Aristotle University of Thessaloniki was founded by the Alexandros Papanastassiou government in 1925, but it started operating one year later in 1926. The University Library was founded in July 1927 and started operating in December of the same year.
Central Library Buildings
Initially housed in the old School of Philosophy building, it moved to its own four-storey premises in the heart of the university campus in 1974. The new Central Library building was inaugurated in 2000.
More information regarding the new Central Library Building:
- Κωτσιόπουλος, Α.Μ. (2010). Νέα μονάδα της Κεντρικής Βιβλιοθήκης του Α.Π.Θ.: Καλύτερο δημόσιο κτίριο στην Ελλάδα για την περίοδο 1995-2000, GreekArchitects.gr
- Davey, P. (2002). Underground thoughts. The Architectural Review, 211(1263), 80-83. (Subscription - Access information)
Collection
The initial core of the Library collection was the donation of G.Konstantinidis, books from school libraries, namely Gymnasium of Thessaloniki, All-Male Teacher Training School and the Education Academy of Thessaloniki. To this initial core more books from school collections were added; books that were initially collected for the "Frontistirion" of Trebizond but never reached Asia Minor due to the destruction of 1922 and books from other Asia Minor schools saved from destruction and transferred in Thessaloniki by the Fund for exchangeable property. Georgios Konstantinidis was a former National Library of Greece Director (1890-91, 1895) and donated his library of 8.000 books to the Aristotle University. Gymnasium of Thessaloniki was a Hellenic school operating during the Ottoman occupation in Thessaloniki and its books were mostly Ancient Greek literature classics. All-Male Teacher Training School was a 3-year school operating during 1914-1929. Its books were mostly historic and travel books. K.Konstantinidis was a rich trader from Trebizond (1856 - 1930) that worked hard for the creation of an independent Democracy of Pontos.
Library's collection further developed through printed journals subscriptions and important private collections either donated or purchased, such as N.Politis, A.Svolos, A.Delmouzos, A.Papanastassiou, M.Triantafyllidis, A.Pallis, I.Trikoglou collections.
Currently the Library collection includes subscriptions to important electronic resources, such as bibliographic databases, electronic journals, electronic books and primary sources.
Services
AUTh Library offers on-site and electronic services. Services overview
Funding programmes
AUTh Library during the years 1994-2009 hired specialized personnel (librarians and other scientists) and developed electronic services thanks to the funding of the two EPEAEK operational programmes (EPEAEK I, EPEAEK II) . The most recent funding the Library received is in the framework of the ESPA - Digital Convergence operational programme.
