European Foundation for Slavic Script and Culture

Nina Koshutova, a student at Matej Bel University, talks about her university library while doing an internship at the European Slavic Literature and Culture Foundation.

Books are an important part of everyone's life. Whether we want them or not, books surround us and will surround us for the rest of our lives. We are exposed to books from the time we are born, when our parents read us children's books before bedtime, to the time when we just

want to read some current events from around the world. Today's world offers us many new opportunities to read books. It is no longer just paper books, but e-books are becoming more and more popular. But in our opinion, nothing compares to the feeling of a new fragrant book

in your hand.

Libraries evoke in us the feeling of a place where we can go to relax and read a book we like in peace. Our university is no exception, with the University Library of Matej Bel University. When the phrase university library is said, many of us think of a place where there are only books for studying. But this is not the case. The University Library of Matej Bel University not only offers a variety of books to help students in their studies, but also offers many events related to the annual celebrations of various personalities, holidays and events. Our university will soon (i.e. on 8 April 2025) host an event called University Literature Night, where original and translated literary works for adults will be presented and read.

But not just to talk about the Library's events, it also houses several books. These are not only scholarly books to help us in our studies, but we can also find fiction from the most famous to the lesser-known writers from different parts of the world. The library does not only offer fiction texts, but also scholarly ones, in the form of books or professional journals. Dictionaries are also a very important part of the library, including translation, synonymy, phraseology and etymology dictionaries. It is dictionaries that are helpful in the study of languages, which means that the Library contains not only English dictionaries, but dictionaries of all the languages taught at our university. In addition to the main university library, our university also has departmental libraries. In particular, the Library of the Department of Slavic Languages contains a lot of

prose and poetry of the most famous Russian and Polish authors, which later serve as an aid in studying or in writing professional seminar or thesis papers. The Library of the Department of Slavic Languages also includes dictionaries of all languages belonging to the Slavic language

group.

As we have already outlined, mankind will forever surround itself with books, whether fiction for children or adults, or professional or leisure articles and books. Even if fewer books are being read these days, there will always be people who want to relax in libraries and recharge their batteries for the chaotic days ahead. Because books, along with libraries, are an oasis of peace for the mind and soul.

Nina Kosutova, march 2025.