Oton Župančič Library Ljubljana

The Oton Župančič Library Ljubljana was formed twenty years ago with the merger of the Town (formerly Šentjakob), Workers' and Pioneer's libraries. We are of course giving the award to other units of the institution as well. The Bibliobus travelling library has operated for almost thirty years, supplying places in the more isolated areas around Ljubljana; six years ago they opened the Poljane Library; and last year, the Railway Station unit was opened in the underpass of the railway station. The staff of Oton Župančič Library are fully aware that they work for an important cultural and learning centre, through which pass every day people of all ages, with different levels of education, married and unmarried and in many different professions, and so each unit has expanded its activities to other areas: the Pioneer Library houses the Reading Exchange and the Centre for Youth Literature, while the Town Library hosts the Comics Library and a Youth Centre, where school pupils and youths can find a place for learning and help with learning. The Workers' Library hosts the Knowledge Exchange and the Labour Exchange. It also hosts the Russian corner, where visitors can browse Russian periodicals, borrow Russian literature or watch Russian films. The independent learning centre in Poljane and the Railway Station unit both have materials and learning aids for learning foreign languages and computing. It is not difficult to imagine the influence of such an institution on its environment, not least because it has 30,000 members. It's probably best not to think about where they might spend at least part of their time, if there were no books, pleasant areas, a rich range of services or imaginative librarians available ...