Foreword by the Editor-in-Chief

Abstract

Dear Readers of the journal Bosniaca,

it is our privilege and pleasure to present the new, 27th issue of the National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina journal Bosniaca, which, based on scientific and professional foundations and assumptions, following contemporary intellectual and scientific trends and standards, continuously promotes information and library activity, which directly shapes and improves library conditions and awareness, especially within the BH and regional community.

The original and initial idea of launching the journal Bosniaca arose as a reaction to the burning of the National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina on 25/26. August 1992. The need to explain to the academic, professional, and wider community, with scientifically based arguments, the social repercussions of the destruction of an institution of the state and cultural and national importance, then the burning of a vast and extremely valuable fund and written treasure, and, consequently, the weakening of a large part of the library and heritage activities, led to the creation and profiling of the journal Bosniaca, which will eventually establish itself, in accordance with scientific imperatives and standards, but also the cultural and educational context of Bosnia and Herzegovina, into an information and library journal which, in addition, as a journal of an institution of national character, special attention pays to the themes of documentary heritage and heritage. Combining library and heritage issues, and tending and affirming an interdisciplinary approach, Bosniaca represents a unique phenomenon within the BH and regional scientific community.

As the most representative and significant means of scientific communication in general, journals offer recent and systematized knowledge necessary for the effective development of science. Not only following but also participating in an organized manner, with its interests and contributions, in contemporary information-library, and humanistic scientific and professional trends, the journal Bosniaca responds to all the requirements of the international scientific standard, which provides the journal with scientific credibility and foundation, which, above all, confirms indexation in the most credible indexing and citation databases.

The editorial policy of the Journal is programmatically oriented towards an extremely interesting and research-stimulating connection between the library-information and heritage disciplines. The lively and complementary relationship between these disciplines opens up completely new methodological possibilities for understanding and treating a number of intradisciplinary and interdisciplinary phenomena and processes, which results in clear implications in the development and strengthening of not only theoretical, but, of course, practical and concrete applicability within the public sphere of life. The journal Bosniaca publishes theoretically and scientifically based original, professional, and review articles primarily from the library and information fields, but also from Heritology and Information and Communication Sciences, as well as reviews of scientific and professional monographic publications from the aforementioned fields. The structure of the Journal is divided into four thematic blocks. The first, certainly, in accordance with the primary scientific definition of the Journal, is the “Library-information System” where articles closely related to the information-library activity are published. The second block, in accordance with the nature and role of the National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as the founder and publisher of the Journal, is entitled “Documentary Heritage” and, as a rule, contains articles on documentary-written cultural history and heritage, as well as articles on the library as a heritage institution of general importance for culture. The third thematic block entitled “Information and Services in the New Technological Environment”, as a rule contains works that understand the library-information activity as a service activity dominantly from the perspective of technological development and implementation of new technologies as an imperative of the modern technocratic age. The fourth, and last block presents reviews of recent monographic publications that are thematically interesting and complementary to the interests of the Journal.

In the new issue of the journal Bosniaca you will find eleven articles divided into thematic blocks (three articles each belong to the blocks “Library-Information System” and “Information and Services in the New Technological Environment”, while five articles belong to the block “Documentary heritage”) and four reviews.

We hope that the new issue will respond to your intellectual demands and interests and enrich your knowledge and experience. We wish you a pleasant and useful reading.

Respectfully,                                                                        

Ismet Ovčina, PhD

Editor-in-Chief