Libraries and the library system of Slovenia

This paper provides a brief introduction to the Republic of Slovenia and presents a history of its library system. Although the first “public” library opened in 1569 and the first “public” research library in 1701, the current library system originated in the twentieth century, after World War I. The library system of Slovenia today is an organized network consisting of publicly funded libraries of all types, which have been in continuous development since the end of World War II. Several academic and research libraries started using informationretrieval systems in the early 1970s, while other Slovenian libraries started using automated services during the late 1980s. Slovenian libraries have recently reached a relatively high level of development and are now focused on providing digital resources and other new services to their users. While digital libraries are active these days and several acquisition consortia are currently providing user access to numerous resources after a long period of stable and significant growth, the recent global financial crisis provoked austerity measures that are threatening the continued development of the country’s library system.published or submitted for publicatio