Public Library
PUBLIC LIBRARY "STEVAN SREMAC" NIŠ
Director: Nebojša Vasić
Address: Borivoja Gojkovića 9, 18000 Niš, Serbia
Phone: +381-18/511-403, 511-405; Fax: +381-18/250-188, 511-410
Е-mail: n.vasic09@yahoo.com
Website: www.nbss.rs
Short History
The library was established in 1879. It was then that a group of the
Grammar School professors founded a library and a reading room within
the school which was used not only by the students, but by the citizens
of Niš as well. According to the report of Stevan Sremac, a professor
of the Grammar School and a bookkeeper in the library, in the following
year, 1880 the library had 107 members and its collection comprised 45
donated books and 22 domestic and foreign journals and magazines. On
May 13 1894, Bishop of Niš, Jeronim Jovanović, willed his house and
2,000 mainly religious books to the library. Stevan Sremac also willed
his 770 books to the library. They were included in the fund in 1908.
In 1915, 15000 books were taken away by the Bulgarians, and only 1,000
of them were given back in 1924. By 1941, the collection of the library
was renewed with the help of a volunteering librarian and the director
of the Grammar School himself. In 1941 5,000 books were burnt by the
Germans, and the rest of the fund was lost. The collection was renewed
by a donation announced on November 11 1944, but in 1948 a great flood
destroyed it again. Despite losses, the library has grown steadily ever
since, enlarging its collection, improving its financial support and
the staff, extending its range of services, and thus it has become one
of the most prominent subjects in the cultural life of the town.
Status of the Library
The library is an independent library center of Niš County.
Divisions and Services
The is divided into two sectors: a library sector and a maintenance sector.
The library sector includes the following divisions:
- Purchase and cataloging division
- Scientific-book division
- Lending division
- Children's library
- Periodicals
- Division for local and specific collections
- Basic service division
- Literary and cultural board
The maintenance sector comprises all the accompanying services, including a bookbinding workshop and a screen printing workshop.
Library space
The library occupies an area of 1,200 m, mostly not purposefully built, and a reading room with 185 seats.
Library staff
The stuff of the library numbers 54 people: 19 with high education, 9 with higher education, 20 with intermediate vocational training, 2 trained craftsmen, 1 craftsman and 3 elementary educated workers. 44 of them are directly involved in the library service.
Funds
- Belletristic literature fund: partially free access, 114 , 427 books.
- Scientific literature fund: no free access, 38,468 books and 5,669 foreign books.
- Children's literature fund: free access, 63,029 books and 4 children's magazines.
- Periodicals: a reading room with 16 seats, with old and rare periodicals separately held; 44,130 volumes of journals and magazines; 1,305 volumes of annually classified newspapers.
- Local book fund: 2,760 books and 363 old and rare books. The fund collects and catalogs periodicals, cartographic publications, offprints, graphics, manuscripts, audio and visual materials, posters, leaflets, invitation cards, prospects, programs of cultural events, propaganda materials and other minor library units.
- Legacies: the legacy of Niš Bishop, Jeronim, from 1894 with his 2,000 books and his house with a lot; the legacy of Stevan Sremac with his 770 books and his study.
- Special collections: referent collections, collections of graphics, special editions of Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts and Serbian Literary Co-operative and the Old and Rare Collections (which comprise 38 collections classified as rare, according to the catalogue of Janko Hrkalović). The complete signalist poetry of Miroljub Todorović is held as a separate collection.
Cultural Activities
In recent times the library has been one of the most important cultural centers in Niš County. It organizes at least one cultural event per week. For these events, the library has adapted three very attractive spaces: its cellar, a large terrace and its atrium. The guests of literary evenings, public sessions, and exhibitions are not only well-known authors, but also unrecognized writers, painters, caricaturists, musicians, actors and scientists. The program is realized by the editor-in-chief of the literary and cultural program and the whole library staff is involved in it. The library is also a sponsor of various cultural actions such as Sićevo Fine Arts Colony, Sićevo Literary Colony, Festival of Niš County Villages, St Sava Festival of the Schools of Niš.
Publishing
The library has already accomplished the editorial preparation for a journal, a collection of poems and a catalogue of special funds. The realization will depend on the financial support. Meanwhile the library has only been a co-editor of several collections of poems and scientific publications.
Library Network in Niš County
The library has 6 branches in local offices on the outskirts of the town with an average of 6,500 volumes and 8 periodicals. The preparation has been completed for a branch in the village of Gornji Matejevac to open. The villages such as Sićevo and Prva Kutina, helped both professionally and with books, have already opened their local libraries. 30 school libraries have been registered in the Register of Libraries so far and the registration of others is still on. The library is also closely connected with the libraries at many big companies in the town.
Specificities
Two or three times a week the activities of the library are covered by the local mass media, as planned by the library marketing and followed by the press-clipping. Some media also offer their permanent columns written by the librarians. At the end of the year, the top 30 most active readers are presented with books or honored-member cards, and once a year a party is given to the sponsors who receive letters of thanks.