The present Library Law

was adopted in July 1982, therefore in the period of former Yugoslavia, in which the republics had the full competence and responsability in cultural matters.

Provisions of the Library Act

1. According to the above mentiond law, libraries could be established by the State, local communities, enterprises and agencies. The founder appoints the kind, the area of acitivity and the long-term orientation of the library, in accordance with its own interests in the field of the library activity and, of course, assures the basic conditions for the existence of the library (art. 12).

2. The managerial body of the library is the Council consisting of the representatives of the employees and of the State and the local community, respectively (art. 22).

3. The legality of the libraries' activity is supervised by the municipal agency for culture (art. 26)

4. Libraries are divided into:
   • local and regional public libraries, appointed to the education and instruction and contenting the cultural needs of the resident population respectively;
     
   • school libraries, appointed to the educational process and the needs of disciples and employees in elementary and secondary schools;
     
   • high schol and university libraries, appointed to the study, research process and art activities respectively, and the needs of students and lecturers on this level;
     
   • special libraries, appointed to the professional and research activities in particular areas of these activities;
     
   • national library, appointed to the keeping, representing and assuring the access to library materials, representing the national spiritual creativity and the coordination of the Library Information System in Slovenia (art. 8).

5. Libraries in Slovenia are acting as a uniform library information system, representing an important part of the social (general) system of information. In close connection with the documentary services of research organizations, they are included in the research information system of the Republic, too.
   The unity of the Library Information System is assured through:
   • the "parent" libraries (advisory and supervisory services)
     
   • the uniform processing of library materials
     
   • the uniform way of collecting, processing and dissemination of data and information
     
   • the uniform way of keeping the catalogues and other documentation on library materials, and common generation and use of central catalogues
     
   • the development and coordination of interlibray lending (art. 9, 10)

6. The "parent" library is developing professionalship and national organization of library activities, looking after the professional improvement of the staff in the libraries, coordinating the acquisition policy, managing the register of labraries and directing the part of library stock which is eliminated by the public libraries.

   The "parent" library is controlling, assessing and directing the professional library activities through information, acquired by libraries, and through the direct control of their activity. Libraries have to send to the "parent" library all data requested on their professional activities and enable the experts to survey their work.

   The “parent” library informs the particular library about the findings and professional deficiencies inside its activities. The library council ought to discuss such information and notify the "parent" library on its own decisions on abolition of the fixed deficiencies (art. 30-33).

   The tasks of the "parent" library inside a municipality are performed by the municipal library.

   The tasks of the "parent" library in the framework of Slovenia are performed by the national library (art. 27. 28).

   The "parent" libraries on the ethnicaly mixed territories are specialy concerned with the rational organization of library activities, appointed to the members of Italian and Hungarian minorities, respectively.

7. The National library is performing - besides the general tasks of the "parent" library - the following tasks:
   • collecting and keeping of library materials produced in the territory of Slovenia, library materials on Slovenia, Slovenians and the ethnical minorities in Slovenia, the issues of Slovenian authors abroad and other library materials from abroad printed in Slovenian (the “Slovenica”);
     
   • dissemination of Slovenian publications and information on Slovenia to important foreign libraries;
     
   • processing of all library materials, issued in Slovenia, and dissemination of respective bibliographic information to libraries and others;
     
   • compilation and publishing of the current and retrospective Slovenian national bibliography;
     
   • performing of other tasks of the national referral centre and cooperation with other referral centres;
     
   • collection, processing and dissemination of information about the library materials in Slovenia and cooperation in the international exchange of information (art. 35).

8. The Professional Library Council of the Republic of Slovenia is a common body of the Ministeries of Culture, Education and Science.

   The Professional Council is especially:

   • discussing the state and development of particular library networks and the whole library information system;
     
   • concerned about including libraries in the system of research information
     
   • discussing the state and development of the "parent" activities and proposing the network of "parent" libraries;
     
   • dealing with the unity of library activities, especially about the coordination of the acquisition policy and interlibrary lending;
     
   • discussing the state and delopment of library profession, research activity in this field and the education of the trained specialists;
     
   • proposing the normatives and standards for library activities (art. 38).

©

February 1999

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