Canada vs Slovakia May 17, 2012

SLOVAKIA ELIMINATES CANADA AT WORLD HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP - THE CANADIAN PRESS - HELSINKI

"Michal Handzus tipped in a shot with 2:32 to play in regulation as Slovakia eliminated Canada with a 4-3 quarter-final victory at the IIHF World Hockey Championship. The goal came just five seconds after Canadian captain Ryan Getzlaf was given a five-minute major for kneeing Juraj Mikus. Tomas Kopecky, Miroslav Satan and Milan Bartovic also scored for Slovakia (6-2-0). Evander Kane, Jeff Skinner and Alex Burrows replied for Canada (6-1-1). The Slovaks move on to face the winner of the Sweden-Czech Republic quarter-final, which will be played later today on TSN at 2pm et/11am pt. Canada is going home early for the third straight year."

I was trying to find out the score of the game and came upon the above article. Congratulations Slovakia. This morning, I had the pleasure of visiting the University Library of Bratislava.

Quoting from EOD digital on request:

The University Library in Bratislava is the apex of scientific, informational, cultural and educational institutions of Slovakia.

Established in 1919, with collections dating back to the 17th century, it served until 1954 as the national library of Slovakia and became an independent, universal research library offering complex library and information services for the general public; carrying out high level bibliographic research, publishing, cultural and educational activities and holding several national and international responsibilities.

It fulfils its mission as

* the depository and conservation library of the Slovak Republic

* the depository library for the United Nations, UNESCO and NATO

* the office for the national retrospective bibliography

* the provider of the national union catalogue of periodicals

* the national ISSN agency of Slovak Republic

* the co-ordinator of the international interlibrary loan service

* the centre for digitisation, conservation and restoration and

* the integrator of cultural information systems.

Its main aim is to safeguard the cultural heritage and vast documentary wealth and to make it accessible to the general public and for future generations.

I was given a tour of the three beautiful historic buildings in downtown Bratislava in which the library resides. One part of it is located in a former Gothic monastery of the Poor Clares Order where coincidentally my grandfather went to school with Bela Bartok in the 1890's when the monastery was being used as a catholic school.

I felt a real pleasure and had a distinct feeling of connection with family and the past when I was walking through this beautifully restored building. The two other buildings the library occupies are the baroque palace of the Hungarian Royal Chamber, also referred to as the Palace of the Hungarian King, and the Leopold de Pauli Palace. The buildings were renovated from 2001-2006. The library also functions as a cultural centre with a great variety of programs offered weekly for the general public.