Help

This portal allows searching the catalogues of all participating libraries using single search box. Being registered in one or more participating libraries, it is possible to use services of these libraries via this portal.

Signing-in and overview of services according to user permission
Common features
Domestic resources
International resources
Your Account
Inspiration

Signing-in and overview of services according to user permission

Login to the portal Knihovny.cz

You can log in with an identity of any institution or service listed in Login. If you don't see your library among the first views, try searching using the button Another account.

To log in to the Knihovny.cz portal, it is always necessary to use an existing account from the participating library or service. I.e. there is no registration of new users.

Once you sign in with an identity of any participating library you can:

view your reader's account, i.e. list of loans, overview of reminders and fines or validity of registrations,
placing orders, reservations and renewing loans,
manage lists of your favorite publications, view your search history, and save search queries for future use,
access to licensed full texts subscribed by your library,
link your identity from other services or libraries involved in Knihovny.cz portal.

Once you sign in with an identity of one of the social networks or services (Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, MojeID) you can:

manage lists of your favorite publications, view your search history, and save search queries for future use,
link your identity from other services or libraries involved in Knihovny.cz portal.

How to register in the libraries involved in Knihovny.cz?

Some libraries allow various ways of online registration, remote registration or pre-registration.

You can find a link to instructions for online registration in the library's login window, or directly on the institution's website.

Privacy policy

Information on the handling of personal data on the Knihovny.cz portal can be found here.

Common features

Index tabs (above the search bar)

Domestic Resources

Collections of Czech libraries, domestic databases and bibliographies. They also include documents in other languages if they are available in Czech libraries.
Most of the documents can be physically borrowed.

International Resources

Extensive index of licensed databases, scientific information, and peer-reviewed publications.
Most of the documents are accessible on-line. Some are free but in many cases you are required to be registered in one of the participating libraries.
It also contains some documents in Czech.

Libraries Directory

Searching of basic information about libraries kept in the directory of the National Library of the Czech Republic.

Search results view

You can Sort search results:

by most relevant - default
by newest
by oldest
by author - in Domestic resources only
by title - in Domestic resources only

It is possible to set the number of records per page to Show. In International resources three display modes are available: **Title view, Brief view (přednastaveno) and Detailed view.

Tools for selected records in search results and full record

ATTENTION, by checking Select all only records on the currently displayed page are selected!

Show citation - available only in full record in Domestic resources; multiple citation styles are available; citations are generated by Citace.com service
E-mail - send e-mail with link to the record or the list of selected records
Export - download file with selected records' export in various formate
Permalink = available only in full record
Print - available only in search results
Add to favorites - save records to My account > Favorites; login is needed to perform this task
Add to Book Bag - temporarily add records to book bag until the session is terminated; login is not neccessary to perform this task
- the icon displayed next to the author's name functions as a link to more detailed information about the person (if a record from the National Authorities of the Czech Republic is available); available only in National Resources

Search tools (at the bottom of the search results list)

RSS - link to RSS feed to track new results for your search term
Send e-mail - message with link to search result for your search term
Save search - save your search term to My account > Saved searches; login is needed to perform this task

Book bag

Book bag is a tool for temporary bookmarking until the end of you session.

Book bag can be used without logging in, but its content disappears when the web browser is closed.

To preserve the book bag content for later use, log in, select records by ticking the checkbox and click Add to favorites button. Saved records can be found in My account > Favorites.

Without logging in, you can save or share the list of selected records from the book bag by sending a link to E-mail.

Domestic resources

Search in Domestic resources and Libraries directory

The search box, working similarly to Google search, is used for basic search.

searching is not case sensitive and ignores punctation and diacritics
Edgar Allan Poe
multi-word term search results prioritize search term equivalence to author names (in order name surname) and main publication titles
"Poe's Raven"
search phrase between quotation marks, i.e. Poe's Raven
Poe AND Raven
search terms containing Poe as well as Raven
Poe OR Raven
search terms containing at least one of the words Poe or Raven
Poe NOT Raven or Poe -Raven
search terms containing Poe and not containing Raven
poe AND (raven OR (life AND work))
you can use parentheses (even nested) to make advanced queries
+Poe Raven
search terms necessarily containing Poe and possibly containing Raven
R*ven
search terms with empty or random string of characters in place of * (you cannot use that in the beginning of the term)
R?ven
search terms begining with R and ending with ven with one character in place of ? (you cannot use that in the beginning of the term)
Raven~ / Raven~0.8
search terms similar to Raven (Haven, Ravel); degree of similarity is defined by setting value from 0 to 1 (default is 0.5)
"Poe Raven"~3
proximity search; search terms with at most three words between Poe and Raven (regardless of the order)
Poe Raven^8 poetry^6
preferential search where the word significanceis given by the value after ^ (a term without ^ has the lowest value)
{Po TO Pr} / [2001 TO 2003]
range search (terms begining with Po, Pp, Pq and Pr / numbers from 2001 to 2003)
If the search box is empty, by clicking on Find button, the list of all entries within the Domestic resources will be shown.

Prompt

To make search easier, a prompt is available in the search box for basic search. This offers the most relevant phrases for the term entered within three categories: titles, authors and topics. User can pick a phrase suggested by the prompt or search the term without use of any prompt.

It is necessary to note that as the portal includes records from many libraries, the same topic can be often found in the prompt more than once. For example, name Karel IV. can be suggested in a number of versions while each of these contain different records.

Advanced search in Domestic resources and Libraries directory

A form for advanced search allows users to enter a complex and complicated queries. For each word it is possible to specify the category of search.

Search boxes

User chooses the category(such as author or title) which will be searched from the drop-down list (with pre-set search In All Fields).

It is possible to Add search box and to enter additional search terms.

Logical operators from a drop-down menu Match can be applied on any search box in the group:

ALL Terms - i.e. logical operator AND
Any Terms - i.e. logical operator OR
No term - i.e. logical operator NOT

Search group

Add search group allows the user to add additional search boxes, on which another logical operator can be applied.

Therefore, for example records in which occur all terms from the first group while only selected terms from another group can be searched, just as if you were entering an expression with prentheses.

Logical operator can be applied also on search groups. There are following options in the dropdown menu Match:

All groups - i.e. logical operator AND
Any groups - i.e. logical operator OR

More options

Searching can be limited by language, country of publication, document type and an interval of years of publication. Settings for the number of results per page is also available.

To clear the form, click on the Clear.

Filters ("Narrow search") in Domestic resources

You can use filters to make search results more accurate

If you use multiple filters with checkboxes within one section (e.g. Instition) OR logical operator is applied.

In all other cases AND logical operator is applied.

Click the arrow symbol to expand hidden lists of additional filters.

Used filters are listed under the search bar. You can remove applied filters one by one by clicking the cross pictogram or all at once by using the Remove filters button.

Displaying the full record in Domestic resources

The full record shows bibliographic record of publication and the availability of copies (library units) in a particular library.

Record is available for view from each library having the publication listed in its catalogue.

It is possible to switch among records of different libraries by drop-down list Select instituion or by links in Institution tab. To see opening hours, contact or address, click on Information about library.

Tab "Holdings"

It is necessary to be a registered member of the library and signed in with your library account on Knihovny.cz portal to borrow a publication.

These are common borrowing options:

in-house only - i.e. only for study in the library
outside loan - i.e. to borrow a book home

Logged in users can use the I want to borrow link displayed in each item row in the records from their library, which can be used to:

reserve an item borrowed by some other user
order an available item to be stored at the library desk

The rules of borrowing publications in different libraries can vary widely. You can find the conditions of providing the service in the library rules on the website of your library.

Tab "E-version"

This tab offers a list of electronic versions of document in all libraries, which have this document available in digital variant.

Available documents can be read from anywhere.
Available for registred documents are available for readers from libraries involved in Works unavailable on the market (DNNT) project
Protected documents are available only on computers in the library.
Unknown availability of the document about which the information on availability is missing, is possible on the library's website.

Tab "Buy"

Finding a document in an external price comparator.

Tab "Získej service"

It allows the user to create a request for an interlibrary loan through the Získej service (the service is operated by the National Library of Technology).

Tab "Metadata"

Contains the publication record in MARC 21 format, which is relevant for librarians.

Tab "Institutions"

Allows you to switch between records from participating libraries. Unlike the Select Institution drop-down menu, it displays libraries in one simple list.

International resources

Search in International resources

The search box, working similarly to Google search, is used for basic search.

searching is not case sensitive and ignores punctation and diacritics
"Poe's Raven"
search phrase between quotation marks, i. e. Poe's Raven
Poe AND Raven
search terms containing Poe as well as Raven
Poe OR Raven
search terms containing at least one of the words Poe or Raven
Poe NOT Raven
search terms containing Poe and not containing Raven
poe AND (raven OR (life AND work))
you can use parentheses (even nested) to make advanced queries
Rave*
search terms with empty or random string of characters in place of * (truncation symbol can be used only at the end of the term; cannot be used togethser with ? or #)
R?ven
search terms begining with R and ending with ven with one character in place of ? (you cannot use that in the beginning of the term)
R#ven
search terms begining with R and ending with ven with one or zero character in place of # (you cannot use that in the beginning of the term)
Poe N3 Raven
proximity search; search terms with at most three words between Poe and Raven (regardless of the order)
Poe W3 Raven
proximity search; search terms with at most three words between Poe and Raven (in this order)
If the search box is empty, by clicking on Find button, the list of all entries within the Domestic resources will be shown.

Advanced search in International resources

Search boxes

User chooses the category (such as author or title) which will be searched from the drop-down list (with pre-set search In All Fields (without full text)).

It is possible to Add search box and enter additional search terms there.

Logical operators from a short drop-down menu can be applied on any search box in the group (except the first one). There are following options:

AND
OR
NOT

Search Modes and Expanders

When searching by author, title, topic, etc., only metadata records of documents are searched, not full texts.

If you want the full texts to be taken into account when searching, check the box Also search within the full text of the articles.

Search mode

Boolean/phrase allows you to evaluate a filled search box as an expression in quotation marks (i.e. to find an exact match) or as a logical expression (if contains AND, OR či NOT).
Find all search terms applies the operator AND to all words in the filled search box.
Find any of the search terms applies the operator OR to all words in the filled search box.
SmartText Searching allows you to search for contiguous blocks of text (such as paragraphs from articles). Applies only to the term in the first search box.

Limit to

Full Text - searches only records with full text available online
Peer Reviewed - searches only records from reviewed sources
Language - selection of the language of the searched documents

Year of Publication

Allows you to specify the time interval in which the searched documents were published.

How do I get the full text of my document?

Free resources

For freely available documents, the link to the full text is part of the record preview in the search results.

Licensed resources

For licensed resources in search results, it is necessary to get their availability for readers of libraries Knihoven.cz using the Check fulltext availability button. The availability is checked automatically in the full record, found links are displayed in the Availability tab.

Full text is available for institutional users

If you are registered in some of the listed institutions, log in to access the full text linked from the menu displayed after clicking on the institution name.
If you do not have a registration in any of the listed libraries, learn about the conditions of registration on the website of the library, which makes the given resource available to its readers.

Full text not found

Possible reasons for not finding the full text are:

Full text is licensed, and none of the participating libraries has subscribed it.
Isolated case where the full text should be accessible, but cannot be found in due to error in its bibliographic metadata.

Your Account

You can log in with an identity of any institution or service listed in Login. If you don't see your library among the first views, try searching using the button Another account.

To log in to the Knihovny.cz portal, it is always necessary to use an existing account from the participating library or service. I.e. there is no registration of new users.

Checked out items

Your current loans in connected libraries.

You can try to postpone your due date if "Renew" button is visible.

Renewing the loan is probably not possible in following cases:

You should have returned this loan.
Some other user has the book reserved.
You have already renewed your loan before and reached the limit for renewing particular book.
Your library card / registration expires soon.
You have some fine or charge to pay.

Checked out history

This section shows a list of publications, which have been borrowed by user. Not all of participating libraries support this feature on Knihovny.cz.

Orders and Reservations

Your current orders and reservations in connected libraries

The option to cancel your orders and reservations could be time limited depending on system settings of your library. Orders could be usually canceled just shortly after ordering, if even possible to do so, if at all.

If the publication you request has been borrowed by other user, you can make a reservation.

Ordering is usually used for publications stored in a library closed stack, or for putting on hold in branch library.

Fines and Charges

Přehled o pokutách a poplatcích k úhradě a výše záloh či vkladů ve všech Vašich knihovnách

Neuhrazené pokuty a poplatky jsou zobrazovány jako záporné částky.

Zálohy uložené na čtenářských kontech k budoucí úhradě poplatků se zobrazují jako kladná čísla.

Je možné, že Vaše knihovna v případě neuhrazených pokut a poplatků nepovoluje čtenářům provádět některé úkony (prodlužování výpůjček, rezervace, objednávky...)

Některé knihovny umožňují zaplacení pokut a poplatků přes portál Knihovny.cz. V tom případě se zobrazí tlačítko Zaplatit poplatky a pokuty online, které Váš přesměruje na platební bránu knihovny.

Profile

Your membership information in the connected libraries - changes are possible while visiting library in person or on the library’s website (according to the rules of particular library). Profile information cannot be changed using portal Knihovny.cz.

To link an additional library where you are registered in use the linking identities feature in the section Linked identities.

Linked identities

Link your identities from connected libraries and social networks

Click on Connect another identity button and continue by logging in with an identity of any institution or social network identity in the displayed list.

Once you attach other connected library's identity to your account, you gain access an overview of your activities in this library, and you will be able to order or reserve publications there.

You can simply disconnect your linked identities anytime using Disconnect identity button (this action is only possible if you have two or more identities connected).

It is also possible to Delete user account - this action removes all your user settings, saved searches and favorites lists.

Disconnecting an identity or deleting a portal account affects only portal Knihovny.cz - it will not cancel your registration in any library.

Linking more than one identity within one library is not possible.

SAFETY WARNING: To protect your privacy we strongly dicourage you from linking identities on public or shared computers!
We strongly recommend to link identities on your own computer. In case you really need to link your identities na publicly accessible PC, make sure that before leaving you have deleted all cookies in the browser (for this portal as well as for other institutions used for linking your identities).

Saved searches

User's recent and saved searches.

Favorites

Přehled záznamů, které jste si během své práce s portálem označili jako oblíbené.

Do oblíbených lze vkládat záznamy záznamy z výsledků vyhledávání nebo ze Schránky.

Své oblíbené záznamy si můžete ukládat do vlastních pojmenovaných seznamů, připisovat k nim poznámky (tlačítko Upravit) a Odstranit je ze seznamů hromadně nebo po jedné.

Seznamy si můžete přejmenovat a popsat pomocí tlačítka Upravit seznam a smazat tlačítkem Odstranit seznam.

Inspiration

Inspiration shelf offers the readers an interesting selection of fiction and scientific literature. Currently it includes recommendation e.g. for books, which were made into a movie or TV adaptations, publications related to current anniversary or season, lists of works of famous or rewarded authors etc. We gladly accept any recommendations for more such lists from libraries‘ employees.

There is also the hierarchical list of disciplines - each of its item refers to a list of publications related to the subject.