Dr. Rafael Ball for B.I.T.-online:
Dr. Jokic, your association organised the 3^rd Special Library Days in Croatia. What are the main goals of your congress this year?

Dr. Jokic: This congress is a professional meeting and the subject is: "Special Libraries - New Challenges". The main goal of this meeting is to bring librarians together, to discuss specific professional problems, to learn together from lectures and participate in workshops. We provide practical information on some aspects of special libraries, especially libraries and culture - special libraries in museums, galleries and archives, and similar sorts of special libraries. The invited colleagues from Slovenia talk about their experience in Slovenia, libraries in the field of culture and we are trying to establish contact with our colleagues and to talk about problems especially about librarianship in Croatia. We have only set ourselves one special or only a few goals and we will try to talk about one or two problems.

Dr. Rafael Ball for B.I.T.-online:
Dr. Jokic, you were elected President of the Special Library Section a short time ago. Would you please explain to our readers how the Croatian library system is organised and the position occupied by the special libraries and your special library section in this system?

Dr. Jokic: The Croatian library system is organised through the Croatian Library Association and the section of special libraries is one part of this Croatian Library Association. It's a volunteer organisation. I am the new president of the special library section, but I have been involved in this work for more than ten years. Also due to my position in the National Library and Zagreb University Library, which is the main university, and of course there is only one National Library in Croatia, I am a kind of co-ordinator for all types of special libraries especially scientific libraries. The field of special libraries is very broad, because it covers libraries in industry, medical libraries, museums, scientific libraries, especially scientific institutes, government and so on and it is not easy to co-ordinate the different interests. This is the reason why we organise some special sub-sections in the section of special libraries. We have got a smaller section for museum and gallery libraries, some sections in medicine or medical libraries, institutional libraries and government libraries. Because in this way we can better co-ordinate our work and it is easier for communication when you have smaller units.

Dr. Rafael Ball for B.I.T.-online:
What do you think about the influence of the special library section on the whole Croatian library system?

Dr. Jokic: At this moment the influence of special libraries exists of course, but we are a traditional country and, of course, you know there has also been a war and a lot of special libraries, especially in the eastern part of Croatia, were destroyed and we are trying to recover some special libraries, especially libraries in industry. Libraries in industry are the basis of the whole society and, of course, it is very important because special libraries in industry give us money and support and this is very important. However, this is changing now. Libraries and scientific libraries have a very good influence on the Croatian Library Association. Especially scientific institutes because science is the basis for a developing society.

Dr. Rafael Ball for B.I.T.-online:
This leads to the next question. As in other countries, in Croatia special libraries and special librarians are also seen as the motor for innovation in librarianship. Could you please give us a few examples from your country.

Dr. Jokic: The best organised special libraries in Croatia are the medical libraries. As in other parts in the world and also in Croatia the best organised libraries are in the pharmaceutical industry and the libraries of the scientific institutes. Our famous pharmaceutical firm PLIVA, with their branches in several other European countries, has a very well organised library and scientific information services. We have also got a few others, SAPONIA for instance, and some smaller pharmaceutical companies and the best organised information systems and scientific information system and libraries are in the pharmaceutical industry, except for medical libraries. For example, with the PLIVA library you have got web sites and you have got the internet, but because it is a private firm it is not possible for other libraries in Croatia to share their resources. That is a big problem for Croatia, because we are a small country and former industrial libraries have very good sources and five years ago we could share their sources but now they are not open, they are closed and reserved for their special industry. But a very important thing is libraries at the scientific institutes, especially at the RUDJER BOSKOVIC institute. A lot of our scientists are at our famous scientific institution in the field of the natural sciences. I hope and I know that a lot of German scientists are involved in the work and not only a lot of our scientists from the institute in Boscowicz, because in Juelich also and in the Max Planck Institutes a lot of our colleagues are in direct communication and a lot of your scientists come to Croatia to the institute in RUDJER BOSKOVIC and exchange experience and, of course, they communicate by projects. And of course the RUDJER BOSKOVIC institute has a very well organised library, it is the best organised special library in Croatia.

Dr. Rafael Ball for B.I.T.-online:
Dr. Jokic, Croatia is a country in transition. What are the main problems and opportunities, the main chances and dangers for the library system at the moment in your country?

Dr. Jokic: Croatia is still a country in transition and the process is lasting longer than we expected. In this situation, with low budgeting and insufficient financial support, it is so difficult to organise good special libraries. In contrast to the traditional situation a lot of industrial firms and companies have been broken up and of course they also have libraries. But librarians in Croatia in other types of special libraries are very enthusiastic and they want to communicate with each other and they want to improve their work. Of course, the main problem is money and low budgeting. And tourism is an important industry for us, because Croatia is a very poor country in my opinion it is very important to recover our basic budget system and I think tourism is for us one of the basic sources of money. When we recover and when our industry and tourism also recover, I hope special libraries will see better days. At the moment the main reason is money, but people are very enthusiastic, especially librarians, they want to learn and I am looking on the bright side of this matter.

Dr. Rafael Ball for B.I.T.-online:
Perhaps it is more than just money! Dr. Jokic in your opening speech you underlined the relevance of the participation of international partners in your conference. What does international co-operation between special libraries mean for you and your organisation? Where is the focus for this co-operation and do you have some concrete tasks? What do you expect in concrete terms?

Dr. Jokic: Co-operation is a process and in my opinion it is very important and especially international co-operation between libraries is ,I think, very useful for all partners who are co-operating. Of course, it is very important to exchange experience, broadening our views and helping each other. For example, why did we invite you and our colleagues from Slovenia? It was because we want to share experience, because you are developing some things better than in our country. Of course in special librarianship at this moment we recognise that some parts of the special system in Croatia are better than in Slovenia. But other parts are better in Slovenia than in Croatia. It is very important to exchange experience and communicate, because maybe in this way we can avoid mistakes already made by others. That is one of the reasons, but you have also contributed your views and so we could perhaps better organise our system. If communication or co-operation is fruitful only for one library, I think it's very good and if for instance 50 persons or librarians have an opportunity to communicate with other colleagues from other countries it is very very important. And at this moment, because I am a new president, I am trying to suggest some programmes or some projects for co-operation. My experience with colleagues from Slovenia is that we are trying to work on a personal level and also on a professional level, we are trying to work on a project together. And of course Germany is very interesting for us because of our past. Our history in the organisation of special libraries and the university is also rather similar to Germany and Europe as well. I think, if you want to be European it is very very important to communicate with each other and exchange experiences and especially for small countries.

Dr. Rafael Ball for B.I.T.-online:
Dr. Jokic, could you explain in concrete terms the project which you are starting in co-operation with Slovenia?

Dr. Jokic: Yes. I work in the national university library and in Slovenia the national university library is also a similar library and I have some colleagues with whom we are working together on the project in user studies. Two years ago Professor Saracwic visited Croatia He is a professor from ..... university, he was a Fulbright scholarship. He is not a librarian, but an information specialist and he organised very broad user studies at the national university library and we invited our colleagues from Slovenia to work together with us. When we finished our research we had some results in which our colleagues from Slovenia were very much interested and now we have adapted the questionnaire so we will work together on user studies in the national university libraries. Of course, we have very good communication with the colleagues from Maribor University, which is the second university in Slovenia, and also at the university library and we will try to co-operate and to co-ordinate some small projects.

Dr. Rafael Ball for B.I.T.-online:
Dr. Jokic, thank you for this interview.