Collection characteristic
National Archival Collection is an assemblage of materials of Czech and foreign provenance dating from 1901 until present. It has a strictly archival characteristic and works held there are not readily available to the public.
Legal deposit copies are a main source for obtaining publications produced domestically. What represents a legal deposit copy is stated in the legislation of a given period. Other sources are purchases and gifts. Materials are acquired in all subjects and formats in order to achieve a relatively full coverage of contemporary and retrospective domestic production. Within the collection there is an extensive body of uncommonly acquired materials, so called samizdat, produced from 1969 to 1989.
Foreign production
is collected through purchases, international book exchange and gifts. The acquisition is concentrated on Patriotica, i.e. foreign Bohemica, with respect to authorship (Czech authors published abroad), language (materials published for domestic market elsewhere) and subject matter (materials on all aspects of life, history, culture, etc., here published abroad). As to the format, the basis of the collection is printed material (books, serials, etc.). We do not collect non-print documents that would later require reformatting (electronic and audio-visual resources).