The National Library announced a tender for new storage facilities in Hostivař

Prague - The National Library (NK) announced a tender for the expansion of the repository in Hostivař. The first phase, which will cost about 420 million crowns, will involve the construction of a new storage facility for at least 2.5 million books, primarily from the National Conservation Fund. ČTK found this information on the public procurement server. The construction should be completed by January 2012. A subsequent phase will follow. The extensions are intended to solve the library's capacity issues.
    According to plans published by the library last year during the environmental impact assessment of the construction, a new building will rise to the west of the current building, with the northern and southern facades aligned with the existing repository. There will be about a ten-meter gap between the buildings, but both will be connected by glass corridors. The project also includes parking and landscaping solutions in the surrounding area.
    In addition to expanding the storage space for books, workplaces for processing collections or for digitization will also be built in Hostivař.
    In selecting the winning bid, the library will place the most emphasis on the offered price, but the completion date will also be important. The institution's management should know the most advantageous offers by the beginning of October.
    NK anticipates that the repository will be expanded at the beginning of 2012. This will be followed by a second phase costing an additional approximately 400 million crowns, which will increase its capacity to ten million volumes. The spaces will thus be comparable to the originally planned building in Letná.
    Currently, according to NK's website, two-thirds of the library's collections, or about four million volumes, are stored in the existing repository in Hostivař. While there are currently 60 employees working on the premises, their number will increase to 180 after the expansion. The reading room's capacity will grow from 25 to 40 seats.
    The capacity of the expanded repository should suffice for 30 to 50 years. NK must store about 40,000 books and several tens of thousands of newspapers or magazines annually.
    The land in Prague's Hostivař, located between Rabakovská and Sodomkova streets, was acquired by the library in the 1990s. From 1992 to 1995, the current repository was built from a former production hall, while also leaving space for further construction on the site.
    The Hostivař repository is intended to address the library's capacity issues, which the previous leadership of NK sought to resolve by constructing a new building in Letná based on the design by architect Jan Kaplický. This project failed primarily due to political unwillingness.
    Next week, however, an audit of the property and management of NK will begin, initiated by the auditing firm KPMG, with which the Ministry of Culture signed a contract on Thursday. The results of the audit could jeopardize the position of NK's director Pavel Hazuka, said Stanislav Brunclík, the minister's secretary, to ČTK today. According to him, it is likely that a selection procedure will be announced for the position of NK's director.
    Brunclík had previously acknowledged that the commissioning of the audit at NK may be related to the costly renovation of NK in Klementinum, which replaced the originally planned new building. NK spokesperson Barbora Stýblová stated that they are prepared to cooperate with the auditors.
    An audit had already begun in the library in July, but Culture Minister Jiří Besser (TOP 09) transferred the auditors to another organization.