Slovene public libraries

The article describes the intensive development of Slovene public libraries in the last eight years. Unlike in most of the other European countries where the automation process and development of information technology run gradually, Slovene public libraries made this step in a scant few years by joining the COBISS system. COBISS (Cooperative Online Bibliographic System) connects all types of Slovene libraries (national, university, special, school and public) via online cataloguing and uniform database access system, supports the automation of the local functions and enables access to various databases via Internet. The needs of customers and the possibilities given by a high level of technical base, including access to Internet, caused the development of many new public information services in public libraries.