THE CITY LIBRARY "IVAN GORAN KOVACIC"
 

The City Library "Ivan Goran Kovacic" is the oldest cultural institution in Karlovac. It was founded during the period of the Illyrian movement, on 1 March 1838 under the name of "Ilirsko citanja drustvo" (Illyrian Reading Society). The idea of starting a public library for the citizens of Karlovac with the aim of preservation and care for Croatian language, for promotion of literacy, writing and national morale came from a group of people: Ambroz and Nikola Vranyczani, Antun Vakanovic, Aleksandar Musulin, Antun Accurti and Mavro Klobucaric. There are 180 books bearing the Illyrian emblem and dating from that period in the Native Land Section of the library (there were 300 books that made up the initial stock of the Reading Room). Since 1910 the City government took over the running of the Library and since that time it started working under the name of the City Public Library and Reading Room. In 1948 it changed the name to City Library and in 1963 it was given the name of the well known Croatian author Ivan Goran Kovacic.

From its beginnings up until present time the library operated at several different locations. The Reading Room was first situated at the so called "Tkalcevoj kuci" (Tkalcic house), and in 1845 it was moved to a house of a respectable merchant in Karlovac, Mr Mijo Kresic. In 1850 it was located at the building ofStadt Agram (1 Haulikova Street), and in 1893 it was relocated to the premises ofZorin dom, a building built by the First Croatian Singing Society "Zora". In 1952 the library got new accommodation in the building of the First Croatian Savings-bank, and in 1971 it was temporarily moved to 8 Banjavciceva Street (where up until that time the Reference and the Music sections were housed).

Ongoing housing problems created a need to come up with a long term solution and so in 1970 the City Library, in cooperation with the National and University Library, proposed a building programme that envisaged the construction of a building that would satisfy the needs of the library and the city over the next half a century. Built from a project made by an architect, Miaden Vodicka, the first phase of the new library was opened in 1976 in the New Centre part of town and it housed all the sections and services. It was the first national public library built in Croatia and in this part of Europe. The second phase of building and the finalisation of the project (with some adaptations made by architects Boris Morsan and Relja Surbat) opened during the Month of Croatian.
The Library has the following sections: Information-Lending Section, Reference Section, Home Land Section, Children's and Youth Section, Play Group Section, Music Section, Library Bus Section, Purchasing and Administration Section, Head office, The Slovenian Central Library, Bookbinding, and the dislocated sections: The Youth Library and the Library and Reading Room Svarca. Karlovac was the first city in Croatia to offer Library Bus services - in 1911 the books were transported in wooden crates, by a coach (four - wheeler) to the nearby settlements to be read.

The City Library "Ivan Goran Kovacic" is also involved in publishing. Between 2000 and 2007 we have published round 70 titles written by authors from Karlovac, as well as books that deal with Karlovac from different angles (literature, non-fiction, children's books, science books). Our motto, "Library - your home away from home", and the motto of the City "Karlovac - the city of comfortable living", are fulfilled and supplemented in this modern cultural and information centre.

Translation: Dragana Bolješić-Knežević, prof.