Celebrations to mark the opening of the Ján Langoš library
The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes opened the Ján Langoš library at its Havelkova Street, Prague, site on Wednesday October 29. The library is named after the former Slovak dissident and post-1989 minister of the interior who died in a car crash in 2006. His wife, Gabriela, attended the opening and said she appreciated the gesture which means Jan Langoš will continue to be remembered in Prague. Czech Senate deputy chairman Jiří Liška described the library’s launch as proof that the institute is on the right track by opening a facility for researchers, which also widens and underlines its openness to the public. The library will eventually have 40,000 volumes, but only around a tenth of the final total is currently available. One of its more interesting features is a complete collection of the communist newspaper Rudé Právo from 1946-1992. As well as offering books, the library also seeks to offer electronic access to information. Currently, full access to the CEEOL database of 290 humanities and social science journals and digital documents relating to Central and Eastern Europe is being discussed. The library can be used not just workers at the institute and archive for security documents but by researchers visiting the archives. The only condition is proof of study. As well as Gabriela Langošová and Jiří Liška, the opening was also attended by Viera Viskupová from the Slovak embassy, Prague 3 mayor Milena Kozumplíková and members of the institute’s governing council, chairwoman Naděžda Kavalírová, deputy chairman Patrik Benda, chairman of the research council Jiří Pernes and other guests.