# Main Library of Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University, Warsaw

The Main Library of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw (Polish: Biblioteka Główna Uniwersytetu Kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego w Warszawie) is the central research library of the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw.
It is located in Bielanski Forest Nature Reserve, next to the historic Camaldolese Church and hermitage buildings, which date back to the 17th and 18th century.
The library was founded in 1954 with a 30,000-volume donation by the Theological Faculty of Warsaw and Jagiellionian Universities. Today, it is associated with the four other faculty libraries the University Library System, operating on two university campuses—Dewajtis and Wóycickiego, headed by the director of the University Library.
The University Library holds nearly 500,000 printed items, with literary collections concerning theology, philosophy, history, psychology, and social sciences. It is also well known for having the largest ecclesiastical sciences book collection in Poland.
The UKSW library is a member and the co-founder of the Federation of Church Libraries, also known as "Fides".

## History

The library started its activity on 3 November 1954 as a library of the Warsaw Theological Academy.
The main collection was merged from the donation of Theological Faculties of Warsaw University and Jagiellionian University. At the beginning of 1955, the collection had over 30,000 volumes.
At the beginnings the library suffered some difficulties due to the lack of staff and enough storage space. Books were located in many different buildings, which made them hardly accessible.
In March 1955, the main lecture room with the reference collection was opened. On 1 October 1955, the first rector of ATK, Rev. Associate Professor Jan Czuj, approved the library's new statute.
Similar to other academic library structures, departments of acquisition, cataloging of monographs and periodicals, stacks and circulation with main reading and lending room and were created.
Since the beginning, the university's Library aggregated academic literature, consisting mainly of theological, canon law, Christian philosophy, history and social sciences subject. In 1966, the library acquired book collections from other university faculties. Cooperation with other Polish and foreign libraries and research centers started over the next few years. This cooperation, which involved the purchase of new books and other donations, made the collection grow to almost 90,000 volumes in the beginning of the 70s. By 1982, the collection was already 153,000 volumes large, and grew to 200,000 in 1990 and 265.000 in 2003.
The Main Library has been expanded with the creation of new university faculties. First, the faculty library was established at the Faculty of Family Studies. Next, the libraries of the Faculties of Humanities, History, Social Sciences, Education, Law, and Administration were created. The Main Library adapted and extended its collection according to the profiles of new faculties.
For long-term preservation library established cooperation with other science centers and universities, including the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. One of the academy's research projects conducted the conservation of library's old prints and incurables compilation.
In the 1990s, the informatization of the Main Library started. In years 1993–1996, the OPAC catalogue for the monographs and old prints was created. In 1995, the Main Library, with two other libraries (the Library of the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Cracow, and the Library of the Metropolitan Seminary in Warsaw), and was co-founder of the Federation of the Church Libraries (Fides). One of the Fides' goals was computerization of library's processes. In 1997, the Main Library established Internet connection and launched its first webpage.
In 1999, the Warsaw Theological Academy was transformed into the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University. The Main Library was moved to a new building.

## Collection

Main Library gathers, preserves, and circulates interdisciplinary literature, with the dominance of humanities, theological, social sciences, and law publications. From the beginning of the 21st century, mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biological collections are also being gathered.
Collection of Main Library consists of (on day 31 December 2017):
| Books | 319 206 volumes |
| Periodicals | 123 849 volumes |
| Special collection | 39 418 volumes (29 239 manuscripts, 932 old prints, 2268 music sheets, 978 cartographic documents) |
One of the treasures of the library's old print collection is Biblia Sacra utriusque Testamenti, printed in 1530 in Nunberg. This Vulgate's Latin edition was published when the German translation of the New Testament was already announced by Martin Luther. It is covered with beautiful wood engravings attributed to Albrecht Dürer.
The library gathers collections of previous Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University professors, including Witold Tyloch, ks. Janusz Stanisław Pasierb, Czesław Zgorzelski, Andrzej Ciechanowiecki, Lothar Ruppert, and books of World Association of Home Army Soldiers.
The library preserves most valuable items and arranges their conservation and restoration process.
Since 2016, digital copies are published in Fides' Digital Library and Polona (National Library of Poland digital library).
The Main Library building has 1507 m$^2$ of space. Users can access the library's collection in two Reading Rooms (main and periodical), where 70 seats are available. Books can be borrowed by Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University students, doctoral students, researchers, and other employees. 24 computers connected to Internet with many academic databases and a self-service A3 scanner are also available.
Since 2016, the library is a member of a digital interlibrary loan system which gives access to Academica service (for books and periodicals).

## Structure

* Department of Scientific Information and Knowledge Transfer
* Circulation and Preservation Department
* Acquisition and Selection Department
* Cataloguing Department
* Library's branch at the Wóycicki Campus

## Library information system

The library's information system is managed by the Director of the Main Library. The Main Library is the base of the system connected with four faculty libraries:
* Library of Faculty of History and Social Sciences
* Library of Faculty of Humanities
* Library of Faculty of Education
* Library of Faculty of Law and Administration
* Library Heads and Directors
Heads
| 1954–1956 | MA Barbara Wilejszyc |
| 1956–1961 | Fr. MA Czesław Borawski |
| 1962–1966 | Fr. PhD Aleksander Grabowski |
Directors
| 1966–1971 | Fr. PhD Mirosław Szegda |
| 1971–1980 | Fr. PhD Czesław Baran OFM Conv |
| 1980–1983 | MA Andrzej Dziubecki |
| 1983–1991 | MA Andrzej Dubec (acting director) |
| 1991–2013 | Ma Piotr Latawiec |
| 2013-2018 | PhD Katarzyna Materska prof. UKSW |
| 2018- | MA Tomasz Winiarski (acting director) |