From Individual Card Catalogues to the National Union Catalogue: A Story of the Computerisation of Polish Church Libraries
Year: 2022

As in the whole of Western Europe, church libraries were the first historical book collections in Poland. Their establishment dates back to the adoption of Christianity in 966. The oldest are the cathedral or chapter libraries in Cracow (inventory of 1110), Gniezno, Wrocaw, Poznan and Plock, all of which had been collecting manuscripts since the 11th century. The oldest Benedictine monastery libraries were also created in the 11th century, in Tyniec, Mogilno and Lubin. In modern times, the 16th