About the Library

The Sporck Palace Library is located in the Sweerts-Sporck Palace in Hybernská Street. The first indirect references to buildings on this site can be found in sources from the second half of the 15^th century. In the course of time, the building changed owners several times and was finally bought by F. A. Špork, whose name it still bears today. The constant changes of owner over the centuries had a detrimental effect on the condition of the building. In 1974, the University of 17 November, which was housed in the building, was closed down, and some of its parts were subsequently merged with the Faculty of Arts of Charles University (e.g., the Institute of Translation Studies, which has been operating here since its establishment in 1963). The Sweerts-Sporck Palace currently houses three departments of the Faculty of Arts: the Institute of Translation Studies, the Comparative Studies Section of the Department of Czech and Comparative Literature, and the Romanian Studies Section of the Department of South Slavonic and Balkan Studies. 

The Sporck Palace Library is located on the ground floor of the building and manages the collections of Translation Studies, Ibero-American Studies, Romanian Studies, and partly also Art History (the estate of D. Veselý). The collection currently consists of almost 50,000 units, of which a significant part consists of books and unique periodicals from the Ibero-American Studies collection; many of the books come, for example, from the estates of the translator Milan Hrala and the Ibero-Americanist Čestmír Loukotka. 

In addition to students and academic staff, the library also provides its services to a considerable number of external users. A small part of the collection is available on the open shelves in the library and study room. The other, larger part, is stored in the depository under the library. For possible loans, these deposited items must be requested in advance via the UKAŽ discovery service.

The library also has a study room equipped with computers, a photocopier/printer and the possibility of using the Eduroam Wi-Fi network. 

You can also follow news from the Sporck Palace Library on our Facebook page. 

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