The unique Fishing library of the Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice has a long and interesting history. It was founded together with the Research Institute of Fish Culture and Hydrobiology (RIFCH) in 1921 and although the formation of the library dates back to 1920s, there are materials from much older research institutions operating in the territory of Bohemia and Moravia since the middle of the 19th century. There are mainly prints and other materials dealing with the topic of fisheries and other related fields (ichthyology, hydrobiology,…).
Rudolf Berka, very important personality of the RIFCH and of the Vodňany town, significantly affected the development of the library. In 1959, he founded and managed the Documentation centre, which were publishing the documentation newsletter for researchers, processing study reports and translations, sourcing qualified research, and coordinating nationwide acquisition of the professional and scientific fishing literature. Mr. Berka is the author of many professional fishing publications, the founder and a redactor of the quarterly Bulletin of the RIFCH (1965 – 1985), in which are being published the results of fisheries research till today. His ability to sort information and his great language skills significantly helped to transform the library into its present form.
The year 2002 and the large floods in August represented very important milestone in the library´s history. The library suffered from considerable damage, but the entire library collection, with the exception of 1 500 library units, has been saved. Subsequently in 2009 the library became a part of the Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters USB, which was established by merging of the Research Institute of Fish Culture and Hydrobiology and the Department of Fisheries of the Faculty of Agriculture USB (today it´s the Institute of aquaculture of the FFPW USB). Recent past years were also very important - thanks to the CENAKVA project, the faculty could completely reconstruct its premises in Vodňany and provide to this nationwide unique library an appropriate facility.
From 1st January 2012 the fishing library has become a branch of the Academic library of the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice and it manages more than 17 thousand registred library units from the field of fisheries, hydrobiology, ichthyology, aquaculture and related sciences. The important parts of the library fund are professional Czech and foreign periodicals in printed and electronic form. Number of titles is unique in the Czech Republic and the coherence of the collections is also valuable (e.g.: the magazines Aquaculture or Rybníkářství have been subscribed for more than 60 years). It´s worth mentioning the library complex “Balon´s library” donated by the Czechoslovakian-born ichthyologist Prof. Eugen Balon (1930 – 2013), who was working in Canada. The “Absolon´s library” is also a historical and valuable collection containing books from the inheritance of the archaeologist Prof. Karel Absolon (1877 – 1960) and the “Prague and Ostrava library”, which both became parts of the fund of the RIFCH library from originally detached offices of the RIFCH.
The library fund of the FFPW USB is available to professional and layman public in weekdays. You can find office hours, service information and other actual information here.
Contact person: PhDr. Vladimíra Bendová, +420 387 774 735, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
State of the library after the floods, 2002 - 2003
The office of the librarian and the study place
Current state of the Fishing library of the FFPW USB in Vodňany
Resources:
- ŽÁK, David Jan a kol. Příběh k devadesátinám Výzkumného ústavu rybářského a hydrobiologického: 1921-2011. Vyd. 1. Vodňany: Jihočeská univerzita v Českých Budějovicích, Fakulta rybářství a ochrany vod, Jihočeské výzkumné centrum akvakultury a biodiverzity hydrocenóz, 2011. 101 s. (některé složené). ISBN 978-80-87437-13-1.
- Knihovna má nyní k dispozici téměř třicet tisíc svazků. Českobudějovické listy, 2003, 12(276), s. 1.
- Osobnosti: Berka, Rudolf. In: Infocentrum Vodňany [online]. Vodňany, c2001-2013 [cit. 2013-11-26]. Dostupné z: http://www.infocentrumvodnany.cz/infocentrum/osobnosti/53-autor-rudolf-berka
- www.infocentrumvodnany.cz
Written by Klára Nachlingerová
