Slovak National Library Slovenská národná knižnica SNK

History and Founding

The Slovak National Library (Slovenská národná knižnica, SNK) is the national library of the Slovak Republic and its principal state cultural, informational, scientific, and educational institution for library, bibliographic, literary museum, literary archive, and biographical activities. It is located in Martin, a city in northern Slovakia with deep historical ties to Slovak national culture.

The library has institutional origins in Matica slovenská, the central Slovak cultural institution founded in 1863. The SNK became an independent institution from Matica slovenská under the Slovak Library Act No. 183/2000, which came into effect in 2000. Its founder and overseeing authority is the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic. The current Director General is Dr. Eva Augustínová.

Collections and Holdings

The SNK holds over 5 million items, including 4.9 million library items and 1.7 million archive documents, along with thousands of museum units. The collection includes approximately 1.2 million old printed books published before 1830, of which around 9,000 are from the 16th century and more than 500 are incunabula. SNK acquires over 1,600 Slovak periodicals and 540 foreign periodical titles annually through legal deposit. The Literary Museum of the SNK collects objects related to Slovak literature and documents the development of Slovak literary history. The library also operates the Slavic Museum of A. S. Pushkin in Brodzany and the historical Apponyi Library in Oponice.

Journalism and Media Research

The SNK holds an extensive collection of Slovak periodicals and newspapers through legal deposit, making it a primary repository for historical Slovenian press research. The library's large newspaper volumes and serial publications document the development of Slovak-language journalism.

Digitization

Between 2012 and 2015, the SNK completed the national Digital Library and Digital Archive (DIKDA) project, digitizing more than 2.5 million cultural objects from the Slavic conservation fund and from the Slovak National Archive.

Access

Library cards are available to Slovakian citizens aged 15 and above and to non-citizens with valid identification. Interlibrary loan services are available nationally and internationally.