Past and present of Polish libraries

Abstract

The article shows an overview of the history of Polish librarianship. Beginning form the early Middle Ages up to the present times (the interwar period, the socialist times, the period of political system transformation) the most important facts from the history of Polish librarianship were indicated. The current legal situation of Polish libraries was discussed. The computerization condition and digitalization and document delivery programmes were presented. Finally, the undertakings connected with the accessibility of electronic periodicals and building of digital libraries were presented.
The situation of Polish libraries at the beginning of the XXI century and on the eve of entering the European Union is undoubtedly worse than that of the western European and American ones in many respects. Although Polish libraries own relatively rich resources of old prints and manuscripts (e.g. the University Library in Poznañ owns the richest in Europe collection Masonic books and pamphlets), however the contemporary collections are not so impressive. There is a shortage of financial resources to buy them. Librarians' salaries are not high either. A great disadvantage of Polish librarianship is the lack of the tradition of cooperation. Only now, the first library consortia are created – like the one operating since 1996 Poznañ Foundation of Scientific Libraries (http://www.pfsl.poznan.pl/), Consortium of Wroclaw Libraries or Górnoslaskie Consortium of University Libraries. Despite all those difficulties, libraries quickly change their appearance and prepare themselves more and more flexibly to the new reality.