Library treasures

Our library also keeps items of written cultural heritage. The Local Studies Department keeps not only the local collection, but also a number of old prints and personal collections of several renowned locals. These materials are carefully protected and can only be used in our reading room.

Most of the old materials in the library collections came from the Museum Society’s and Ptuj Grammar School’s libraries, and a number of private, school, monastery and other libraries that operated in Ptuj and its surroundings before World War II. These collections were taken over by the Study Library when it was founded in 1948. The collections have been growing through procurements and donations, and are some of the most valuable such collections kept by Slovenian public libraries.

Numerous works from our collections have already been digitalized and are available in the Digital Library of Slovenia. Some of the most valuable books were also presented in the publication Dragocenosti ptujske knjižnice (Ptuj Library’s Treasures, 1988).