All around the City

ljubljana city library

All Around the City

“Libraries, whether my own or shared with a greater reading public, have always seemed to me pleasantly mad places, and for as long as I can remember I've been seduced by their labyrinthine logic, which suggests that reason (if not art) rules over a cacophonous arrangement of books. I feel an adventurous pleasure in losing myself among the crowded stacks, superstitiously confident that any established hierarchy of letters or numbers will lead me one day to the promised destination.�

Alberto Manguel; The Library at Night

Welcome Welcome to the Ljubljana City Library (LCL) – with more than one and a half million annual visitors and 83.000 members who annually borrow almost 5 million units of library materials - the largest public library in Slovenia.

Our whole collection that consists of nearly 1.7 million units is being borrowed more than thrice annually. Over three thousand cultural and educational events that meet our user’s needs and desires are being organized each year.

The LCL consists of 35 libraries that lend library materials, give information, organize cultural and educational events, and strive towards an ever increasing quality of service for our members as well as for all inhabitants of Ljubljana and its visitors.

The LCL with its services is here for you, dear visitors. We are at your service and wish you best possible experience in our libraries. We anxiously await your next visit.

We are easy to find, for we are:

all around the city.

Before us and with us Ljubljana is a city of culture and the book. It has a long-lasting tradition of reading-rooms and libraries: • 1866, on the initiative of Blaž Potočnik, a priest, the first reading-room in Šentvid was established – the forerunner of the Šentvid Library.

• 1901, the mayor Ivan Hribar established the City Library – a professional library of Ljubljana’s city administration that has evolved into the Slovanska Library.

• 1911, the Economic Progressive Society for the district of Šentjakob established the Library of Saint Jacob that was later renamed into the City Library and was the predecessor of the Oton Župančič Library.

Ever since, the public libraries of Ljubljana have been formed, expanding, developing and complementing each other, in accordance with the development of reading habits and community demands. On 25th March 2008 the Ljubljana City Library was established by the decision of the City Council of the City of Ljubljana, uniting the formerly independent libraries and their branches: Bežigrad Library, Oton Župančič Library, Jože Mazovec Library, Šiška Library, Prežihov Voranc Library, and Slovanska Library. The consolidated library began to operate on 1st June 2008.

The integrated Ljubljana City Library has provided to our members and visitors a simpler use of our facilities and collections as well as a common and perfected set of library services.

THE VISION OF LCL “To understand the changes and prepare paths to the services in the future is a vision by which we are committed to permanent development with an aim of becoming the most innovative Slovenian public library.”

TASKS and OPERATIONS • The LCL consists of five district libraries and 14 branch libraries including also the Slovanska Library, the Mobile Library and the Trubar Literature House.

• We also operate in thirteen branch libraries located in seven other municipalities: Brezovica, Dobrova – Polhov Gradec, Dol pri Ljubljani, Horjul, Ig, Medvode, Škofljica, Vodice and Velike Lašče.

• We promote reading culture, literacy and cultural activities.

• We exercise informal lifelong education.

• We are the central regional library of the central Slovenia region and cooperate with eight independent libraries: Domžale Library, Logatec Library, France Balantič Library Kamnik, Litija Library, Grosuplje City Library, Ivan Cankar Library Vrhnika, Jože Udovič Library Cerknica and Medvode Library.

We are here for you

• Among 220 employees, mostly professional librarians and library assistants, are indispensable in our libraries. They find the requested materials, provide information and organize numerous cultural events and education courses for adults or youth.

• The Library director manages and represents the institution and is responsible for its smooth operation.

• The Development and Central Regional Library Office together with the IT Service works on the development, performing and coordinating of the tasks of the central regional library for the central Slovenia region, the integration of user services of LCL, the development of the digital library and management of the LCL information system.

• The Collection Development and Cataloguing Service selects and acquires miscellaneous materials, catalogues and classifies them and prepares them for the shelves of our libraries.

• The Public Service provides updated information to library users directly, on our web page or via social networks, takes care of user services and organizes cultural and educational events.

• The HR Office handles legal operations and personnel issues of LCL, carries out public procurements, organizes staff training and deals with issues of a safe and healthy working environment.

• The Finance and Accounting Office keeps business books and carries out payments.

• The Logistics Service supports the functioning of our libraries by maintaining library facilities and transporting library materials, inventories and staff members.

We add value

• As a public library we provide access to materials and information.

• As a center of literacy we reduce social and intellectual marginalization.

• As a center of reading culture we supply materials, and by organizing reading projects and events we encourage and educate.

• We take particular care for children and youth in the fields of reading, education and quality leisure activities.

• We take particular care for the elderly by acquiring adjusted materials and by arranging suitable events and educational courses.

• By virtual services we provide a simple use of the library.

• We provide support to information and media literacy programs.

• With our network of 35 branch libraries, we ensure uniform services throughout the city.

• We provide support for lifelong-learning processes.

• We support the development of national identity and multiculturalism.

• We operate as an intergenerational meeting place and support the exchange of experiences, opinions and skills.

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We research and create Daily, diverse events that are free of charge and available to all our visitors are being held in our libraries: literary evenings, reading groups, shows and concerts, workshops and courses.

FOR ADULTS • Books: printed, electronic and audio We are the first Slovenian library that dared to venture “beyond paper”, and offer the loan of e-books on e-ink reading devices to its members.

The e-ink reading devices are easy to use, easy to hold, pleasant to read, and enable a zoom-in – an important feature for the elderly and the visually impaired. The audio books are of benefit to those with reading difficulties as well as to those who choose to spice up a long journey by listening to a good novel.

• Movies & music Many quality and popular movies of various productions are available on DVDs and Blu-Rays. A diverse selection of CDs will suit even the most demanding of preferences.

• Reading groups and literary evenings Anyone who wishes to discuss the books is invited to attend meetings of various reading groups or literary evenings which host as guests renowned and inspiring writers.

• Reading lists Reading lists that provide assistance in finding suitable books are available in our libraries or on our web page.

• Book exhibitions of awarded Slovenian and foreign authors Materials dealing with a specific subject or author are presented at book exhibitions set up weekly or monthly for various target groups.

• The Reading City The encouragement project on quality reading among adult readers is organised every year with recommendation list of novels.

• Reading-rooms Our reading-rooms are supplied with daily, weekly and monthly press as well as with professional journals. For you we receive as many as 1.212 titles, of which 246 are in foreign languages. Newspapers and magazines may be read daily during opening hours in comfortable reading rooms.

• Study cells for reading and learning Student reading-rooms along with additional convenient collections of books are available, and for more thorough study study-cells are also available to you.

• Video corners You may spend your free time in our library by watching a movie of your own choice.

• Travelogues Listen to travelers and their interesting stories and travel with them to well-known or exotic lands.

• Professional and popular lectures The lecturers present various subjects, answer your questions and forward their experiences.

• Educational courses and workshops You may gather or upgrade your knowledge or skills in various available forms: self-study with multimedia materials, learning under supervision of tutors or by attending various guided courses, workshops and lectures.

• Concerts and theatre performances Theatre and film performances as well as concerts of established or non-established performers attract many visitors to our halls.

• Exhibitions Interesting and often very well accepted exhibitions are organized in our exhibition halls.

• Chess and social games Various social games may be played in our libraries and the knowledge of chess may be upgraded in our chess school, led by a chess master.

• Book purchasing Our bookshops offer new or second–hand books at low prices.

• Creativity Exhibit your creativity at a workshop or at an independent exhibition, organized for you on the premises of our libraries.

• Coffee or tea Warm drinks are available in our libraries while you read or chat.

• Book at home is a Home Library service and it is available to those who are physically unable to visit the library. Books and other materials are brought to the user’s home as well as carried back to the library.

• We enable the borrowing of materials in one library and their return in any other of our branch libraries. The service is payable.

PARTICULARLY PROUD OF • The Pionirska – The Centre for Youth Literature and Librarianship has its origins in the Pionirska Library that soon after its founding in 1948 became the leading institution in youth librarianship.

Our professionals in the Pionirska Library develop new librarian approaches, lead several national projects (Slovenian library-museum Mega quiz), are engaged in professional education in the field of youth literacy and librarianship (Professional Wednesdays), publish an annual Manual for reading quality youth literature and annually grant The Golden Pear, our first trade mark.

• Slovanska Library – Centre for local materials and specialized collections in Humanities provides support for research and study in humanities as well as in Slavic languages, literatures and cultures. The Slavonic Library is Ljubljana’s localhistory center that collects and distributes materials and information concerning Ljubljana, its suburbs and their inhabitants. Slovanska Library keeps a unique collection of miniature books.

• Lifelong Learning Centre Provides education to our members as well as to wider library staff and the employees of the LCL. • The Learning Exchange collects, edits and transmits the information between those who seek specific knowledge or skills and those who offer it.

• The Employment Information Service operates as an info-center for seekers of employment, students, high school pupils and pensioners. It organizes workshops and provides information about the labor market, the opportunities and ways to find employment, as well as about social care, labor rights and the rights of the unemployed.

• The Open Learning Centre offers equipped study cells, multimedia educational materials and organizes workshops in computer science, foreign languages, and other subjects.

• The Mobile Library hit the road for the first time in 1974. It supplies 47 distant places with library materials, particularly in the rural suburbs where the stationary branch library is unavailable. It visits particular destinations such as kindergartens, hospitals, institutes, residential homes for elderly and prisons. The library, operating in a bus, attracts attention and interest everywhere.

• The Trubar Literature House commenced its cultural mission in September 2010 in cooperation with the Department for Culture of the City Municipality of Ljubljana, and has since placed itself into the center of our capital as a public space dedicated to the book and literature. With the Trubar Literature House the LCL has acquired a venue where the book, literature and socially critical reflections can meet.

Growing up

As we are aware of how important it is for young people to get accustomed to the library and its facilities from an early age, the LCL leads a policy of not charging membership fees to children and the youth. Our libraries provide many reading and other activities for the proper growth and well-being of children and youth.

FOR CHILDREN and their parents we provide • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

books for the youngest and for autonomous readers cartoons, youth movies and music children magazines as well as magazines for parents comfortably arranged family spots shelves with useful literature for parents (toddler nursing, upbringing, child development and family trips) comic-books spots with excellent comics video corners: cartoons or movies of own choice theatre, puppet and movie shows as well as concerts creative and instructive workshops story time in Slovenian and in foreign languages fairytale hours with puppies quizzes and literary riddles reading lists, contests, and awards summer reading hints exciting exhibitions

ESPECIALLY PROUD OF • At fairy-tale hours experienced librarians bring tales from wonderlands closer and present heroes from the treasury of folk and authorial tales.

We spice them up with artistic creativity, music, and puppet shows.

• Cici All Ears – reading for toddlers is a reading project intended for preschool children and their parents that is organized in collaboration with Ljubljana kindergartens. Cici All Ears encourages family reading and promotes literature and libraries.

• Summer reading Take-Offs is a project of encouraging reading habits among young readers between the ages of 7 and 12. During the summer holidays the children read half an hour daily and by doing so develop their reading habits.

• Literary strolls take place in a relaxed atmosphere, offered at a stroll through the old part of Ljubljana while watching cultural monuments and visiting cultural institutions.

• Reading with Paws is a reading meeting with well-trained therapy dogs.

Children read them stories and get friends with animals. It is not intended merely for children who like dogs but also for those who fear them.

• The drawn and written riddles are offered to children on our homepage.

The youngest children draw the correct answer, while older ones write it down.

• Toy Library is a collection of toys that consists of around 2.000 pieces of toys and games for children from the age of one month onward.

Children, accompanied by their parents, can borrow and take the toys home. A large section of toys is suitable for children with physical, reading or concentration disabilities.

FOR THE YOUNG ONES • Teens Summer reading Take-Offs are young readers, teenagers between 13 and 16, who like to read during the summer holidays, and who participate in our summer reading contest.

• Robinsonade in the information jungle encourages reading, creativity and ingenuity on the internet among the youth.

• The Mega quiz is a Slovenian library-museum quiz for children that the LCL organizes each year in cooperation with libraries and museums.

• The literary contests of short stories, haiku poetry and drama writing encourage the youth to develop creativity in writing.

WEAVED ON THE WEB The LCL’s homepage provides daily information to members and visitors, recommends books and other materials, presents events and education courses, and invites you to cooperate with us within various projects.

• By clicking the online public access catalogue COBISS/OPAC check whether the requested materials are available in our libraries. Another click within My Library service and the books are ordered or reserved.

Also check within My Library, when the loan period of the borrowed materials expires, and if you wish, extend the loan period.

• mCobiss is a smart phone application that enables all that is offered by My library service and more.

• Wireless internet access on the premises of our libraries is provided for by the Libroam and Eduroam networks.

• Computer reservation in any of our libraries at any given time can be carried out by the use of the MyPC service.

• Various electronic databases with remote access are available.

We also provide interesting and entertaining subjects on our social networks accounts available on: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest.

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Looking forward We are focusing our efforts on the development of additional services in the physical and virtual environment of the Library. We are confident that LCL’s endeavours contribute to better quality of life of individuals as well as to the recognition of Ljubljana as a City of knowledge and literature.

Libraries Library

Location

Telephone

Bežigrad

Einspielerjeva ul. 1

01 308 53 00

Brezovica

Podpeška c. 2, Brezovica

01 308 58 10

Črnuče

Dunajska c. 367

01 308 53 10

Dobrova

Ul. V. Dolničarja 2, Dobrova

01 308 57 40

Frana Levstika

Stritarjeva c. 1, Velike Lašče

01 308 57 50

dr. France Škerl

Vojkova c. 87a

01 308 53 20

Fužine

Preglov trg 15

01 308 54 20

Gameljne

Srednje Gameljne 50

01 308 52 50

Glinškova ploščad

Glinškova ploščad 11a

01 308 53 30

Grba

Cesta na Brdo 63

01 308 57 80

Horjul

Slovenska c.17, Horjul

01 308 58 00

Ig

Banija 4, Ig

01 308 57 20

Jarše

Clevelandska ul. 17–19

01 308 54 40

Jožeta Mazovca

Zaloška c. 61

01 308 54 00

Nove Poljane

Povšetova ul. 37

01 308 55 40

Otona Župančiča

Kersnikova ul.2

01 308 55 00

Podpeč

Jezero 21, Preserje

01 308 57 90

Poljane

Zarnikova ul. 3

01 308 55 20

Polje

Zadobrovška c. 1

01 308 54 10

Potujoča knjižnica

postajališča

041 473 930

Prežihov Voranc

Tržaška c. 47a

01 308 57 00

Rudnik

Dolenjska c. 11

01 308 57 10

Savsko naselje

Belokranjska ul. 2

01 308 53 40

Slovanska knjižnica

Einspielerjeva ul. 1

01 308 56 00

Šentvid

Prušnikova ul. 106

01 308 52 10

Šiška

Trg komandanta Staneta 8

01 308 52 00

Škofljica

Ob pošti 29, Škofljica

01 308 57 60

Trubarjeva hiša literature

Stritarjeva ul. 7

01 308 51 30

Vodice

Škofjeloška c. 7

01 308 52 30

Zadvor

Cesta II. grupe odredov 43

01 308 54 50

Zalog

Agrokombinatska c. 2

01 308 54 30

City of Ljubljana

All Around the City Ljubljana City Library Published by Responsibility Editor Translation

Ljubljana City Library Teja Zorko, MA Veronika Rijavec Pobežin Matej Gazvoda

Language Editing

Aleš Klemen, MA

Design

Ingrid Verdnik Pal

Photography Print Circulation

Archive LCL, Domen Grögl, Nuša Osredkar, SimonKr d. o. o.

Collegium Graphicum d. o. o.

2.000 copies Ljubljana, December 2018

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