”Alexandru and Aristia Aman” Dolj County Library

Approximately 200,000 citizens come to “Alexandru and Aristia Aman” Dolj County Library annually in order to borrow books, to organise or participate in different cultural and educational activities, or to search online information on issues related to health, education, jobs, business development, as well as to speak with family and friends. In 2018 approximately 250,000 documents from the library collections were borrowed or consulted.
The high number of citizens who use the services provided by “Alexandru and Aristia Aman” Dolj County Library is a relevant indicator of the influence and importance of the institution. For the undertaken activities, as well as for the implemented projects, “Alexandru and Aristia Aman” Library received the “Library of the Year” Award, within the frame of the APLER (Asociația Publicațiilor Literare și Editurilor din România) Gala, held in Bucharest, in December 2018.

The history of the Library goes back more than a century. The inauguration of the Alexandru and Aristia Aman Foundation, in December 1908, represented the first private initiative in Craiova for the purposes of establishing a complex cultural centre for the public. The festive moment took place in the presence of the distinguished scholar Spiru Haret, Minister of Religious Affairs and Public Instruction at the time.

An integral part of the initial foundation, “Alexandru and Aristia Aman” Dolj County Library has been functioning uninterruptedly since it was set up. The book, review and newspaper library collections currently include over 620,000 units, out of which 535 old Romanian and rare foreign books from the 16th – 19th centuries, as well as five valuable manuscripts. The Library has four local subsidiaries in the neighbourhoods Craiovița Nouă, Brazda lui Novac, Rovine and Valea Roșie, as well as several other subsidiaries and cultural centres which it supports across the border: Canada, Serbia, Italy, Bulgaria, Greece and, soon, Republic of Moldova.