The first Zosimaia Library Manuscripts Catalogue was composed by Historian-Folklorist and Zosimaia School Professor, Stilpon Kiriakides (1887-1964) and was published in 1912 (Symeikta, Neos Elinomnimon 9 (1912), p.304). It belonged to the old Zosimaia School.
The next registration took place at significantly later stage, in 1937, by High School Principal Christos Soulis (General Catalogue of the books of Zosimaia School of Ioannina compiled by Christos I. Soulis, High School Principal). In 1938, the independent Zosimaia Public Central Historical Library of Ioannina was founded according to Emergency Law 1161/1938. Article 2, para.2 and prescribed that all the important books and manuscripts from school and other city libraries as well as from the Zosimaia School, would have to be compiled there. The newly established independent Library was housed in the new building of the Pedagogical Academy.
Upon WW II outbreak, the Library materials were transported and hidden in various locations that naturally led to various losses.
After the end of WW II, in 1952, Morton Smith (1915-1991), American Professor of History in Columbia University, searched for the manuscripts and provided information on the condition of their preservation. (Morton Smith, “Symmeikta. Notes on Collections of Manuscripts in Greece”, Journal of the Society of Byzantine Studies 26 (1956), p.380-393, esp.p.392).
The earliest manuscript of the Library Collection is a 12th century parchment Tetraevangelio (Four Gospels), which is headless and incomplete, with colored headpieces.
