News

Students, doctoral students and employees of universities from the Association of Lublin Universities (Lublin University of Technology, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, University of Life Sciences, Medical University) as well as the John Paul II Catholic University can use the Virtual Library Card. The new initiative was announced at a press conference held on October 16, 2023 at Lublin University of Technology.

Rectors unanimously emphasize that the Virtual Library Card is a huge step towards facilitating access to knowledge and scientific resources for the academic community.

Prof. Zbigniew Pater, rector of Lublin University of Technology, notes that ongoing digitalization forces changes at universities. – One of the visible effects of this process is the introduction of the Virtual Library Card, which brings a new quality. After about half a year of testing, we launch the application. This initiative showed that we cooperate wonderfully - emphasizes the rector.

Prof. Radosław Dobrowolski, rector of the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, also talks about the cooperation within the Association of Lublin Universities, which has been ongoing for three years. – Cooperation between the partner universities is developing excellently. We observe that each year brings new opportunities and ideas, which we try to gradually implement. This is a perfect example of what cooperation should look like at the level of universities operating in one city - emphasizes the rector.

This is what Prof. Wojciech Załuska, rector of the Medical University of Lublin, says about the effects of cooperation: – We are witnessing a real breakthrough that brings us enormous opportunities. Our potential is significant and we are actively working on its integration and exploitation. The introduction of the Virtual Library Card allows you to use professional literature to a much wider extent than before.

As noted by Prof. Bartosz Sołowiej, Vice-Rector for Science and International Cooperation of the University of Life Sciences in Lublin, the initiative to introduce the Virtual Library Card is extremely beneficial for our students, employees and PhD students. – I believe that strength lies in relationships, and cooperation is the key to achieving significant results – he adds.

Sister Professor Beata Zarzycka, Vice-Rector for Science and Human Resources of the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, draws attention to the importance of the university library, which is the oldest in the region: – We are happy to be able to make our library resources available to a wider group of readers. But it is also important that our scientists and students will be able to use the book collections of other Lublin universities. Professor Zarzycka emphasizes that the Virtual Library Card is another step towards development and achieving new records. – This is another element that sustains our wave of growth – emphasizes the vice-rector.

An application was created to support the Virtual Library Card. It is an online database hosted on the servers of Lublin University of Technology, thanks to which library employees can contact each other and have current information, including: whether the user has an active status and whether he or she is overdue in returning an item to one of the libraries. The author of the application is Łukasz Litwiniuk, an employee of Lublin University of Technology. – We had tested the application for over half a year, then we conducted trainings for employees of each library on how to use the program – says Litwiniuk.

Dr. Katarzyna Weinper, director of the Scientific and Technical Information Center of LUT, explains how you can access this service: – Users who want to use the VLC, must contact their home library. The condition for registering in the application is to have a current account in this library. This means that only the parent library creates and deletes user accounts. They are valid until October 31 of a given academic year. After acquiring the rights, the user can visit the chosen library. There, the librarian verifies permissions. Detailed lending rules are specified in the regulations of individual libraries.

What kind of document identifies the user in the system? Student ID, Electronic Student ID, Doctoral Student ID, Electronic Doctoral Student ID, employment certificate issued by the relevant university unit, ID card or Electronic Employee ID.

As the director points out, registration in the system is free of charge.

The rectors emphasize the contribution and enormous effort of the employees of the five universities in launching the Virtual Library Card. – We would like to thank all people involved in this project. We would like to express our special thanks to Mr. Łukasz Litwiniuk from Lublin University of Technology. Thanks to his work, we can now enjoy the benefits of the Virtual Library Card.