This article investigates how the library, collected by Baron Ziga Zois, influenced the development of Slovene cultural nationalism. First, it explains why the largest public libraries in Slovene ethnic territory -- the Seminary and the Lyceum Library in Ljubljana -- were relatively unimportant for the shaping of Slovene national identity in that period. This article then describes the beginnings and growing of the Zois library, especially of its Slovene and Slavic parts. Finally, it shows how the library stimulated Slovene and Slavic national revivals. In conclusion, it states that the Zois library should be urgently organized, presented, and preserved as a corpus separatum in the National and University Library in Ljubljana on account of its importance. New evaluation of the importance of the Zois library for the development of Slovene and Slavic national revivals in the Habsburg Monarchy. Manuscripts and books once owned by Ziga Zois and now housed in the National and University Library.