May Christmas be a time of joy, peace and positive energy, and may the New Year bring many interesting stories, not just in books!
Warm wishes from
The librarians
Library Automation
On 11–12 December 2025, the Jagiellonian Library in Krakow hosted the 15th anniversary edition of the nationwide conference ‘Library Automation’ under the slogan ‘Between Knowledge and Algorithm’, which we had the pleasure of attending.
The event was organised by: Association of Polish Librarians, Jagiellonian Library and Jagiellonian University.
The event was an opportunity to summarise over 30 years of changes in Polish libraries and to reflect on their future in a world of dynamic technological development. During the
conference, issues related to the development of information technology in librarianship, system interoperability, data repositories, the accessibility of digital services and the changing role of librarians were discussed. The topic of artificial intelligence, which in a very short time has gone from a futuristic vision to a real tool for everyday work, was particularly prominent.
The two days were filled with inspiring presentations, exchanges of experiences and discussions on how libraries can function and develop ‘between knowledge and algorithms’.
We would like to thank everyone involved in organising the conference for their hard work, inspiring presentations and the excellent atmosphere of the event.
We would like to express our special thanks to Ms Małgorzata Kusak, Head of the Jagiellonian Library Organisation Department, and Ms Aleksandra Prokop-Kacprzak, Head of the Jagiellonian Library Access Department, for their hospitality and for giving us the opportunity to visit the Jagiellonian Library.
We would also like to thank the staff of the Jagiellonian Library Accessibility Centre for their openness, conversations and willingness to share their experiences. This visit was an extremely valuable opportunity for learning and inspiration. We hope that it will also mark the beginning of further fruitful cooperation.
Meeting of NUKAT system librarians
On 28 November, Anna Zielińska (Library Director) and Kamila Różycka (Junior Librarian) took part in an event bringing together NUKAT system librarians. The first part of the meeting featured a report on this year's work at the NUKAT Centre of the University Library in Warsaw.
What is NUKAT?
NUKAT is the National Universal Catalogue, a central bibliographic database of books, journals, multimedia materials, maps, sheet music, etc., made available by many scientific and academic libraries in Poland and abroad.
Cooperation between the Lazarski University Library and NUKAT
· Lazarski University joined NUKAT in December 2012 and since then has been actively participating in co-cataloguing, i.e. entering descriptions of books, journals and other materials from its library collections into NUKAT.
Benefits of cooperation with NUKAT
· Greater visibility of collections — the resources of the Lazarski University Library are becoming available not only to its users, but potentially to the entire academic community in Poland and users of NUKAT and the WorldCat global catalogue.
· Savings in time and resources for cataloguing — the library can download ready-made, high-quality bibliographic records from NUKAT, which speeds up cataloguing and unifies data.
· Opportunity for cooperation and exchange between libraries — the presence of a university in the NUKAT network means that the library becomes part of a larger community, which can facilitate the exchange of resources, interlibrary loans and cooperation
· Access to specialist training — the opportunity to develop bibliographic competences and skills, membership of an elite librarian community centred around the NUKAT catalogue.
Our representatives also had the opportunity to listen to inspiring lectures on the implementation of the FOLIO open-source system in the United States Library of Congress, from concept to operation.
The second part of the training focused on artificial intelligence, discussing global trends in relation to the Polish reality. The last panel concerned the opportunities, threats and consequences of the AI Metadata Assistant.
An additional attraction was a display of old prints in the Old Prints Reading Room of the University of Warsaw Library.
Opening of the Research Library
On 19 September, Kamila Wosińska and Kamila Różycka, representatives of our library, took part in the official opening of the Research Library at the Pilecki Institute's new Warsaw headquarters, located at 82 Sienna Street. The event featured a ribbon-cutting ceremony and commemorative speeches, as well as a guided tour of the library and a presentation of its collections. Following the official part, a captivating debate was held: 'Do Research Libraries Still Matter in the Age of Post-Truth?', featuring Dr. hab. Katarzyna Masterska, Aleksandra Siuciak and Dr Agnieszka Witkowska-Krych and moderated by Dr hab. Damian Markowski.
