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| www.dkd.hr | Opening of the Roland Berger Library (Pictures) |
HISTORY OF Dubrovnik LIBRARIES
The Dubrovnik libraries consist of the Grad Public Library (Narodna knjižnica Grad) and the Research Library (Znanstvena knjižnica). The Public Library has five branches in addition to the library's departments. The Research Library consists of several departments, which are located in the Skočibuha summer residence in the Boninovo neighborhood and in the old town's Caboga palace.
Until the Republic of Dubrovnik was abolished in 1808, more than 30 libraries were registered in Dubrovnik. The foundation for Dubrovnik's current libraries was laid at the end of the 19 th century, when the Dubrovnik physician Dr. Niko Lepeš donated his personal library, with its 12,000 books and documents, to the city of Dubrovnik. In the 1930s, Dubrovnik dean padre Antun Liepopili donated 5,000 books. Several old Dubrovnik families followed his example, including the Ghetaldi, Giorgi, Svilokos and Pozze families. In 1936, they convinced the municipal authorities to allow the founding of the Dubrovnik Library (Dubrovačka biblioteka). However, it wasn't until 1941 that the library was opened to the public, thanks to the work of the Dub association. The Dubrovnik Library was inaugurated in the Rector’s Palace by Ban Dr. Ivan Šubašić, in the presence of Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac, the beatified Archbishop of Zagreb, at the feast of the Presentation of Our Lord (Kandelora) on February 2, 1941.
In 1944, the Dubrovnik Library was enlarged by the addition of the former library of the Jesuit College, the Collegium Ragusinum. In 1946, the Dubrovnik Library changed its name to City Library (Gradska biblioteka). As the library's collection increased, the number of users also rose. To allow for undisturbed scientific research, the collection was initially divided in two separate departments: Research and Popular. Subsequently, the departments were moved to different locations while independent institutions were founded. In 1975, the city authorities decided to reunite the City and Research libraries into one joint institution called Dubrovnik Libraries.
GRAD PUBLIC LIBRARY
The Grad Public Library in Dubrovnik is the cultural, educational and information center for the entire region. It also serves as the central library for the Dubrovačko-neretvanska County (County of Dubrovnik and the region near the Neretva River). The Grad Public Library – the central library – contains:
- General collection
- Children and youth collection
- Study room
- Local collection
- Daily press reading room
- Acquisition and library inventory processing service
- Information service with access to all available databases, which will soon also include a music department.
The number of departments and services entirely meets the standards of public libraries in the Republic of Croatia. At the Grad Public Library, numerous promotional events, lectures, exhibitions and other events are organized to promote books and reading to adults and children.
RESEARCH LIBRARY
Today, the Research Library contains several collections :
- Special collections (manuscripts, correspondence, incunabula, old and rare books, librettos)
- Ragusina local collection
- Legal deposit
- General book department
- Periodicals
- Reading room with reference collection
- (Book)bindery
- Multimedia collection (audio-visual, graphics, etc.)
- CIP office (CIP = cataloging in publication)
The most important collections, such as incunabula, manuscripts, correspondence and Ragusina, are kept in the baroque palace, which once belonged to the Caboga family, an aristocratic Dubrovnik family.
Other collections (almost 400,000 printed books, periodicals, audiovisual materials, ephemera, maps) are kept in the summer residence of Skočibuha at Boninovo, outside the city walls. The Skočibuha summer residence (consisting of the palace, chapel, manor house and garden) was built at the beginning of the 16 th century in renaissance style. The building suffered great damage from the 1979 earthquake and during the war in 1992.
