Treść książki
Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
16
HincOmnia-theIdeaoftheConference
Teturbulenthistoryofpost-partitionPoland,nationaluprisings,twoworld
wars,plundering,deliberatedestruction,lootinganddisposalofculturalgoods
bytheinvadersandoccupantsallcausedhugelossesinthecollectionsofthe
UniversityofWarsawLibrary(morethan90percentinsomedepartments),
whichuntilWorldWarIIhadbeenthelargestandtherichestlibraryinPoland.
Diminutionofitsoriginalcollectionsalsoresultedfromthetransfertothe
newlyestablishedNationalLibraryofPoland(1928)ofselectedpartsofthemost
valuablecollections,recoveredundertheTreatyofRiga(1921)orafer1945.
Nevertheless,thecollectionsoftheEarlyPrintedBooksDepartment,thePrint
Room,theManuscriptsDepartment,theMusicDepartment,theNineteenth-
CenturyPublicationsDepartment,theMapsDepartment,ortheEphemera
Department,whichhavebeenpreserved,reconstructed,andexpanded,areamong
thelargestandmostoutstandingintermsofbothnumbersandhistorical,artis-
tic,andculturalvalue.Collectionsofthistypeareofendifculttoorganiseor
preservebecausetheyrequirespecifictreatment,protection,andcirculation,
acollectiondevelopmentpolicybasedonexpertknowledgeofthelibrary,as
wellasspecificresearchandcataloguingmethods,andalsothesolvingofter-
minologicalproblems.
Beingawareoftheimportanceofthediscussionandexchangeofexperience
onthesetopics,wewantedtoinitiateastandingresearchconferenceunderthe
commontitleofHincOmnia.Historical,Artistic,andSpecialCollectionsinLibraries
andOtherCulturalInstitutions,organisedbytheUniversityofWarsawLibrary
everytwoyearsasadomesticmeetingandeveryfouryearsasaninternational
one.Eachconference,supportedsubstantivelybytheProgrammeBoard,wasto
begivenaprofiledsubtitlespecifyingitsproposedscope.Intheinauguraledi-
tionin2017,itread:Nineteenth-CenturyCollections.Organisation,Terminology,
ResearchMethodology,Conservation.Tetopicwaschosendeliberately,asthe
UniversityofWarsawLibraryhassetaprecedentbyseparating19th-century
publications(booksandperiodicals)fromthemaincollection(Fig.1).Tispro-
cesshasnotyetbeencompleted,mostlyduetologistical,organisational,and
technicalreasons,themainobstaclebeingthelackofseparateandsufciently
largestoragespacethatwouldmeetconservationandtechnicalstandards(Fig.2).
Regardlessofthefinalsolutiontothisproblem,in2017-aferconsultingtheteam
oftheNineteenth-CenturyPublicationsDepartmentandconsideringdińerent
options-Idecided(asthethenDirectoroftheUniversityofWarsawLibrary)
tocreateareadingroomdedicatedexclusivelytothesecollections.Teargu-
mentsthatprevailedconcernedtheneedtoensurepropertreatmentofthese
objects,respectingtheirspecificityandthespecialrequirementsandconditions
ofcirculation,followingconservationstandardsandguidelinesforsensitivehis-
toricobjects.Wefoundasuitableplace,carriedoutthenecessaryadaptation
works,equippedthenewreadingroomwithaspecialisedreferencecollection,
