CUBA NATIONAL REPORT
TO THE WORKSHOP SEMINAR
"ACCESS TO INFORMATION IN LATIN AMERICA"
"The beauty of the book and what entitles it to
enter our hearts, is the soft wisdom of sadness
which pervades it, teaching the usefulness and
good fortune of courage"
José Martí
a) Size and state of the publishing industry in the country.
The publishing industry in the country is currently, undergoing a revival characterized by
the implementation of a new policy of selecting materials that may guarantee quality
editions which can be sold domestically and abroad, allowing it to fund itself in this way.
Progress has been evidenced by the interest shown, by some foreign publishers, in the
works of Cuban authors and in co-editions published with publishers such as Baldini and
Castedi with the title Bienvenido a Juan Pablo II (Welcome John Paul II).
Notwithstanding the effort to achieve a more efficient industry, the State, with the creation
of the Fondo de Desarrollo para la Cultura (Culture Development Fund), subsidizes a great
number of editions that owing to their characteristics and level of specialization cannot rely
on the market.
Another significant achievement of the last years is the development attained by the
publishing movement of the provinces.
Below we show figures for the nineties provided by the Cuban ISBN Agency in its ISBN
Bibliographic Bulletin: 1997
YEAR
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
NUMBER OF REGISTERED TITLES
183
433
625
691
411
854
We have to clarify that registered titles include books, videos, software and CDs.
If we compare these figures with former decades when we had an output of more than
46000 titles and 11 million copies, achieving in the eighties the figure of 5.2 books per
inhabitant, we could say that currently the country’s publishing industry has declined, and
even though it increases gradually, it is far from the meeting the needs of the cultural level
reached in Cuba. Until there is an output of approximately 33 million copies, we will not
reach total recovery, although in 1998, we exceeded 9 million copies.
Print-runs for children and youth have also increased, and are around 25000 copies. Added
to this, extensions and revivals of children’s and youth’s rooms in the most important
libraries have been planned.
b) Relation between demand/need of users/domestic supply. Is it necessary to import
published material or is the country self-sufficient?
In spite of the state interest in offering people access to cheap books and publications,
supply is insufficient, especially for children and youth.
Owing to the current economic conditions we miss the figures for published material of the
olden days. Notwithstanding these deficiencies we are working to protect the social
function of books, copies of all the titles published in the country’s main publishing houses
are assigned to the Public and School Library system, guaranteeing in that way better
distribution and enabling enhanced use and access.
Despite the many efforts demand is greater than supply and, for instance, we can mention
reference books, dictionaries and encyclopedias. By means of exchanges and donations,
institutions try to broaden their acquisitions and, in this way, begin editions in new
information media such as CD ROM.
According to the director of the Cuban Book Institute (ICL) (Instituto Cubano del Libro) it
is necessary to import books. In Cuba most print-runs used to be paid by the State, book
sales used to be far higher, and the price of many books used to be no more than 90 cents.
When the country’s publishing policy changed, book prices increased and now prices of
books frequently range from 7 to 10 pesos. Sometimes it is better to import them bearing in
mind the unit cost of each book, and it would suit us to be part of a large print-run of any
publishing house in the world, which would work out cheaper, even in foreign currency,
than publishing books in Cuba, especially children’s books in color with hard covers.
The country is not self-sufficient and therefore it is necessary to import books, which are
heavily demanded by the population.
c) Current state of bibliographic control in the country.
The José Martí National Library is in charge of compiling, producing, and disseminating
the Cuban Bibliography, which guarantees bibliographic control. The compilation is drawn
up in the Cuban Bibliography department of the José Martí National Library that appears as
the corporate author of the said publication.
In this catalog all published output of the country is compiled, including books, booklets,
sound recordings, programs, exhibition catalogs, the first issue of serial publications,
postage stamps and film production. Since 1852 the Cuban National Bibliography has been
described and published without interruptions up to the years 1992-1993. In order to
publish 1990 and 1991 there have been negotiations with publishers. The years 1994-1996
are in press and the years 1997-1999 are being processed for their automation.
This publication has been useful as a source for bibliographic control, as it is an essential
catalog for consultation. Its indexes facilitate quick searches by author, title, subject and
publisher.
The Cuban Bibliography also includes, since 1965, bibliographies of important Cuban
authors who died in the year corresponding to that edition. This section enriches the
catalog and broadens its cultural information.
Another way of guaranteeing bibliographic control is Resolution No.6 signed on February
2nd 1998 by the Minister of Culture. This resolution states the need to reorganize the
country’s bibliographic activity, and therefore it is necessary that the Cuban Bibliographic
Department of the Jose Martí National Library check and advise bibliographic research
based on its experience and responsibility. The resolution also confers o the Jose Martí
National Library bibliographic control of the System of Public Libraries of the country. It
is also established that the said Department govern this activity and shall be consulted by
every institution of the System which plans to carry out bibliographic research.
The Book Chamber, by means of the ISBN, exercises another form of control over
publishing houses of the country providing them with the corresponding number for each
registered title. This agency reports that between 95% and 98% of titles are registered.
To ensure control of serialized publications, the Book Chamber through the Board of
Journals of the Book Institute (Dirección de Publicaciones del Instituto del Libro) annually
publishes the Catalogue of Cuban Serialized Publications. This catalog is a very important
source of information and control for serialized publications. Currently there are 395
registered titles in the Register. The catalog features an index by title, ISSN number and
publishers. It also features the serialized publications, which are published in electronic
format and includes titles no longer published.
By analyzing bibliographic control achieved up to the present by publishing information
sources, we will achieve the dissemination and promotion of published output in Cuba and
abroad.
d) State of the bookselling trade in the country.
The State of the bookselling trade in the country depends on the demands and needs of each
territory. The book trade is based on contractual relations and the most important places
are the provinces of Ciudad de La Habana, Villa Clara, Cienfuegos and Santiago de Cuba.
In the Isla de la Juventud the highest percentage of sales is registered. This is due to the
fact that the inhabitants are mostly adults, youths, students and foreigners with
scholarships. Book sales per inhabitant are 2.12 in Isla de la Juventud and 1.17 in
Cienfuegos.
Marketing plans are nowadays low considering readers’ demands. Of the titles published,
social institutions such as public libraries receive 379 copies, 74 copies are for prioritized
libraries, 23 for the publisher, 50 go to the author, 100 are for the presentation, and the rest
for sale. 1244 copies are for the people. These figures have been reported by the seven most
important publishers of the country which make up the Cuban Book Institute (ICL). In this
case we haven't considered other specialized publishers such as Pueblo y Educación,
devoted to text books; Editora Politica dedicated to political and ideological information in
the country; and Capitán San Luis, Felix Varela, Casa de la Américas and Union publishing
houses, the latter devoted to disseminating the work of Cuban writers and artists. We
haven’t been able to catalog information from all bookstores which sell both books and
cultural products, therefore we will only provide information on the ICL publishers.
Although the ICL output increased by 23% in 1998 compared to 1997, total output does not
meet the needs of authors and readers. Thus, the following figures:
BOOKSTORE NETWORK
TOTAL SALES
1997
1998
Ratio
9734
10,133.4
97/98 ------------104
Sale by type of product
Books
Records
Musical instruments
1997
5,403.00
466.90
11.1
1998
5864.90
493.40
-
1997
785
625
1998
796
621
98/97
109
106
-
Domestic Total
Books
Booklets
e) Who maintains the National Archive of Published Material and how effective is it?
The Jose Martí National Library maintains, controls, and develops the National Archive of
Published Material and is in charge of preserving the bibliographic heritage and compiling
the national bibliography. By means of the new Legal Deposit Act No. 265 of May
20th1999, the delivery, free of charge, to this Institution, of three copies of all material
published in the country is guaranteed. These titles are reported in catalogs and publications
such as the Bibliografía Cubana (Cuban Bibliography) and the Boletín Bbibliográfico del
ISBN (Bibliographical Bulletin of the ISBN).
In order to consolidate the collection and offer our services to readers, and at the same time
preserve our heritage, a policy of replicating on microfiches the most demanded or
deteriorated titles has been implemented. There are policies, which also support the
preservation of published material not allowing its use or limiting it to researchers. This
analysis of all published works has been carried out jointly by specialists of the
Conservation and the Process Departments
f) Current state of the legal deposit.
In Cuba, the legal deposit is at its best. Decree No. 3387, established in March 1964, no
longer meets the needs of the National Library owing to technological progress and the
cultural and scientific developments achieved by the Institution. This decree did not
provide for the new information providers, therefore, a new bill that does consider these
new information providers is under consideration.
The country also needs another library as a second depository library. Therefore, this new
proposal is submitted to the Culture Ministry.
The main changes are based on the number of copies because the former decree guaranteed
a deposit of five copies, and in the new one, seven are requested. Three to be kept in the
Jose Martí National Library, two in the Elvira Cape Library of Santiago de Cuba, and two
in each provincial library, which will also be responsible for keeping the titles published in
its province. This would allow for greater control of all published material and copies in
different libraries, and would guarantee at least one copy, should there be a disaster in one
of those institutions, thus helping to improve the service of provincial libraries and will
guarantee bibliographic control in each province. In this way the difficulties resulting from
the previous decree will be avoided, as the National Library did not have complete
information of all published output in the country.
g) What are the national acquisition policies, if there are any?
Do university libraries cooperate with collection development?
What are the relations between libraries of the different sectors (university, public,
research, national?
The country has developed strategic guidelines for computerizing Cuban society, with the
aim of developing the national information industry. For this purpose, a National
Information Policy has been formulated and coordinated by the Science, Technology and
Environment Ministry. In this policy there is a point which studies the role of information
in national development which states that: "The acquisition of information from abroad is
carried out independently in almost all institutions in the country and there are no
mechanisms for disclosing the availability of information throughout the country, leading
to unnecessary repeated purchases on many occasions”.
Each of the National Information Systems coordinates its own policy, which is
implemented in the different national centers, according to special fields of interest.
Collections are developed by research centers according to special interests, for example:
engineering, technology, oil, sugar cane, microelectronics, marine biology, metal-mining,
fishing, biotechnology, cybernetics, geographical, etc. The National Science and
Technology Library guides and controls the acquisition of serialized publications. The
Information Bureau has been established and is responsible for the “Biociencias en Cuba”
directory.
The Science, Technology and Environment Ministry is in charge of directing and
controlling science and technology.
The Agriculture Ministry through AGRINFOR guides and coordinates the publication of
material related to this field in the country.
The Public Health Ministry is in charge, through the National Library of Medical Science,
of directing and guiding the National System of Medical Libraries. Purchases are
centralized and distributed according to each field of specialization.
The Higher Education Ministry, through the Central Library of La Habana University
establishes all operating methods and is in charge of the Information System that governs
university libraries through out the country; the latter make their purchases according to
their school curricula, and deans and professors request information jointly with librarians.
Cooperation for collection development is carried out within the system of University
libraries, in which the Central Library of La Habana University cooperates with the rest of
the country sending donations, duplicates and through technical advice.
The Culture Ministry, through the Jose Martí National Library, directs acquisitions to the
National System of Public Libraries, aimed at meeting the needs of more users of all levels
and ages. These collections are mainly developed in the field of Social Sciences and
Humanities. Only science and technology reference works of general interest for use by the
general public are purchased. Greater importance is attached to cultural development, both
universal and national, and reading is fostered.
The broad diversity of the subject matter covered by its collections and the different types
of services it renders, make work difficult for the librarians of this institution, who also help
to guide the user towards other specialized centers.
Regarding the relations among the different information systems, the following can pointed
out:
ü Interlibrary loans.
ü Cuban document loans from the National Library to other libraries.
ü Coordination of advice, conferences, workshops, and international events in which
information is received and experts in different systems take part.
ü Titles and the assigned numbers are sent through the Collective Catalogue.
ü The main libraries cooperate with La Habana University tutoring theses, assessing
papers submitted to obtain a diploma and assisting university professors.
ü The University participates in meetings with the public libraries system planning the
amount of graduates needed.
ü There are also scientific and cultural relations carried out by two non-governmental
entities: Asociación Cubana de Bibliotecarios (ASCUBI - Cuban Librarian Association)
and Sociedad de Información Cientifica y Técnica (SOCIT) - Scientific and
Technological Information Society). They operate according to agreements with the
entities that govern this activity, establishing closer ties among Cuban professionals and
specialized organizations such as:
International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA), Asociación de Bibliotecarios
Universitarios de Investigación e Instituciones del Caribe. (ACURIL – Research University
Librarians and Caribbean Institutions Association).
h) Has the country libraries which benefit from the legal deposit? If so, how useful
are they?
The country has 15 libraries, which benefit form the Legal Deposit protected by Decree No
265.
Said decree establishes that the Jose Martí National Library is responsible for the national
bibliographic heritage and provides the setting up of a second depositary library, the Elvira
Cape Library of Santiago de Cuba. Two copies of all material published in each province
are sent, according to law, to each Provincial Library.
These institutions are in charge of preserving, storing and disseminating national or
provincial heritage and the bibliographic means necessary for the study of our cultural roots
is guaranteed by the historic and updated information they provide. Each library renders
different services to users, among which are loans in and outside the library, photocopies,
references sent by e-mail and lending documents to create new editions on CD ROM or
facsimile editions.
Undoubtedly the Legal Deposit contributes to the formation and development of the
national bibliographic collection, and therefore it is the basis of the National Library. It is
essentially an educational and cultural institution, which preserves all material published in
a region or in the country. This guarantees the preservation of the written history of our
people, and via the National Bibliography, the dissemination of our heritage throughout the
nation and all countries of the world.
i) What is the preservation and retention policy? ¿Is it organized?
Preservation policy of the Jose Martí National Library.
The Preservation department is in charge of providing an organized service of preventive
preservation and restoration of documents and collections of traditional value stored in the
Jose Martí National Library as well as advising the System of National Public Libraries on
the preservation of local collections of traditional value.
Preventive Preservation.
1) Carry out studies and environmental and physical checks on works and deposited
material in order to come as close as possible to the parameters established for the
preservation of archive and library material in tropical countries.
2) National microfilming program:
- microfilm all Cuban documents, both those published in Cuba as well as documents of
Cuban residents abroad, which may be acquired by the institution.
-
Establish relations with other institutions in order to avoid duplicating microfilmed
materials.
- Extend the microfilming work to all the System of Public Libraries using the portable
microfilm, thus transferring provincial collections to this medium.
3) Restore books’ and documents’ life span, prioritizing unique copies.
- Consider the possibility of putting an end to document deterioration by cleaning and
protecting them.
Requirements of documents submitted to restoration:
Documents to be restored must be chosen following the established priority order:
1) Unique or irreplaceable copies in extremely poor condition and worn by handling.
2) Unique or irreplaceable copies in poor condition and worn by handling.
3) Rare and Valuable Books in poor condition.
4) Collections of deteriorated serialized publications.
j) What is the current state of the bibliographic interlibrary loan/exchange? Is there
any system in place? If not, why not? Is one necessary?
Interlibrary loans enable access to different centers. They take place via correspondence,
telephone, or e-mail, and among different information systems, university, medical or
scientific public libraries.
There is no special loan system with specific models or computer programs for this service.
In order to extend this service it would be useful to have a special system for it.
k) Which libraries are best equipped, in terms of collections and technology, to
provide an interlibrary loan system?
The following are the best libraries of the country:
1) Jose Martí National Library
2) Science and Technology National Library
3) Medical Science National Library
4) Central Library of La Habana University
5) Economy and Planning Ministry Library.
6) Agriculture Ministry AGRINFOR System
7) Literature and Linguistics Institute Library
l) Who is responsible for international interlibrary loans?
The Collective Catalogue and Interlibrary Loan group in the Jose Martí National Library is
in charge of fulfilling these requests.
Currently, payments for reproducing material for international requests are limited, it is
impossible to send original material, therefore photocopies or microfilms must be made.
The Science and Technology National Library has also offered interlibrary loans, which
were mostly, reproduced materials
m) Are there any collective catalogues? How efficient are they?
There is a Collective Catalogue of Cuban Serialized Publications in the Jose Martí National
Library, which is effective in so far as the participating entities report their acquisitions.
Currently, it is not totally efficient, because it is not yet totally automated. If this objective
plus the prompt answer of cooperating institutions is achieved, it would be more efficient.
It has been effective for our country, even with its limitations, preventing duplication of
serialized publications which are very expensive and allowing for effective and coordinated
purchases at a national level. It has also been useful for informing users about the location
of collections or a specific issue, which the institution does not have. It has also offered a
guide which, at the moment of weeding or eliminating a tittle, provides information about
who has it and whether there is interest in receiving new issues. It also allows the National
Library to learn who publishes and who does not comply with the legal deposit obligations.
n) Which libraries have effective national collections and how well do they carry out
their remit?
There are several libraries in the country with national collections, such as:
The Jose Martí National Library (BNJM) that stores all books published in the nation as
well as the most representative works of universal culture creating a comprehensive
collection designed for research. It includes, among the national and foreign documents,
collections of renowned personalities of the national culture such as: Alejo Carpentier, José
Lezama, Juan Marinello, Fernanado Ortiz, José Raventos, Fernández Retamar, Cintio
Vitier, etc.
Since 1946, the BNJM is also the depositary of the United Nations collection, which
consists of official documents, monographs and serialized publications. This collection,
more over, offers information about special agencies like the UNESCO, FAO, WHO,
OIEA, ILO, UNIDO, OMPI, etc.
The Jose Martí National Library stores different publications produced in different
information media among which we can mention posters, maps, slides, microfiches, CDROM, manuscripts, musical scores, postcards, photos, records and serialized publications.
They all make up the Cuban and foreign heritage collection.
Both the Jose Martí National Library and the System of Public Libraries are being
interconnected via electronic mail. They also have access to the Internet, which enables the
reception and provision of updated information.
This is a very complex system due to the diversity of its users and the general nature of the
subjects it covers.
Regarding technical and professional training, the Institution also performs its role
coordinating courses on this specialized field of knowledge, organizing seminars,
workshops and lectures, establishing the technical standards for this informative activity
and guiding provincial experts as to its application. It has coordinated seminars sponsored
by IFLA, such as the one on the blind and visually handicapped, with the participation of
foreign specialists.
Another objective is fulfilled by the creation of the Cuban Librarian Association (ASCUBI)
a non-governmental organization
The National Science and Technology Library, as its name indicates, specializes in
technical/scientific information of the country overseeing purchases for the collections of
all specialized centers of the Science, Technology and Environment Ministry. It supports
the centers of technical/scientific information in the country. The National Science and
Technology Library is one of the institutions which has achieved the highest development
in the application of new technologies. It has access to the INTERNET, it offers postgraduate courses through Pro Info, on scientific/information activity, both to Cubans and
foreigners. It is in charge of the Y Informatics 2000 congress held every two years. Another
of its objectives is fulfilled through the Sociedad de Información Científico Técnica
(SOCIT - Society of Scientific and Technological Information) established for training
professionals of that activity.
The National Center of Medical Science directs all the information activity on medicine,
controls this work and is in charge of acquisitions and distribution of the publications it
receives. Owing to the size of the system and the development attained in Cuba in this field,
it has had to train specialists to provide this specialized service and, therefore, it has
established a school for this purpose.
The Central Library of La Habana University also has a general collection and is in charge
of orientating information activity for all university libraries throughout the country.
The collections of each university make up the reservoir in accordance with the subjects
taught and the professors and deans of each field of specialization orientate collection
development. These libraries also have state-of-the-art equipment and technology and
although they are not enough they are being extended according to the possibilities of each
province or territory.
We consider that the biggest drawback for the fulfillment of its objectives is the updating of
serialized publications and of some subjects, which are somewhat outdated owing to the
economic difficulties all the information institutions of the country are undergoing. The
possibility of using the INTERNET in the majority of entities, universities and institutions
has opened the doors to securing updated information useful for all the information system.
Lic. Isora Rodríguez Rojas.
Chief of Selection and Acquisition Department
Jose Martí National Library
Plaza de la Revolución, La Habana, Cuba