ALEXANDER BASHMAKOV
May 21, 1882 – Dec. 20, 1882
Eminent Russian man of law, journalist, publisher and poet. Approved by Ordinance of the Governor-General of Eastern Rumelia Alexander Bogoridi as the first manager of the Regional Library. Set up the foundations of the library, drawing on the experience of the St. Petersburg Imperial Library and the Public Library of Geneva city. Eestablished the first contacts with publishers from London, Paris, Leipzig, St. Petersburg and Istanbul.

ILIYA YOVCHEV
Jan. 1, 1883 – Feb. 20, 1887
An outstanding erudite and polyglot, one of the first Bulgarians who graduated from colleges in the USA, where he lived from 1870 till 1879. The library archive keeps letters of his in English, French, Russian and Turkish. During the time of his management the books of the Bulgarian Community Centre in Istanbul were collected and brought to the Regional Library. He purchased from “Brockhouse” bookstore in Leipzig Rembrandt’s etchings, published in Paris in a total print of 500, and that is the only copy preserved on the Balkans. In 1885 he published the first printed book catalogue in Bulgaria, which is today a bibliographic rarity. After the Unification, he made great efforts to move the library into the building designed for the Regional Assembly, in which the library remained until 1973. At his suggestion, in 1886 the library was renamed “Bulgarian Public Library and Museum in Plovdiv”.

IVAN BELOPITOV
Feb. 20, 1887 – Sept. 19, 1887
Graduated from Robert College in Istanbul with honours. He volunteered in the Serbo-Bulgarian war. He taught French at the Plovdiv High-School for Boys “Knyaz Alexander I”, where he returned again after his short term as acting director of the library.

IVAN GOVEDAROV
Sept. 19, 1887 – July 19, 1889
Ivan Govedarov was a participant in the Bulgarian militia during the Russo-Turkish War 1877–1878. He was also Secretary of the Standing Committee of the Regional Assembly of Eastern Rumelia, head of archives management, and editor of the Maritsa newspaper. As manager of the library he promoted the acquisition of French literature and sought help from the national libraries in Paris and Brussels in compiling the classification schemes for the library collections. He also introduced the accessions register of books. During his time the first art exhibition in Plovdiv took place in the library in 1889, the first night school was opened, and the first revision of the library book-stock was made.

STEFAN BOTEV
July 19, 1889 – April 15, 1890
Brother of the eminent poet and revolutionary Hristo Botev. He was in charge of the library activities for less than a year because of his sudden death. As a manager he resumed the practice of giving talks in the library and arranged reading-rooms for “more special studies”. He opened the library during weekends for the artisan class of the city.

ATILIO TAKELA
April 15, 1890 – April 1, 1891 Acting director
March 15, 1892 – March 26, 1894 Acting director
Dec. 3, 1899 – April 1, 1901 Acting director
Am extremely controversial figure in the history of the library. Intermittently, he directed the library’s public activities as Acting director for 6 years. During his time a considerable part of the numismatic collection of the library “disappeared”. He was brought under trial and sentenced for that at the beginning of 20th c., but reprieved by Duke Ferdinand.

VASIL DIAMANDIEV
April 1, 1891 – March 15, 1892
Vasil Diamandiev was a Bulgarian teacher in the time of the National Revival in the towns of Kukush, Veles, and Ohrid. After the Liberation he was deputy member of the Constituent Assembly and a senior court clerk of long standing. He was assistant director of the Sofia National Library. As head of the Plovdiv library, he directed its activities for less than a year. He resigned and gave up his position for reasons of health.

SLAV KESYAKOV
March 26, 1894 – June 23, 1894 Acting director
Oct. 28, 1899 – Nov. 27, 1899 Acting director
He was a first-rate teacher in the Plovdiv High-School for Boys. He also wrote textbooks in history and Bulgarian language. He was a poet, too. He managed the activities of the public library as Acting director two times – for one and three months.

STOYAN ARGIROV
June 24, 1894 – April 1, 1901
Stoyan Argirov was the founder of Library Sciences in Bulgaria and member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences since 1901. As Acting director of the library, even though on a limited budget, he provided the complete acquisition of the Bulgarian printed produce, of fundamental editions and books of references in foreign languages. The orders he placed were unique for their significance, depth, and wide bibliographic knowledgeability. In the Plovdiv Library he started work on “A Handbook on the Organization of National, Public, School and Private Libraries”. In 1896–1897 he compiled the first subject catalogue of the library, which he called “methodical”. He introduced for the first time a cardboard card catalogue, intended for library users.

BORIS DYAKOVICH
April 1, 1901 – Feb. 12, 1932
One of the most honoured directors of the library, who managed its activities for over 30 years. Boris Dyakovich was the initiator of the library and museum Year-books – one of the first scientific publications of that kind in Bulgaria. The Year-book was published from 1904 to 1941, and for years on end the following professors were its collaborators: Phillov, Katsarov, Mladenov, Dechev, Zlatarski, Tsonev, Velkov and many others. While the library was under his management it started functioning not only as a cultural and educational, but also as a scientific institution. In 1907 the library took part in the Balkan exhibition in London, where it won a diploma and a gold medal. Boris Dyakovich traced down valuable manuscripts, old printed books and archaeological materials from all around the country. In 1921 he created the “Special Collections” Department, which hosted all historical documents, rare and valuable editions, graphic works, photographs, etc. At Dyakovich’s suggestion, the eminent Slavic scientist prof. Benyo Tsonev described and published the Slavic manuscripts and old printed books and made them known to the scientists and the general public. This work is a significant contribution to Bulgarian paleography. Under the guidance of Boris Dyakovich and owing to his merited authority of eminent bibliographer, archaeologist, and researcher, the library strengthened its position as a first-rate cultural institution. He won over and drew to the library the writer and artist Nikolay Raynov, the literary critic Ivan Radoslavov and others. Having taken on the library in 1901 with a book-stock of 24 333 volumes, he handed it over in 1932 with more than 90 000 volumes.

IVAN RADOSLAVOV
Feb. 12, 1932 – July 7, 1934
Ivan Radoslavov was a famous literary critic, repertory director of the Plovdiv theatre, president of the House of Arts and Printing. He started work in the library as head librarian in 1928. Here he wrote and printed the main work of his life – “Bulgarian Literature 1880–1930”. He took an active part in the compiling of library catalogues and made lots of improvements in the classification scheme. He donated over 100 books of the newest Bulgarian literature to the library, with autographs from the authors.

STEFAN ANDREEV
July 19, 1934 – Nov. 14, 1934
Curator of the museum to the library. Appointed Director after the Military Coup in 1934. Fired after four months of duty.

DIMITAR TSONCHEV
Nov. 20, 1934 – Nov. 3, 1944
Prominent Bulgarian scientist and archaeologist. Full member of the Bulgarian Archaeological Institute. In 1935 he became one of the initiators for the establishment of a fund for the thorough study of Plovdiv city. He managed the activities of the public library for ten years, in a difficult and interesting period of its history. It was during his time that the beginnings of an archive of Bulgarian literature and arts were laid, as well as the compilation of a new classification scheme for the subject catalogue. A new special hall was opened for scientific studies, as well as new bindery of the library; new repairs of the building were also undertaken. In 1944 he evacuated the main book-stock, saving it from the air-raids.