Deposit Library Academic Council of the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia

Abstract

The paper discusses the special library of the Academic Council (later the Council of Academies) of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia (FPRY), its establishment and structure, its book collection, as well as the reasons for its rapid closure.

Immediately after the end of the Second World War, efforts were made in Yugoslavia to create unique, central Yugoslav institutions, including those in the fields of science and culture. In January 1948, the Academic Council of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia was formed at a meeting of representatives of the three Yugoslav academies at the time (Serbian Academy of Sciences, Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts, and Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts). The depository library of the Academic Council was formed in 1951, with its core collection consisting of books and periodicals in foreign languages.

The Academic Council of the FPRY was formally abolished on January 10, 1960, but on the same day, the Council of the Academies of Sciences and Arts of the FPRY was established. At the first session of the Council of the Academies of Sciences and Arts, on January 30, 1960, it was decided that the Depository Library would be closed, and the book collection would be taken over by the libraries of the three Yugoslav academies, as well as the University Library in Belgrade and the National and University Library in Zagreb.