage, please use the original online catalogue interface. You can also check the current availability of the requested document here.
How can I find a book using its ISBN?
In a simple search, you can find books by their ISBN number as follows:
- In all fields (without full texts): you can enter the ISBN you are looking for in either the hyphenated version (e.g. 978-80-271-5354-1) or the unhyphenated version (e.g. 9788027153541).
- In the 'All fields' search, it is recommended to enter the ISBN without hyphens (e.g. 9788027153541). If you enter the ISBN with hyphens, it is better to enclose it in quotation marks (e.g. '978-80-271-5354-1').
In the advanced search, there is also a dedicated field for ISBN/ISSN/ISMN/EAN searches.
How can I find a newspaper or magazine using its ISSN?
In a simple search, you can find a newspaper or magazine by its ISSN number.
- In all fields (without full text): you can enter the ISSN you are looking for in either the hyphenated version (e.g. 0024-2896) or the unhyphenated version (e.g. 00242896).
- In the 'All fields' search, it is recommended that you enter the ISSN without hyphens (e.g. 00242896). If you enter the number with hyphens, it is better to enclose them in brackets (e.g. '0024-2896').
In the advanced search, there is also a dedicated field for ISBN/ISSN/ISMN/EAN searches.
How can I search for books by the language in which they were originally published?
In the advanced search, select search by original language from the drop-down menu. Enter the name of the specific language (e.g. English, German or French) in the search box. This will result in publications that have been translated into English, German or French.
Why can't I access the full texts?
To access full texts that are not freely available, such as works out of the market in the National Digital Library or licensed articles and e-books, you need to be a registered user of the NL CR. Your registration must be valid, and your user account must not have any associated offences.
Check your User Account.
- Registration validity: you can usually extend your registration by making an online payment through your user account.
- The status of your loans: overdue items must be returned and fines for late return paid.
- Outstanding fines: You can pay any outstanding fees online via your user account.
- Contact the Main Hall (or the Slavonic Library) to resolve any reports or offences displayed in your user account.
You will be unable to log into the National Digital Library and licensed resources until the above issues are resolved. However, you can log into your user account in NL CR catalogue to check and resolve the specific issue.
You can also refer to the help section under the Foreign e-Resources tab if you have problems accessing articles or e-books.
Where can I find the option to design a book for digitisation?
This service is not yet offered by the new interface of the NL CR catalogue. To suggest a title for digitisation, please log in to the original interface of the Online Catalogue of the NL CR or the Online Catalogue of the Slavonic Library. For more information about the 'Suggest for digitisation' service, please visit https://www.nkp.cz/en/services/suggest-for-digitisation.
How can I order a book to be digitised via EOD?
In the new catalogue interface of the NL CR catalogue, it is not yet possible to search for books suitable for EOD (eBooks on Demand). However, the EOD button can still be found in the original interface of the catalogues for books suitable for this service, in the Online Catalogue of the NL CR (NKC database), the Online Catalogue of the Slavonic Library (SLK database), and the Incunabula, Early Printed Books and Maps 1450–1800 (STT database). Further information about the EOD service can be found at https://www.nkp.cz/en/services/eod-ebooks-on-demand.
Why haven't I received an email with records from the NL CR catalogue?
The NL CR catalogue offers the option to send one or more records by e-mail. In some cases, mail servers block these e-mails and they cannot be delivered. This often affects Gmail addresses. To save selected records, we recommend using the Export function (the record can also be saved in RIS format for citation managers) or the Show Citations function (the generated citations can be copied into a text editor).