The connection of the central university library and faculty libraries

Library Information System of the University of Maribor (KISUM) consists of the University of Maribor Library and 12 faculty libraries and libraries of institutions of higher education: the Technical Faculties Library (the library of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, and Faculty of Mechanical Engineering), the Faculty of Economics and Business Library, the Miklošič Library (the library of the Faculty of Education, Faculty of Arts, and Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics), the Faculty of Organizational Sciences Library, the Faculty of Law Library, the Faculty of Agriculture Library, the Faculty of Medicine Library, the Faculty for Logistics Library, the Faculty of Criminal Justice Library, and the College of Nursing Studies Library.

The libraries operate as a unified system; however, they are organizational-administrative units of the faculties. The roles of the KISUM are as follows: organizational (the libraries cooperate through the subject specialists), informative (access to information about library materials), pedagogical (unified organization of library users’ education), bibliographic (unified development and management of the bibliographies of university professors and researchers), archival storage (unified care for security and protection of the materials).

The central library‘s building is located in the close of the rector’s offices. The distances between the central library and all the faculties are approximately the same. It is located in the city centre. Other libraries are placed on the premises of each faculty. By connecting the central library, the University of Maribor Library, with faculty libraries in the areas of selecting and purchasing materials, information activities, development of the bibliographies of university professors and researchers, unified computer system,  joined user database, uniform library card which is valid in all libraries in the system, uniform standards and similar library users education programs, the Library Information System of the University of Maribor (KISUM) is getting closer to the contemporary model of a system based on a functional connection of all the libraries of the university.