Occasionally it was possible to detect in technical literature a certain doubt whether the Seminary Library in Ljubljana, which was opened in 1701 as a public library, was indeed open to the public in the 18th century. In view of this, some authors bestowed the title of the first public scholarly library to the Lyceum Library that was established in Ljubljana in 1791. This article examines the issue of the public character of the Seminary Library, first by exploring 18th century sources, then by a critical review of technical literature, and finally by comparing this library with other domestic as well as foreign libraries with a similar function and character.V strokovni literaturi so se občasno pojavljali dvomi o tem, da je Semeniška knjižnica v Ljubljani, ki je bila ustanovljena leta 1701 kot javna knjižnica, v 18. stoletju dejansko delovala javno. Nekateri avtorji so zato naziv prve javne znanstvene knjižnice na Slovenskem raje dodelili ljubljanski Licejski knjižnici, ki je bila ustanovljena leta 1791. V pričujoči razpravi osvetljujem problem javnega značaja Semeniške knjižnice najprej z viri iz 18. stoletja, nato s kritičnim pregledom strokovne literature, na koncu pa s primerjavo omenjene baročne biblioteke z domačimi in tujimi knjižnicami, ki so imele podobno funkcijo in vsebino
