• TL Collection
• TL Services
  • Common Services
  • Special Services

STL is building up a central selective multiple-subject collection of both domestic and foreign TL the mission of which is to give information on the current world technological standard and on the industrial production range both in our country and abroad to as many members of the public involved in technical fields as possible and as quickly as possible.

Trade Literature is one of the up-to-date sources of valuable information for finding solutions to specific technical problems; it allows for obtaining source materials for the purpose of comparing the technical parameters of products from our country and from abroad and predicting the direction of the development of science and technology.

The TL Collection includes:

• leaflets
• catalogues
• production programmes
• operating manuals
• guides
• annual reports
• price lists
• trade journals
• directories
• catalogues of fairs and exhibitions, etc.

from all fields of science and technology from companies from all over the world according to the requests of the users.

The TL Collection contains approximately 200,000 library units and it is being continuously supplemented with the latest publications; the obsolete ones are sorted out so the publications in the collection are 10 years old at the most. The annual addition to the collection amounts approximately to 10,000 new publications.

TL publications are arranged systematically according to the special Excerpt from UDC for the Classification and Storage of Trade Literature in STL which contains 738 notations selected from the complete UDC tables. In connection with this extract, a registry which contains approximately 10,000 notations has been prepared to facilitate classification and searching.

The topical TL Collection the contents of which are 4 years old at the most is kept in the Abstracts and Trade Literature Study Room, arranged according to subjects in accordance with UDC. The older publications are stored in the archives and are also arranged according to subjects.

Trade journals form a separate collection. The individual issues of the current and last year's volume are stored in the ATL Study Room, arranged in alphabetical order; the older volumes are stored in the archives according to Journals Collection registration numbers separately from the basic TL Collection.

All TL publications stored in the study room or in the archives are available to the users. It is possible to search for them according to various keys (according to the given subject, according to UDC, company, call-number, addition-number, etc.).

Contact: fl@stk.cz

As concerns the TL Collection, we provide the following:

• common library services are provided free of charge
• special services are provided for low fees

Common Services

Borrowing trade literature according to personal selection

• The service consisting of the borrowing of trade literature from the collection both for the purpose of being studied in a study room and for the purpose of being taken out of the library according to personal selection is provided in the Abstracts and Trade Literature Study Room upon the presentation of a valid STL User Card .

• Leaflets, catalogues, guides, operating manuals, annual reports, price lists, production programmes, trade journals and other publications are lent for the purpose of being taken out of the library after the loan slip has been completed.

  The loan period amounts to 4 weeks and it is possible to prolong it by another 4 weeks twice. If the loan period is not observed, a penalty for late return in the amount of 10 CZK is charged for each month of delay.

• Some selected publications can only be lent for the purpose of being studied in a study room. Older publications (4-10 years) can be borrowed from the archives on the same terms.

Searching for and borrowing specific TL on the basis of a specific written request

• Specific trade literature is sought out and lent on the basis of a specific written request where the full call-number of the publication required is stated (i.e. UDC and the addition-number or the title and the registration number of the journal, volume and issue no.).

• The publications are lent free of charge; the loan period amounts to 4 weeks and it is possible to prolong it. The service is designed particularly for interested parties based outside Prague.

Special Services

• Performance of a retrospective search by the personnel of the library, i.e. the search for and loan of TL from the collection on a given specific subject or from a certain company on the basis of a one-off written request. The loan period amounts to 4 weeks and it is possible to prolong it. The charge amounts to 100 CZK per working hour per member of the library's staff; postal charges are added to this price.

• Regular loan of new foreign and domestic TL publications in subject series. This service is designed for interested parties who apply for this service in advance; the choice intrades 186 subjects. This service provides the users with a regular supply of the latest TL from the given field without the users having to search for it or request it themselves. The publications are sent in sets; the fee for each set amounts to 35 CZK plus postal charges. The loan period amounts to 3 weeks and it cannot be prolonged.

• Regular loan of issues of trade journals which have newly arrived to interested parties which applied for this service in advance. The loan period amounts to 4 weeks. This service has been in trial operation and has been provided free of charge so far.

• TL from both a foreign and a domestic producer can be procured and borrowed, if the publications requested are not in the TL Collection; in this case priority is given to a specific written request (i.e. where the name of the company and the product are also stated in English or in German). The fee ranges from 85 CZK to 100 CZK per company; the loan period amounts to 4 weeks and it is possible to prolong it.

• Searching for and providing the address of a company from both foreign and domestic company directories on the basis of a written request. The fee ranges from 25 CZK to 40 CZK per address.

• The providing of copies of trade literature publications while one waits or via post. The fee amounts to 1.50 CZK per page of A4 format; if the copies are sent via post, postal charges are added.
  Xerographic copies of some of the directories or thick catalogues cannot be made for technical reasons.

This range of services offered can be further extended according to the individual requirements of the users.

The services can be ordered at the following address: