Imperial and Royal Marine Library (K. u. K. MarineBibliothek) was founded in 1802 in Venice. In 1848, the Library was first moved to Trieste and then in 1865 to Pula where it remained in operation until 1918. Under the Italian government, part of the library’s collection was taken to Italy; under the German occupation, however, the library’s collection was first moved to the present-day Bohemia and then in 1949 to Vienna.
New technology provides a possibility of capturing the information infinity. In an interesting turn of events, globalisation strengthens the desire to recognise the identities of individuals and nations. Libraries have a great responsibility in this respect and can only successfully fulfil it in association with other institutions in charge of documentary heritage.
Preserving cultural identity is equally important as preserving biodiversity. No country in the world can be regarded as culturally homogenous. Libraries are of key importance for coexistence in a multicultural environment and for the development of multicultural competence.
The article gives a short presentation of the libraries with Slovene materials on the territory within which the Slovene community in Italy is historically present. The presentation concerning school, municipal and society libraries is followed by an overview of the activities of the central library of the Slovenes in Italy – the “Narodna in študijska knjižnica” (Slovene National Library of the Studies) in Trieste.
There are 52 Austrian Libraries in 24 European countries. They offer access to library materials and information, promote the German language and organise different events: film evenings, international conferences, literary evenings.
The article describes the current situation of the Austrian library system and public libraries, especially with regard to the automation and bibliographic databases. In addition to that, it describes the history of the Slovenska študijska knjižnica (Slovene Study Library) in Klagenfurt, its importance for the Slovene national minority in Carinthia and its place in the Austrian and the Slovenian library system.
