Starting from 1 December 2024, Dr Jana Kolar has been appointed as the new Director of The National and University Library (NUK) of Slovenia.

Dr Kolar was the Chair of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI), executive director of CERIC-ERIC, a European research infrastructure that specializes in the characterization of materials and biomaterials, the Director-General of Science and Technology at a ministry in Slovenia, Chairperson of the Boards of the Slovenian Technology Agency and Slovenian Research Agency, and a member of the Governing Board of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology. She was also a member of the High-Level Group of Innovators for the European Innovation Council and the ERA Council Forum Austria, a high-level expert body advising the Austrian Federal Minister responsible for science and research, for which she was awarded a Golden Badge of Honour for services to the Republic of Austria.

In the past, she conducted research in the field of cultural heritage preservation at the National and University Library, for which she received the Zois Award for scientific achievements. Her research work inspired the Slovenian feature film Pisma iz Egipta (Letters from Egypt). For her contribution to the preservation of the national written cultural heritage, she was awarded the Trubar award in 2012.