Městská knihovna ve Svitavách

The beginning of public librarianship in Svitavy dates back to 1892 when Svitavy Maecenas Valentin Oswald Ottendorfer had a library built at the price of 170,000 gold coins. It owed 22,000 volumes and was the most advanced German library in Moravia. The library also had a reading-room and a large hall where lectures and concerts were held. Even the first Czechoslovak president T.G.Masaryk paid visit to Ottendorfer's library in 1929.

After II World War Nazi literature was shelved out of service and German books were handed over to the District Archives in Svitavy. The library was mainly supplied with Czech works. Political situation in Czechoslovakia influenced the working of the library. The list of forbidden authors was changing and their works were excluded.

In 1969 the extension of the museum building was accomplished and the library was moved to the ground floor of that building. In the seventies the centring system started to be called into existence. By 1st January 1982 the centralization of all libraries in the district of Svitavy was finished.

In 1990 the library gained new space for the children department, next year the lending-room for adults was extended by one room of an origin book store.

At the beginning of 1991 two computers were bought and during the following four years all documents of the libary were processed. At present the total amount is about 78,000 items. Step by step all librarian activities have been computerized.

In 1997, the library was connected to the Internet and information about all its entries was made accessible in the on-line cataloque. In 2001 a new section of nonfiction was opened within the adult readers' department.

Grants from the Czech Ministry of Culture enabled us to intriduce new services such as lending of sound books to the blind and visually disabled and free Internet access for these nadicapped readers. Recently we have also had our computer network improved and the speed of the Internet connection increased.

On January 1st, 2003, after dissolving of the District Board, the founder of the library was changed and it became a non-profit-making organization of the town with the name of the Municipal Library in Svitavy.