The Digital Library of the University of West Bohemia (https://dspace.zcu.cz/) is an institutional repository of the University of West Bohemia, developed and managed by the University Library, whose primary goal is to store, preserve and provide unlimited online access to the full texts of publications by authors from the University of West Bohemia, journals and proceedings published at the University of West Bohemia and theses defended at the University of West Bohemia. The repository makes its content available in accordance with copyright and other applicable laws.

Another goal is to make the publication activities of the University of West Bohemia accessible and presentable to the academic community, students and the general public. The auto-archiving of full texts of publications in the central depository contributes to the promotion of science and research not only at UWB, but also at other universities and research institutions. The visibility of the university's publishing activities also increases the prestige of the University of West Bohemia. The digital library of the University of West Bohemia is operated in accordance with the principles of the global Open access movement, and is supported by a number of university researchers.

"Open access to information provides a solid foundation and a level playing field for science, research and innovation, and the application of these activities in practice. If you base your activities on this common foundation, you will reach much higher."
Ing. Tomáš MILDORF, Ph.D., a scientist working at the Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Applied Sciences. He publishes openly and deposits his publications in the Digital Library of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen. His publications are among the most sought after in our Digital Library.

The University of West Bohemia expressed its support for the Open Access movement by signing the Berlin Declaration on 11 November 2015.

The repository was launched in February 2012. The digital library is divided into Publications, Theses and Open Resources. The Publications section includes scientific articles, monographs, conference proceedings, journals, dissertations, and is further subdivided into individual faculties and departments. The Theses section includes all university qualification theses defended since 2012 (also divided by faculties and departments). The Open Resources section provides access to e-learning, teaching materials and popularization of science. The repository can be viewed in both Czech and English interfaces; also the contributions are not only in Czech, but also in English, German and other world languages.

The UWB Digital Library is operated in the open source system DSpace, which was developed primarily to support digital libraries of research institutions. DSpace allows not only the storage of electronic documents in various formats, but also their archiving and accessibility. It informs about newly added items and different access rights to documents can also be set.

Searching in the DSpace system (version DSpace 5) is possible through communities, subcommunities, collections, or the search query can be specified using the title, keywords or document type. In addition, by clicking on the author's name, you can view all of their contributions stored in the repository. Search is possible in basic or advanced mode, where it is possible to work with search operators (AND, OR, NOT).

For more information about the DSpace software, visit http://www.duraspace.org/ and http://www.dspace.cz/.

If you are interested in the idea of Open Access, support the OA movement by publishing your work in OA mode. The staff of the University Library will be happy to provide you with comprehensive information not only on the issue of Open Access, but also on the repository, and its possibilities for possible storage of your works.

We are continuously trying to expand and improve the digital library. We welcome your suggestions and comments. Do not hesitate to contact us at: digknih@uk.zcu.cz.