CONTEMPORARY RISK MANAGEMENT IN THE CURRENT RISK LANDSCAPE: EXPERIENCE FROM THE NATIONAL AND UNIVERSITY LIBRARY IN ZAGREB, CROATIA

Тези доповіді

UDK 027.54:005.334

Stričević Ivanka,
ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8677-7619,
PhD in Information Sciences
Director General of the National and University Library in Zagreb,
Croatia
e-mail: istricevic@nsk.hr

Ille Jagoda,
ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4341-1929,
BA in Information Sciences
Library Advisor for International Cooperation,
National and University Library in Zagreb,
Croatia
e-mail: jille@nsk.hr

CONTEMPORARY RISK MANAGEMENT IN THE CURRENT RISK LANDSCAPE: EXPERIENCE FROM THE NATIONAL AND UNIVERSITY LIBRARY IN ZAGREB, CROATIA

This report recognizes the challenges put in front of the libraries in the current risk landscape, explores the legal framework and draws the experiences of the Library pertaining to the Homeland war (1991 – 1995), COVID-19 pandemic and other recent crisis situations such as the natural disasters, the war in Ukraine and demographic changes. The authors are bringing to the public eye some of the lessons learned through the processes of risk management and planning.
Keywords: national library and risk management.

The current risk landscape in which the libraries and other heritage institutions are performing their functions consists of the geopolitical crisis, the digital transformation and the climate changes as well as the other, lesser or locally relevant factors, all of which are presenting great challenges to the contemporary national libraries’ management.
The British Library defines risk as “the quantifiable level of exposure to the threat of internal or external events that will adversely affect the Library’s ability to achieve its strategic, operational and project goals”. Being quantifiable means that by observing, reviewing, analysing and learning about the library’s internal and external environment it is possible to assess the risks and their levels in any given time and situation.
The crucial point to make in talking about the dealing with risks in any industry or organization is avoiding the practice of managing the risks by simple reaction to the imminent threats and instead taking the proactive road of meticulous planning that involves all of the internal and external threats and stakeholders – the risk leadership.
The Development strategy of the National and University Library in Zagreb for the period from 2021 to 2026 represents the key document which, along with the legal, scientific and professional frameworks, considers all of the external and internal factors of the development, regarding the risk management and risk leadership as the most prominent factors.
One of the crucial elements of proactive type of dealing with risks is the impact on the law-makers. The library professionals and managers have to make sure that laws are written in cooperation with the professional community. Laws, standards and regulations in the librarian profession can present the challenges as well as provide the prerequisites for stronger resistance to crises and adaptability to risks.
The experiences that the National and University Library in Zagreb had in dealing with crisis include the more distant Homeland war in the beginning of 1990’s as well as the recent threats: the COVID-19 pandemic, earthquakes in 2020 and 2021, climate changes and the regional and global consequences of aggression against Ukraine. All of these events were occurring parallel to the frequent global economic disruptions and intensive growth and development of technologies, particularly the digital technology.
The impact of the advance of the digital technologies on libraries is twofold when considered from the aspect of risk management. It can produce instabilities due to the large amount of the necessary resources – the financial ones as well as the need for the new competences of the employees. At the same time these technologies can provide an answer to the crisis: this is especially the case with the digitization of the protected cultural heritage and the communication channels during the crisis.
Having to continue to work and fulfil its fundamental roles regardless of the challenges, the Library acquired the valuable direct insight in risk management. Those experiences were indispensable when it came to organize the process of the production of development strategy and accompanying documents and procedures.
To draw the most prominent experiences of dealing with imminent threats:
• Climate changes: as reaction to the more frequent natural disasters caused by the climate changes, the National and University Library in Zagreb has organized “Solidarity in Culture: Heritage Protection Under Conditions of Crisis” conference in 2021, focused on the cultural heritage protection. The “Let’s Go Green” conferences, the first one held in 2018, the second one to be held in November 2023, are focused on the user services aimed at the sustainable development and environment protection.
• Earthquakes in Croatia: The National and University Library in Zagreb has designed and distributed the guidelines for the written heritage protection and ensured the care and the appropriate storage space for the particularly valuable material from the damaged and destroyed libraries in Croatia.
• War against Ukraine: The Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia has purchased the books published by the Ukrainian publishers and in co-operation with the Embassy of Ukraine to the Republic of Croatia and the NUL in Zagreb have distributed them to Croatian libraries in order to meet the needs of Ukrainian families in Croatia. The NUL in Zagreb has introduced the free membership for the Ukrainian refugees and the Croatian Web Archive conducts thematic harvesting about the War in Ukraine. Three special bibliographies were made by the Croatian National Bibliography Department – titles in the Library’s collections published in Ukraine, titles in the Ukrainian language and titles which are the translations of works originally in Ukrainian into other languages, including English.
• COVID-19 pandemic: The National and University Library in Zagreb has designed and distributed the guidelines for the interactions with the users and library’s material as well as “working from home” practice.
The main lessons learned were that the National and University Library in Zagreb is going to overcome the multiple challenges and travel through the current risk landscape much easier if it achieves the following three goals:
• strengthening the capacity of staff to face and manage risks,
• creating and strengthening of national and international networks and
• strategic planning of material resources and requirements having in mind possible risks.
Based on the aforementioned hard experiences and the lessons learned it is possible to turn the practice of risk management to the more proactive risk leadership.

УДК 027.54:005.334

Стричевич Іванка,
ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8677-7619,
кандидатка інформаційних наук,
Генеральна директорка,
Національна та університетська бібліотека в Загребі,
Загреб, Хорватія
e-mail: istricevic@nsk.hr

Ілле Ягода,
ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4341-1929,
Бакалавр інформаційних наук,
Бібліотечний радник з питань міжнародного співробітництва,
Національна та університетська бібліотека в Загребі,
Загреб, Хорватія
e-mail: jille@nsk.hr

СУЧАСНЕ УПРАВЛІННЯ РИЗИКАМИ В ПОТОЧНІЙ СФЕРІ РИЗИКУ: ДОСВІД НАЦІОНАЛЬНОЇ ТА УНІВЕРСИТЕТСЬКОЇ БІБЛІОТЕКИ У ЗАГРЕБІ, ХОРВАТІЯ

Цей звіт визнає виклики, які постають перед бібліотеками в умовах поточного ризику, досліджує законодавчу базу та використовує досвід Бібліотеки, пов’язаний з Вітчизняною війною (1991–1995), пандемією COVID-19 та іншими недавніми кризовими ситуаціями, такими як стихійні лиха, війна в Україні та демографічні зміни. Автори представляють громадськості деякі уроки, отримані в процесі управління ризиками та планування.
Ключові слова: національна бібліотека та управління ризиками.