Özet:

Purpose: The cultural policy of the Republic of Turkey was carried out between the years 1932-1950 by means of the People’s Houses. This study aims to discuss the destruction of books and libraries with the law on the closure of People’s House which was mentioned in the Official Gazette dated 11 August 1951. Method: The descriptive method was used in the study. The hypothesis of the study is that the closure of People’s House, which is a non-governmental organization, caused the destruction of about 1000 libraries and the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of books. Findings: The number of books in the People’s House, which were established on February 19, 1932 in order to promote and disseminate Atatürk's principles and revolutions throughout the country and to keep the state's cultural policy alive, exceeded 750 000, and the number of libraries in the People's House, People's Rooms and People's Reading Rooms reached to one thousand. Implications: People’s House libraries functioned very properly as public libraries for 19 years, especially fulfilling their purpose within the local environment. Beyond the closure of People’s House with the transition to the multi-party period, most of the books in these cultural institutions were looted, destroyed, and libraries were closed. Originality: In the study, only the local activities and library services of the Library and Publication Branch of the People’s House, which serve with nine branches This disgraceful situation on behalf of Turkish librarianship is examined for the first time.

Anahtar Kelimeler: