Vera Levstik, a teacher and librarian, was born in Šmihel nad Mozirjem on December 3, 1890. She was the sister of Vladimir Levstik, a poet, writer, journalist, and translator. Under her leadership, the first public city library in Celje began operating in 1927. She died on August 23, 1967 in Vransko.

The beginning of the 20th century was a time when the idea of a new concept of public librarianship began to take hold, which sought to raise the level of education of the broadest sections of the population at the time with the help of books. In our country, Slovenian high school and university students were among the most active in these efforts. They joined together in societies such as the Club of Advanced Slovenian Academicians in Celje or the Celje branch of Prosvete, and founded libraries following the example of other nations of the Danubian monarchy. In October 1923, the General Slovenian Women's Society from Celje also opened its doors in the premises of the Federal Printing House
founded their own library, led by Vera Levstik, sister of the writer and translator Vladimir Levstik, who was a mathematics and physics teacher and a great lover of books. She soon realized that the small community libraries in the city were unable to meet the needs of the people, so she initiated the merger of such libraries into one large public library. A number of important Celje residents joined the initiative, and the Celje municipal council provided funds for the library in the budget and established a special curatorship to oversee the preparations for its establishment.

The public city library finally opened on March 3, 1927. It had its first premises on the ground floor of the city hall, where it remained for three years. The core of the library materials consisted of books from the library of the Celje General Slovenian Women's Society and the library of the Club of Progressive Slovenian Academics in Celje, and in the autumn, books from the reading room library, which had previously been disbanded, were also transferred to it. Vera Levstik wrote in the newspaper: "A cart full of books was driven by horses from the National House to the lobby of the city hall. When the workers stacked them on the floor in the room, I stared at whole mountains of books." In the first year of operation, more than ten thousand books were borrowed, and in the next two years more than eighteen thousand. After three years, the library already had approximately seven thousand books and, due to space constraints, had to move in the spring of 1930 to what is now Gledališki trg, where it was given premises from the City Power Plant for free use for a while. The library had two departments: fiction (with a special department for young people) and science. The books were arranged in numerical order (as they were purchased). The library was open five times a week from 6 to 8 p.m., and also on Sundays between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. The annual membership fee was five dinars at the time, and the wear fee for each book was half a dinar (students paid 50 percent of the price). The library was also open during the summer, as it was also visited by holidaymakers, who were full of them in Celje and the surrounding areas at that time.
As many as half of the library's visitors were workers, apprentices in crafts and trades, almost a quarter were young people from Celje schools and barely a quarter were Celje's intelligentsia. Farmers from surrounding villages also visited the library. Readers mostly read Slovenian fiction and fiction in German, and to a lesser extent also fiction in Serbo-Croatian and scientific and educational works. The most popular book among readers was Finžgar's novel Pod svobodnim soncem, while German books were dominated by authors of adventure genres.

Librarian Vera Levstik had ambitious plans for the library, but it suffered a particularly sad fate at the beginning of World War II, when the Nazi occupier destroyed most of its book stock and established a new public library (Volksbücherei der Stadt Cilli) with books and newspapers written mostly in German. The war and post-war revolutionary period eventually blew it away, and the collection of the remaining remnants of Slovenian books that had survived the storms of war and thus became the foundation of post-war librarianship began.
Author: Janja.Jedlovčnik
Prepared for publication by: Srečko Maček

Source used:http://www.kamra.si/…/item/javna-mestna-knjiznica-1927-1941…

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