The construction of the Moravian-Silesian Scientific Library is being postponed

Ostrava - The construction of the new Moravian-Silesian Scientific Library in Ostrava, planned for years, has been postponed indefinitely. The Ministry of Culture will not release the planned 220 million Czech crowns for this year's construction due to the economic crisis, which was requested for the building. The governor, Jaroslav Palas (ČSSD), said this to journalists today. The library has been located in completely inadequate premises for years.
    The library director, Lea Prchalová, told ČTK that the postponement of the planned construction will mean enormous problems for the library. "The main activities of the library are at risk if the new building is not constructed. There are several reasons for concern. Primarily, the library holdings are completely filled, which are already located in five places today, and publications must be transported from them daily," Prchalová stated. She added that some storage areas also need to be permanently dehumidified. The library also lacks adequate social facilities.
    "Today, we are also one of the few libraries where our visitors cannot look at books directly, because we do not have them placed in publicly accessible areas, as we do not have the space for them," Prchalová added, noting that the library also lacks spaces for educational and cultural events it organizes.
    The construction of the library and the associated parking facility was estimated to cost around 1.5 billion crowns. It was to be financed not only from regional and state funds but primarily from the European Union. The European Commission has already approved around 600 million crowns for the library's construction. The state was to contribute a total of 490 million crowns, and the region was expected to contribute 410 million crowns, with 110 million crowns allocated for the library and 300 million crowns for the parking facility.
    Palas claims that the construction of the library remains a priority for the region. "The Ministry of Culture has informed us that due to certain austerity measures and the fact that the former representation of the region canceled the tender last autumn, they are unable to release financial resources for the start of the construction this year," he stated. According to him, the region will use the funds allocated for the library's construction for other purposes. "We will not let the money sit idle, but we will use it for the development areas of education, healthcare, and social affairs," Palas stated. The region will discuss alternative uses of the EU funds with the European Commission.
    The Moravian-Silesian Scientific Library was established in 1951, and even then its current location in rented premises of the New Town Hall was considered a temporary solution. It has over a million titles in its collection and is one of the largest in the country. It is visited daily by an average of up to 1000 people.