Main trends in activities and organisation of school libraries in Poland in the years 1773-1914

Abstract

The article presents the main trends of activities, organisation, and social or cultural influence of school libraries within the Polish territory in the years 1773-1914. The author, referring to the concept of Stanisław Konarski, who gave the book a very important place in the education process, discusses the mission of school libraries in the Warsaw Duchy and the Kingdom of Poland, as well as in three annexations (Russian, Prussian, and Austrian). As he concludes, in the annexation time school libraries played an important role as the institutions maintaining the continuity of Polish tradition and culture. However, their role as centres supporting the education process had decreased significantly. Polish school libraries fulfilled a primarily political function in the years 1895-1914. Not only pupils belonged to their users, as the range of their influence widened along with an increase of revolutionary mood among other social groups, like the workers or craftsmen. World War I caused the following, irreversible losses in school libraries' resources.