Izola library

The one and only library in Izola, called Mestna knjižnica Izola, or in Italian Biblioteca Civica di Isola, is one of these libraries where you have the feeling that you are not in the twenty – first century anymore. And it feels good. Most libraries that I have been to, seems to compete with each other about who has the newest high – technology gadgets, and at the same time, they are seemingly forgetting about the most important things in the library – books. So, let me describe this small, but awesome library, which focuses on books and not on everything else.

How to get there?

Mestna Knjižnica Izola is situated in a small coastal town, named Izola. Comparing to, for example, Koper, Izola is a very small town, but the library is not as easy to find as you might expect. The way there is marked, but the signs are very confusing. So I have decided to write very detailed directions and also include some photos of the streets, so you will be sure you are in the right place.

The most appropriate, and definitely also the easiest place to start your way to Mestna Knjižnica Izola, is the main bus station in Izola, which is situated opposite the post office, and just before the one and only roundabout in town. Well, in fact, this is not really a bus station, but everybody calls it that way. In reality, this is just a place with a few benches, a roof and a timetable that shows departures and arrivals of buses from neighbouring towns and cities.

At the corner of the bus station, there is a travel agency, called Bele Skale (the white rocks). At this point, you have to turn left to a narrow street, with a bright red coloured house on the other side of the street. Now, you have to keep walking until you come to a crossroad with traffic lights and a giant building on the other side of the street. This is the Izola theatre, and it has been closed due to a renovation for quite a few years now. Froom what I know, they ran out of money for the renovation and are waiting for donations. Judging by this, the theatre will probably never open again.

Anyway, you have to cross the street so you are standing in front of the theatre. Then, keep walking in that direction. You will have to cross the street one more time, before you reach the first sign that roughly indicates, where exactly the Izola library is.

The sign says that you have to turn right. But do not turn right into the first street, but into the second. As I said, those signs are quite confusing. And the street, where you have to turn, is hidden behind a big bush and a tree. So, if you are going to the Mestna Knjižnica Izola for the first time, I would strongly suggest you to walk there. If you go there by car and miss the point where you have to turn, it is quite difficult to find the point where you will turn around.

Now, the street you have to walk, should look somehow like this:

When you reach the end of the street, you have to turn to the left. There is no sign that would tell you what to do. Right after you tun left, you have to turn right again, and this is the street you should see right after you turn:

At the end of this street, you will see an older building, which is the library. The entrance to the library is at the back side, although there are doors at the front side, too, but it is forbidden to enter there.

A peek inside the Izola library

Right after you enter, you will see the main desk on your right. Here, you can ask for information, borrow or return books.

On the left side, there is a part, dedicated to kids and young readers, and there is also the reading corner. In the part for kids, you can, besides books, find also various dolls and other toys, that look like characters from different children books. This part is very small, but probably the reason is that not many kids are visiting this library. Too bad that primary schools nowadays do not promote books and libraries, but they focus more on the technology instead. During the school year, the library staff usually hires some volunteers who organize afternoon reading hours for kids. I think that those reading hours are the only time when I have seen more than just a few kids in the library. And from what I heard, both, kids and parents are impressed.

Now imagine that you are standing at the entrance again, looking straight forward. What you will see there, is a sofa, a few computers, and, at the back, there is the so – called corner for travellers, where you can find different guidebooks about various worldwide destinations, travel diaries and so on. From time to time, library members even organize a guidebook exchange there. This is a great opporunity if you have bought a new guidebook and when you travelled to that particular destination, you of course do not need it any more. So, rather than selling it, you can exchange it with a fellow traveller for another interesting destination.

At the right side of the corner for travellers, you will find an awesome collection of music CDs and movies. Their collection of both, music and movies, is bigger than in most libraries that are much bigger than Mestna Knjižnica Izola. A few years ago, they even had vinyl records to borrow, but sadly, due to the lack of interest, they do not offer this service anymore. They were selling the records for one Euro per piece and everything was gone in a few days. Sadly, I found it out when the promotion was already over, otherwise I would definitely buy some records.

In the whole right side of the library, which is situated next to the main desk, you will find the rest of the books. There, you can find basically anything, from poetry, to horror stories and crime thrillers. You will also most likely notice that some of the books are in Italian language. The reason for this is, that the city of Izola is a billingual zone, where everything, even the road signs, is written both in Slovenian and Italian language.

At the very back of this part, there is a vending machine that sells snack and drinks. I am not exactly sure why is it here, because it is strictly forbidden to eat in the library. Next to the veding machine, there are two big boxes, full of books, that you can take with you for free. Mainly, those are older books, books in not so good state, and older guidebooks, which have several newer editions now. I am actually quite glad when I see that these two boxes are almost always full when I go to Mestna Knjižnica Izola.

One of the reasons is that they keep adding new books quite regularly. But the other, more important reason, is, that people are actually fair enough that they do not just shamelssly take as many free books as they can carry, just because this is free stuff, but they only take the books they need or wish to have at home. There was a similar giveaway at the Koper library, and all the books were gone in less than an hour.

The last part of the library is situated just next to the main desk, and it consists of tons of newspapers and magazines, a table and a few chairs. This is the quietest place  in the whole library, and there, you can read both domestic and foreign magazines and newspapers, that range from fashion, cars, travel, to ordinary newspapers. The collection dates one year back, and it is pretty impressive what you can find there.

Can I become a member?

If you would like to borrow books or movies from the library, it is obligatory to become a member of this library. But this is an easy thing to do. You just have to fill out a short form, and if you prove that you are student (with a national student card or some other document), the membership is free. If you are not a student, the fee is five Euros, and there is no yearly membership that you have to pay. However, you have to pay a fee if you forget to return the books on time – you can have them at home for 28 days and then return them to the library. The penalty for not returning them on time is twenty Cents per day.

You will also receive the library membership card, which will allow you to borrow books, movies and music CDs. You do not have to wait for it a few days, but it will be printed right away.

If you would just like to use the internet, you can use the computer for free up to one hour. All you have to do is present an identification document at the main desk. But I have to warn  you that the computers are awfully slow – some of them are still running on Windows XP.

Orientation inside the library and staff

It is very easy to navigate around the library. Each part is marked with a different colour, and inside each part, shelves are marked with numbers and a brief description about what kind of books each shelf consists. For example: 3.08 – travel guides.

In front of each group of shelves, there is an informative table that lists every group of books in the library and points you in the right direction. As I said, it is very simple to navigate around.

But if you cannot find what you are looking for, you can ask one of the staff members. They are very friendly and helpful, and besides Slovenian and Italian language, they also speak English. Since the library is small, there are always three or less staff members around.

Opening times

The opening times of theMestna knjižnica Izola are divided into the summer and the winter schedule. The summer schedule lasts from 1.7 to 31.8. During the summer season, Mestna knjižnica Izola is open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 8.00 to 15.00 and on Mondays and Thursdays from 8.00 to 12.00 and from 18.00 to 20.00.

The winter schedule lasts from 1.9. to 30.6. During that time, the library is open from 9.00 to 18.30 from Monday to Friday, and from 8.00 to 13.00 on Saturdays.

A short conclusion

I love to read books, and I am very happy to see that the Mestna Knjižnica Izola still has some of the charm that older libraries used to have in the not so distant past. Since not many people are going there, because the Central Library in Koper is way more popular, you can enjoy the peaceful and quiet environment in Izola Library, and simply go there just to read books or newspapers.