State Scientific Library in Prešov

The State Scientific Library in Presov (SSL) is part of the library system of the Slovak Republic, which is part of state information system. The SSL is part of a network of five research libraries in Slovakia and it specialises in humanities and social sciences.The library fund of SSL was for decades built by purchasing, institutional and personal donations and mandatory deposit copies. Nowadays the SSL has in their collection more than 500 000 documents. Every year it subscribes to more than 1,000 periodic documents. As part of its mission to provide access to professional informations. The library also builds a special library funds such as audio and video tapes, maps, multimedia documents on CD and DVD, gradually purchasing electronic information sources in the form of offline documents on CD and DVD or in form of online access to external electronic information sources.

A wide variety of library and information services includes basic borrowing services, also special services such as inter- library borrowing of titles or international borrowing of titles, a circulating borrowing service of foreign periodicals, reference services, copying, scanning etc. The Public can use the reading room, universal study room, study room focused on periodicals, database study room which is providing online and offline access to a collection of special documents, study room of special documents, slavic study room and study room of old prints.

In connection to national project, which is financed from EU funds for Development, SRL participates together with Slovak National Library and 10 other research, academic and specified libraries on developing an information network – by information-science centers, which will support development of small and middle sized businesses in Slovakia, so Slovakia can improve its ability to compete in Europe.

Bibliographic activities of SSL are concentrated around processing regional and pedagogic anthologies from Slavic and Ruthenian and Ukrainian literature. Research and editing activities are concentrated on the history of literature, literature and literate culture of Ukrainians in Czechoslovakia and on personnel bibliographies of influential personalities of Eastern Slovakia.

The SSL has in their funds rare prints from 16th to 19th centuries. The amount of these is estimated to be 20 000 units. These documents are step by step processed and information about them is published in the SRL catalogue.

The SSL also organises cultural and educational events including the excursions, presentations of new authors from Presov and the Presov Region. The SSL is organising expert scientific seminars, and seminars presenting the influential personalities from the region.