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could also be managers in local enlightenment committees.
Initially, insufficient education and management skills hindered
librarians in their efforts to establish a library, which often
resulted in lack of initiative and ineffectiveness.
Therefore, the short-term or the three-week librarian training
courses were organized. The development of libraries, the choice
of books, planned (not random) restocking of shelves rested with
librarians. They were also responsible for keeping statistical
records of:
inventory of a number of volumes at the beginning and the
end of the calendar year by making reference to the local
inventory and in smaller municipalities to the accession
register;
a number of lent volumes in individual groups according to
entries in statistics diary after every hour of lending
(according to the manual for public libraries in Slovakia);
a number of borrowers per year, according to a number of
issued library cards (Kraus, 1932, p. 131).
A public librarian was in charge of all sections of the library –
i.e. the circulation section, the magazine reading room and the
reference library. The reading rooms also served as places for
organizing exhibitions, lectures, art soirees, talks, puppet shows,
and similar cultural enlightenment events. It was expected that
libraries would be involved in public enlightenment.
Articles 2 and 3 of the Governmental Decree No.607/19
addressed the content un/suitability of the books kept in public
libraries. In accordance with the regulation No. 65.273 issued by
the Ministry of Education and National Enlightenment on 21
September 1933, the Ministry published lists of suitable books.
The Slovak Enlightenment Association [Osvetový zväz pre
Slovensko] was responsible for compiling the lists in Slovakia.
In accordance with Article 2 of the Decree, every communal
library should contain works of national importance, and
valuable informative and entertaining literature.
Article 3 of the Decree specified the kind of books that were not
permitted in public libraries: books of no artistic value or
creations of indecent nature that is: chronicles, crime fictions
that provoke reader’s imagination, defamatory books, books that
belittle the whole social class or books that compromise the
integrity of the Czechoslovak state. For this purpose, a special
Committee for Selection of Good Reading for Public Libraries
was established with an aim to compile lists of suitable books.
According to Article 8 of the Decree, the responsibility for
adhering to suitable selection of books (or for their removal)
rested with librarians and library boards.
The above-mentioned Decree was complemented with a Decree
No.142.153 issued by the Ministry of Education and National
Enlightenment on 11 December 1933, which banned books of
German provenience in community libraries dissemination of
which had previously been banned by regional courts. The
Decree also ordered the removal of foreign books whose
transport to Slovakia had already been banned.
Prohibited was also dissemination of all printed material that had
already been published or was in print in Hungary after 28
October 1918, including publications whose date of origin was
impossible to determine. Distribution of Austrian-Hungarian
political periodicals was also prohibited based on their
ideological content, which was deemed defective in terms of
Czechoslovak law and order.
The Act on Public Libraries also contained specifications about
vocational training of a librarian. The Act required a librarian to
have completed education in a public town school followed by a
three-week librarian course before passing a state required exam
(in municipalities with 2 000 – 10 000 residents) or to have
completed secondary education and one-year education in school
for librarians (Repčák, 1935, p. 98).
Table 2: Public communal libraries as of 31 December 1935
municipalities
/number of
Municipalities in Slovakia
up to
2 000
residents
2 001 to
5 000
residents
5 001 to 10
000
residents
over
10 000
residents
libraries
2 807
152
32
12
volumes
388 071
89 772
5 4207
133 370
borrowers
112 785
19 257
7 154
8 341
books lent
721 255
206 708
118 988
204 197
Source: Kraus, 1936, p. 69
The implementation of the Library Act in Slovakia proved
difficult. Some municipality officials were reluctant to endorse
the Act and establish a public library claiming that the people
did not read books anyway, or that nobody could possibly make
them read. Other excuses included library maintenance costs and
expensive purchase of books, a low number of library boards in
which participation was not salaried, the required two-year term
of library board service or lack of their activities (Lukáč, Mayer,
Lenhardtová, 2018, pp. 57-66).
Another legislative measure concerning popular education was
the Act No.80/1920 on Communal Commemorative Books.
Under this Act, initially applied only in Czech lands, every
municipality was required to issue and financially support the
keeping of a municipal commemorative book. The books were to
be issued by the end of 1922. For Slovakia and Carpathian
Ruthenia, the deadline was extended to 1 July 1933. The books
would preserve local history for future generations. The
chronicle was to be publicly displayed once in three years for the
duration of 14 days and every citizen had a right to propose
appropriate amendments. Chroniclers were offered short courses
and they had to collaborate with the Historical Committee,
which approved all texts that were going to be written in the
chronicle.
The Act No.75/1920 adopted on 29 January 1920 is often
considered the fourth popular education act, which addressed
establishment of the Economic Volksschule. These schools
provided young people in villages with an opportunity to
broaden their general knowledge after the completion of their
compulsory primary education and to be trained for practical life
by providing education in economics and agriculture, or prepare
them for a study at lower vocational agricultural schools. It was
a two-year study with a possibility to open up a third year
focused on special economic discipline. This school was
compulsory for those who did not attend any other schools after
completing their compulsory education at the age of 14.
Regulation No. 9581 on Classrooms Provision for the Purpose
of Popular Education was issued by the Ministry of Education
and National Enlightenment on 6 March 1919. All teachers were
obliged to participate in organization of popular education
courses without expecting to be paid and had to work at least
four hours a week as organizers, tutors, or librarians. Many of
the teachers had already been appointed to enlightenment boards
or committees. They were taught to do that in the last year of
their teacher’s training when they were given lectures on:
a)
popular education – importance of popular education,
reading of laws and regulations on enlightenment,
organization and forms of popular education, a teacher’s
role in popular education;
b)
public librarianship – the Act on Public Communal
Libraries, library administration, selection and purchase of
books, organization of a library.
3 Congresses of popular educators
The first congress of popular educators in Slovakia was held
between 3 and 6 June 1922 in Prešov, a town with rich cultural
and school tradition. Minister of Education and National
Enlightenment Vavro Šrobár, representing the Šariš region,
proposed Prešov as a suitable location for the congress. On the
agenda was:
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