English info

Contacts
The Karel Dvořáček Library
Nádražní 4,  682 01 Vyškov
The location of the library on the town plan

Director: +420 517 324 540
Reference department.: +420 517 324 544
Rental library rooms: +420 517 324 541
Public Internet facilities: +420 517 324 559
e-mail:  knihovna@kkdvyskov.cz

Opening hours
Valid from September till June.

Adult and reference departments:
Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays  9 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Thursdays  1 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Saturdays  9 a.m. – 11.30 a.m.

Audio-visual facilities and children´s department:
Mon – Fri:  12.30 p.m. – 6 p.m.

On-line catalogue
On-line catalogue can be used for providing documents and factual databases of the library.

Opening hours during the summer holidays:
Valid from 1st July till 31th August 2013.
The library will be opened on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. till 5 p.m.
Closed from 22st July till 9rd August (holiday).

Summary

One hundred and ten years have passed since the public library in Vyškov was established. Originally, there were a library and a reading room founded by the reader´s and singer´s association Haná in 1864. The association had its seat in the Community Hall that became the centre of cultural life in town. During the summer holidays of 1896, the Academic Holiday Club, formed by students who were influenced by Masaryk´s ideas, established a public library. All the association libraries were gradually incorporated.
The status of the library was changed into a municipal establishment enacted by the Library Act in 1920. Even the library intended for Czech readers in the municipalities with the majority of the German-speaking population was incorporated in 1922. Frequent changes of the library´s seat have become typical, the Community Hall and the Catholic House being the places where the library was located for longer periods of time. After the renovation of the building at 4 Nádražní Street, its present seat was brought into the public use on 1st September 2003. Finally, the building offers favourable conditions for the activities of a modern information and municipal centre. The building represents the only palace-type construction in the district. It was built as a primary school in 1874. There is a well from 14th century in the inner courtyard and fragments of the so-called Brno town gate can be found in the masonry.
The library – named after the great writer of the region Karel Dvořáček in 1992 – was fully automated as the first facility of its kind in the Czech Republic. Its activities are focused on the extension of information department services, upgrading of the reference library as well as collecting of regional documents and information on the town and its surroundings.
The collection of the library was considerably reduced by the exclusion of several thousands of books under the totalitarian regimes – both fascist and communist ones. A number of local librarians was persecuted after 1968. Nowadays, this library houses the complete collection of Czech-written books by the world-known orientalist Alois Musil whose work was on the black list as well.
The Karel Dvořáček Library has been established by the town of Vyškov. It has five branches within the urban districts and manages activities of district libraries from the professional point of view. The premises of the library are open to the public six days a week, i. e. 43.5 hours including cultural and social events.