2005 Press Releases
University Library in Bratislava Will Host "InfoUSA" Center
Bratislava, January 19, 2005
Joint press release
On January 19, 2005, Barbara Zigli, Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Bratislava, and PhDr. Tibor Trgiňa, General Director of the University Library in Bratislava signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish an American information and cultural center called "InfoUSA Bratislava" within the library.
The mission of the center will be to promote mutual understanding between the United States and the Slovak Republic by providing information about the U.S. and serving as a focal point for American cultural and information programs. The proposed timeframe for opening InfoUSA-Bratislava to the public is late spring this year.
InfoUSA is the result of cooperation between the University Library and the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy in Bratislava.
The U.S. Embassy will provide a core collection of information materials valued at $15,000, consisting of the latest books, CD ROMs, and DVDs on topics including US history, political science, economy, philosophy, literature, art, as well as English teaching materials. The Embassy will also provide multimedia equipment for the center valued at $9,000.
The University Library will provide space as well as a librarian fluent in both English and Slovak languages, to assist visitors in using the center's resources.
The new InfoUSA center will expand and update the American Studies Room, which existed in the University Library from 1996 until the Library reconstruction in 2002. In addition to the new materials and equipment, the InfoUSA center will include the 2,700 books on U.S. history, political science, economics, philosophy, literature and art that the U.S. Embassy donated previously, as well as the ProQuest CD ROM American Studies database.
Access to InfoUSA-Bratislava for library patrons will be free of charge and open to all in accordance with the University Library organizational rules.
This will be the second such InfoUSA center in Slovakia; the first was opened in March, 2004, in the State Scientific Library in Kosice.
For more information visit: http://www.ulib.sk or http://www.usembassy.sk