Digital library with smart cards

An electronic reading room in the K.T. Dimaras Science and Technology Library at the National Research Foundation offers digital access to the public.

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of its establishment in December, the National Documentation Center (EKT) has expanded the number of work stations available to the public from 25 to 100, and is initiating the use of smart cards.

The digital library started in 1997 as part of the National Digital Research and Technology System project, funded by funds from the Third and Fourth Community Support Frameworks. EKT has paid for rights and collaboration to secure for its readers a strong collection, which includes:

* More than 12,000 journals from around the world in all disciplines, which can be searched by topic and read in full;

* 3,000 digital books and series covering a wide range of scientific fields;

* 54 international databases, electronic dictionaries and encyclopedias, searchable by topic, with citation indices;

* 27 Greek databases on science and technology;

* Digitized Greek collections (National Archive of Doctoral Dissertations, publications of the Athens Academy, documents on Greek history and culture);

* Special collections (digitized bibliographies, studies, conference papers) in sociology and information science; and

* Selected Internet sources related to science and technology.

The library also has hard copies of more than 300 current journals as well as hundreds of reference volumes.