Central Library at the Faculty of Arts,
Masaryk University
November 2000
beginning of construction
March 2002
library opening
Architectural gem and heart of the faculty
A new Central Library at the Faculty of Arts was built in 2000–2002. The library building was designed by academic architects Ladislav Kuba and Ing. Tomáš Pilař, M.A.
The library was designed as a simple object, in contrast with the traditional style of nearby buildings. This reflects its importance for the life of the faculty. The contrasts are also demonstrated in the choice of the building materials for the interior of the building: the rough monolithic concrete structure is complemented by hardened glass with colour printing, powder-coated steel elements, stainless steel, and the sharply coloured edges of carpets and information elements.
The building has received many awards.
Grand Prix of the Architects’ Community 2002
The Union of Fine Artists Award 2002
The Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic Award
Library collection
The Central Library at the Faculty of Arts has a large and valuable collection, which is a prerequisite not only for successful study and student education, but also for scientific and research activities. This collection includes literature, mainly from the humanities, a significant part of which is stored in the central library. The sub-libraries of individual institutes and departments also create a notable component of the library.
more than 800,000 units
in the book collection of the Central Library
Electronic information
The Central Library provides multidisciplinary electronic information sources for a wide range of disciplines at the faculty. For example, it popularizes full texts from the collections of scientific journals such as the Humanities & Social Sciences from the prestigious publishing houses of Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press; full-text digital archives of the major American journals JSTOR (Journal Storage) are also available. A collection of the Social Science & Humanities Library, which contains over 1,400 titles, is available as part of the subscription to the full-text database of the prestigious Taylor & Francis Publishers.
In collaboration with the National Library, the Central Library provides access to full-text and bibliographic resources for Library and Information Science. Together with the Library and Information Centre, Masaryk University also makes available some of the most extensive full-text databases in the world: ProQuest Central, Wiley Online Library, and Science Direct (Elsevier).
Students and employees can benefit from daily press monitoring within the Anopress database.
more than 12,000 readers
registered library users
Information Education Courses
The Central Library regularly organizes courses focused on working with electronic information resources, databases, and software tools. Citation ethics and citation standards are also emphasized. The programme includes lectures by external experts on topics such as expert text writing and time management.
Especially for working students, the library provides evening courses. It prepares tailor-made seminars for doctoral students, according to their needs and requirements – e.g. pedagogical minimums, electronic information sources, and seminars on presentation skills for doctoral students.
800 students
take courses in information education every year
Study and relaxation zone
In November 2015, conditions were created in the basement of the Central Library for study groups. Students can work in teams or relax between lectures. There are 16 study spaces available; the number can be increased if necessary.