To describe the history of the Jagiellonian Library (Biblioteka Jagiellońska), Cracow, Poland up to the present time.
The paper presents a narrative and factual account of the library's past and present development in the broader context of Polish history.
The strengths of the collection are summarised, as well as the historical role of the library, which has emerged as the second national library of Poland.
The paper is only able to present a summary of the library's collection strengths, though more scholarly analyses are listed for further reading.
The paper gives historical insight into the development of a rich, historic library collection and explores how such a collection can maintain a vital relationship with the identity of a nation – in this case, Poland.
This paper raises awareness of some hitherto unfamiliar facts about Polish Library history, highlighting aspects of the Jagiellonian Library's possibly unique position in world library history.
