Ordinance No. 3 and the inventory ledger: a guide for community libraries
Every public library in Bulgaria — including chitalishte (community) libraries — keeps a set of records required by law. Here's what Ordinance No. 3 of 18.11.2014 on library service standards requires, article by article: the inventory ledger, the fund movement register, patron registration, deaccession, and stocktaking.
What is Ordinance No. 3 of 18.11.2014?
The ordinance sets library service standards for public libraries — state, municipal, chitalishte, university and others funded wholly or partly from a public budget. It defines which records every library must keep, how acquisitions and withdrawals are documented, and how libraries report to their regional methodological centers. Its appendices specify the exact format of each document — including the inventory ledger.
The inventory ledger — Appendix No. 4
The inventory ledger is the collection's core register: every acquired copy gets a unique inventory number and a row — author, title, source and price of acquisition, classification index. The format is fixed by Appendix No. 4 under Article 16(1) — a library cannot alter it at will.
The most important rule is Article 17(2): once a row is recorded, it is never erased. An error or a later change (such as a deaccession) is marked with a new entry or a note on the existing row, not by deleting it — the ledger stays a complete audit trail for its entire life.
The fund movement register
While the inventory ledger is a static register of what's owned, the fund movement register (Article 13(3)) tracks flow — what came in and what left over a given period. It has three parts: acquisitions, withdrawals, and a summary value of the collection — and it's the basis for the annual statistical reports every library files.
Patron registration and service
Articles 42–49 govern patron registration and service — library cards, loan periods, and renewal terms. This is where Ordinance No. 3 meets Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR): patrons' personal data — national ID number, ID card number — needs protection and a bounded retention period, not an indefinite register.
Deaccessioning library materials
Deaccession is the legal process by which a copy leaves the collection — worn out, lost, duplicated, or outdated in content. Articles 30–39 require a committee that determines the reason and drafts a formal act listing the specific inventory numbers. That act is what lets the corresponding rows in the inventory ledger be marked as deaccessioned — without ever being erased.
Stocktaking by the representative-sample method
Articles 40–41 set out periodic stocktaking — not a count of every single copy, but a representative-sample method: a portion of the shelves is checked against the inventory ledger and the result is extrapolated. It's a practical choice, since a full physical count of a large collection is out of reach for a one- or two-person team.
How InvLib automates all of this
Every register above has its own section in InvLib — with automatic numbering, no way to delete a recorded row (only a correction via a new entry, exactly as Article 17(2) requires), printing in the layout the ordinance requires, and mobile scanning during stocktaking. The full article-by-article compliance map lives in the app repository's public documentation: naredba-3-karta.md.
Frequently asked questions
Is Ordinance No. 3 mandatory for chitalishte libraries?
Yes. The ordinance governs public libraries in Bulgaria, which includes chitalishte libraries — regardless of collection size or patron count.
Does the inventory ledger have to be kept on paper?
The ordinance specifies the ledger's content and structure (Appendix No. 4), not its medium. Library software keeps the same data electronically and can print the ledger in the required layout whenever a paper copy is needed.
What happens when there's an error in the inventory ledger?
Article 17(2) forbids erasing a recorded entry. An error is corrected with a new row and a note, not by deleting the old one — the ledger stays a complete audit trail.
How is the reason for deaccession determined?
Deaccession (Articles 30–39) goes through a committee, which determines the reason — wear, loss, duplication, and so on — and drafts a formal act listing the specific copies before they leave the inventory ledger.