The Slovak National Library

Abstract

The origins of the Slovak National Library lie in the programme for national awakening elaborated by Enlightenment figures, such as Anton Bernolák, at the turn of the eighteenth to the nineteenth century. The article describes the private libraries that eventually, under the care of the cultural institution Matica slovenská, came to form the basis of the national library's collections. The national library itself, although it existed in a non-governmental form from 1941 to 1953 and its functions were then subsumed within Matica slovenská, finally was established as an autonomous state institution in 2000. The library has assumed a leadership role in relation to Slovakia's library network and has prepared for the Government the Strategy for Development of Slovak Librarianship for 2007–13. Having obtained extensive extra-budgetary funding it is driving a number of projects aimed at building and supporting the Information Society in Slovakia.