LIBRARY

THE LIBRARY OF THE MATHEMATICAL INSTITUTE OF THE SERBIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS

Head of Library: Kristina Milojević, MA

The Library of the Mathematical Institute of SASA was founded in 1946 as the successor to the Library of the Mathematical Seminar of the University of Belgrade and represents the largest and most significant repository of knowledge in the fields of mathematics, mechanics, and, later, computer science. At the time of its establishment, the Library did not possess any publications, and the first monographs were acquired by the members of the Institute themselves. The Library’s collection gradually expanded through further purchases, acquisitions, and exchanges. The long-standing tradition of exchange with numerous mathematical institutions has continued for over eighty years and remains one of the most important means of acquiring materials, especially scientific journals.
The first tasks related to the maintenance of the Library’s collection were carried out by junior associates of the Institute, for whom this was a unique opportunity to familiarize themselves with the scholarly literature. The first acting librarian, appointed in 1950, was Boško Tomić, who also served as the Institute’s secretary. In 1952, translator Vojislav Popović took over the position and remained in the role until 1963. He was succeeded by Ilija Bratić, who served as librarian until his retirement in 1992. Rajko Petronijević briefly held the position (1992–1993), after which Branka Bubonja became librarian, serving until 2020. Following this, Kristina Milojević assumed the role.
Today, in terms of its formal organisation, the Library functions as a centralized scientific library. It collects, processes materials in accordance with established cataloguing principles, preserves them, and makes them available for use in the fields of mathematics, mechanics, and computer science. In 1995, the process of transitioning from a card catalogue to an electronic one began and was completed in 1997. At that time, the collection was converted into digital format, and the Library’s entire holdings became searchable through the online catalogue, available on the Institute’s website. Following the most recent review of the collection, the Library’s holdings comprise approximately 12,000 monographs and 618 journal titles, in total more than 60,000 volumes, of which only 18 journals are obtained by purchase. Since 2025, the Library has been incorporated into the COBISS cataloguing system, which will, with further development, provide greater visibility for the Library’s rich collection not only to the researchers of the Institute, but also to the broader public interested in mathematical, mechanical, and computer sciences.
In addition to scientific journals and databases available via the Serbian Library Consortium for Coordinated Acquisition (KoBSON), the Library provides access to two specialized mathematics databases: Zentralblatt für Mathematik and Mathematical Reviews (MathSciNet).
In 2020, the Institute established its institutional repository, where research papers authored by collaborators of the Institute are deposited. Since its establishment, over 4,000 research papers have been deposited, providing open access to research results across all fields of mathematics, mechanics, and computer science.