Encyclopedia of Romantic Nationalism in Europe

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Libraries, archives : Slovenia

  • InstitutionsSlovenian
  • Cultural Field
    Society
    Author
    Koron, Alenka
    Text

    Pre-Reformation libraries in what nowadays is Slovenia belonged to monasteries, dioceses and noblemen. The Jesuit Library (which incorporated older collections, including some Protestant material) was merged, upon the dissolution of that order, into the Ljubljana diocesan library, which in turn in 1798 became part of the main collection of the Ljubljana public reference library, established in 1744 to serve the province’s educational system. Open to the public as of 1794, the new reference library (the “Lyceum Library”) also included the holdings of some former monasteries and public-benefit societies; it was, after 1919, to become a state reference library both for the Slovene public and for the university – the present-day National and University Library (NUK, renamed in 1945).

    Over the 19th century, a network of public reference, local history, specialized, school and general public libraries developed across the Slovenian territory. The Museum Library of Local History was created between 1821 and 1826 in Ljubljana. Similar libraries were later also established alongside public museums elsewhere: Celje (1882), Ptuj (1893), etc. School libraries in towns without a lyceum were established only after 1825; before that, grammar schools had been managed mainly by Jesuits and other teaching orders, who stored educational collections in their monastic libraries. From 1849 on, all secondary schools were obliged to have a school library for teachers and students. From 1869 on, libraries were introduced to colleges of education and after that gradually introduced at elementary schools.

    A network of general public libraries developed in the late 18th century as part of an Enlightenment climate, and continued to grow during the first half of the 19th century. Reading societies, initially managed by priests at parish level, took on a secular presence between 1848 and 1850, when the national-political society Slovensko Društvo encouraged townspeople to set up their own society libraries. Other important initiatives for public libraries came from the Reading Room movement and the Catholic, liberal and socialist working societies and organizations, and the Slovenian Christian Social Association (1897).

    The collection and management of archival documents was at first entrusted to the provincial archive in Vienna, which only in the second half of the century took on the full function of a proper archive. No pre-1918 branch archives in provinces with Slovenian populations were established except for Graz (1905); provincial archives operated in association with libraries, museums and historical societies and parishes. The Ljubljana diocese appointed its first archivist in 1879.

    Word Count: 386

    Article version
    1.1.2.2/a
  • Berčič, Branko; O knjigah in knjižničarstvu: Razvojne študije in analize (Ljubljana: Filozofska fakulteta, Oddelek za bibliotekarstvo, 2000).

    Berčič, Branko; “Knjižnica”, in Voglar, Dušan; Dermastia, Alenka; Ivanič, Martin (eds.); Enciklopedija Slovenije (16 vols; Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, 1987-2002), 5 (1991): 153-158.

    Dolinar, France Martin; Knjižnice skozi stoletja (Ljubljana: Filozofska fakulteta, Oddelek za bibliotekarstvo, informacijsko znanost in knjigarstvo, 2004).

    Žontar, Jože; “Arhiv”, in Voglar, Dušan; Dermastia, Alenka; Ivanič, Martin (eds.); Enciklopedija Slovenije (16 vols; Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, 1987-2002), 1 (1987): 112-119.


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    All articles in the Encyclopedia of Romantic Nationalism in Europe edited by Joep Leerssen are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at https://www.spinnet.eu.

    © the author and SPIN. Cite as follows (or as adapted to your stylesheet of choice): Koron, Alenka, 2022. "Libraries, archives : Slovenia", Encyclopedia of Romantic Nationalism in Europe, ed. Joep Leerssen (electronic version; Amsterdam: Study Platform on Interlocking Nationalisms, https://ernie.uva.nl/), article version 1.1.2.2/a, last changed 04-04-2022, consulted 29-03-2024.