Maribor Public Library

View of the Maribor Public Library, The Central Library, located in the Shopping Center City Maribor, 2023.

The Maribor Public Library, established in 1949, functions as the regional library for the Podravje Region. Its main founder was the Municipality of Maribor, while other municipalities were either co-founders (Duplek, Hoče-Slivnica, Miklavž na Dravskem polju, Rače-Fram, Starše) or partners (Kungota, Lovrenc na Pohorju, Pesnica, Ruše, Selnica ob Dravi, Šentilj).

The Maribor Public Library manages a network of 22 branches and a mobile library service. The library is committed to offering its users access to information, education, and culture in the broadest possible sense. The main unit and its branches comprise several departments and collections, such as a toy collection, a sheet music collection, music, and video collections, as well as audio book and large print book collections. To reach all its members, the library provides home and hospital library services to individuals unable to visit the library in person.

Events programme

Library-goers of all ages can take part in a number of events and activities organised by the library, such as literary evenings, book clubs, exhibitions, lectures, and story-telling hours. Elderly users can choose among educational courses and monthly meetings with lectures, while a lifelong learning point is also located in two of the library's units.

For a number of years now, Maribor Public Library organises an annual festival of fairy-tales and story-telling, which offers a variety of activities and performances, including an educational course in the art of story-telling. The library is open to the development of new activities and welcomes cooperation with similar institutions in Slovenia as well as abroad.