Politehnica University Timisoara

The library of Politehnica University Timisoara

 
 
The library of Politehnica University Timisoara

celebrated, on March 15, 2021, 100 years since the first documentary attestation

16 March 2021

 

 

 

 

The library of Politehnica University Timișoara celebrated, on March 15, 2021, 100 years since the first documentary attestation. Since 1920, when the Royal Decree decided to establish the Polytechnic School in Timișoara, Article 38 stipulated that "The administrative staff of the School" includes in addition to the principal and deputy principal, a librarian." The first librarian mentioned in the School Yearbooks was Eustaţiu Pandele. On March 15, 1921, he registered the first book in the library's patrimony: “Beton Arme. Abaques Pratiques pour l'Etablissement des Hourdis et des Poteaux”, a work in French, published in Paris in 1920. After only six months from the beginning of the first academic year in Timisoara, we can actually talk about the establishment of the Library's collection, the initial fund of publications being a result of the generosity of the first teachers.

The documents from the institution's archives reveal the science and culture spreading role the Polytechnic School of Timișoara assumed, in the broad spirit of any university with a humanistic vocation, of pure or applied science. A memorandum regarding the activity of the School states: “In addition to the specialized activity that the School was to develop, it could not fail in this place, at the border of the country, to step with courage towards the development of a wide cultural progress for the general public”. Animators of the cultural life from Banat, the teachers and students of the Polytechnic School in Timișoara initiated a "cultural movement in the villages". Traian Lalescu, the first rector of Politehnica, organized a series of school libraries, and the students organized cultural sittings in communes.

It was, in fact, the continuation of a tradition of over a century. Timisoara was the first city on the current territory of Romania, but also the first city in the old Habsburg Empire where a public library was established, a quality with a decisive role in mass culturalization. The credit goes to Josef Klapka, who, on May 15, 1815, established the public library, with book borrowing facilities and a reading room.

The activity of the library of the Polytechnic School was started in the building of the primary school on Telbisz Street, where it was active until 1947, when its collections were moved to the headquarters on Piatra Craiului Street. Only one year after its establishment, a period of 16 years followed, in which, in addition to the librarian, there is also a room warden, which demonstrates the increase in publications and readers. The activity of the library continued in all the past years, parallel to the activity of the School, being the one that provided the material support of the students' training and of the research activity.

After 1989, the Library of Politehnica University Timișoara became not only a collector of technical culture but also a broadcaster of the latest information and offers the possibility to find them through, all with the help of the information technology of the beginning of the millennium.

Since November 2014, the UPT Library has a new headquarters, on Vasile Pârvan Street no. 2B, an ultramodern building appreciated as the most modern university library in the country. Politehnica University Timisoara marked the official opening of the UPT Library with an exceptional symbolic event: a human chain of over 1000 students. From the old library to the new library, students passed from hand to hand the last 100 books, the transfer symbolizing the tradition and continuity of this prestigious university. The event took place on November 12, 2014, during the Polytechnic Week, on the occasion of the 94th anniversary of the signing of the Royal Decree establishing the Polytechnic School. More than 700,000 volumes were moved from the old building to the new library, and the transport of these books took six months. The library brings a series of facilities including direct access to information, by consulting collections on the shelf, the possibility of writing documents in the IT space, reading rooms, video conference room, self-loan and self-restitution service, with direct download in the program and wi-fi throughout the building.

Today, the Library of Politehnica University Timișoara is more than a simple reading space, it is also a space for events, especially in the cultural-artistic field, but not only. Here are film screenings, musical evenings, exhibitions of all kinds, festivities, awards, book launches, etc.

If, during the year, the threshold of the UPT Library is crossed daily by about 1,000-1,500 people, in exam sessions it reaches over 2,000 people per day. In addition to state-of-the-art equipment (computers, printers, scanners, group study rooms, WI-FI internet access), the Library also provides necessary moments of relaxation during intensive study periods (sunbeds, sofas, table tennis room). In sessions, the UPT Library extends its program, being open daily between 9-24. In addition, there is a reading room with 100 seats open 24 hours a day, a unique service at national level, which was used even on Christmas and New Year.

Today, the UPT Library means about 1,000,000 volumes, over 10 km of documents on the shelf, 8,800 sq m on 6 levels, over 200 librarians employed over time, 25 years of free access to the shelf, 25 years of computerization of activities, 600 places for reading, 100 places in the reading room with non-stop program, over 1000 users, on average, per day, over 400,000 online accesses in 2020, over 200 computers, 4 multifunctional and self-loan and self-restitution station for users, RFID security system for free shelf access, integrated Aleph library system, version 522, over 200 events organized over a year.

35,000 e-book titles in science and technology are currently being purchased and will be made available to students and teachers as soon as possible.

The epidemiological situation did not allow the organization of an anniversary event, but those interested in the activity of the UPT Library could watch, on its Facebook page, a mini-documentary about the activity of BUPT, aspects of the 100-year history of institution, but also the new contest launched on this occasion, which offers the possibility to win a package of books, of your choice, worth 200 lei.

 
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