8 June is Primož Trubar Day, a national non-bank holiday commemorating the most important person in developing the foundations for the Slovenian nation and the central person of Protestantism in Slovenia. At that time the people of Slovenia got the first book in their language: Catechismus (1550), in which Trubar for the first time in history used the name Slovenians and established the Slovenian language as a standard language. The holiday has been celebrated since 2010 on the initiative of the Trieste-based Slovenian author Boris Pahor.
Book production in Slovenia has been declining since 2009
According to the National and University Library (NUK), after 2009 – when most book titles were issued (6,953) – the production of printed books and brochures has been declining. According to provisional data, in 2016 only 4,930 book titles were issued, which is almost 30% less than seven years ago.
For the past seven years we analysed the data on the content of printed books and brochures according to the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC). As in the previous years, most books issued in 2016 were of Slovenian literature (13.2%), follwed by comic books and picture books, English literature, medical science, mathematics and natural sciences, education, philosophy and psychology, philology, linguistics and languages, religion and theology, archaeology and history, etc.
Among all titles of books and brochures literature of various nations accounted for between just over 22% in 2010 and just over 27% in 2016: in all these years Slovenian literature accounted for about half of works of literature, followed by English literature and literature of 13 other nations.
The most common print run is 101–300 copies
NUK data on print runs of books and brochures for 2016 show that the most common number of copies of individual books and brochures was between 101 and 300 (about a fifth). The second most common print run was 501–1,000 copies, followed by 301–500 copies. Last year 17 books were issued in over 10,000 copies, while seven years ago there were 67 such books.
On average five library visits per person per year
In 2016 there were 273 general libraries and 13 bookmobiles (mobile libraries) in Slovenia; in 1991 there were 225 general libraries and 7 bookmobiles. Visits to general libraries exceeded 9 million in 2006. In 2012, over 10 million visits were recorded by NUK (the Slovene National and University Library). General libraries have almost half a million members (473,055 in 2016). Library membership does not change much, but the number of visits per member is increasing: in 1991 each member visited the library on average 13 times and in 2016 more than 21 times.
Tina Črnigoj Marc, Ida Repovž Grabnar, Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
