Relations between the Library of the Ossoliński National Institute in Wrocław and the Stefanyk Lviv Science Library in the post-war half-century

Abstract

The IVth Forum of Polskie Towarzystwo Bibliologiczne [the Polish Bibliological Society - PBS] "Protection of the European and national written heritage" took place on December 2, 1997, participated by Polish and Ukrainian libraries. M. Matwijów presented a speech (the article is its version) concerning relations between the Library of the Ossoliński National Institute in Wrocław and the Stefanyk Lviv Science Library in the post-war period. 1/3 of the collections of Ossolineum in Lviv was moved to the Ossoliński National Institute reactivated in Wrocław, while the rest stayed in Lviv and was integrated into the Stefanyk Lviv Science Library - the journals collection, almost entire maps and graphics collections, almost half of the manuscripts collection, a large part of the collection of prints of the 19^th-20^th centuries, and the whole Ossolineum archive for the years 1817-1940. The author emphasizes that the case of the Lviv Ossolineum collections has become a bone of contention between both libraries, therefore from the mid-80s. of the 20^th century, they have not cooperated in interlibrary loan nor microfilming of the collections. Political changes of the years 1989-1990 brought some hope for the improvement of this state of affairs. However, as the author states, after fifty years "it seems that the problem of the Ossolineum collection and the Polish cultural heritage in Lviv is still at the starting point".