Prace Józefa Grycza nad organizacją bibliotekarstwa publicznego w latach 1945-1949. Część I

The post-war organization of public libraries attained utmost importance among the numerous initiatives undertaken by J. Grycz upon his employment (1 April 1945) by the Department of Libraries, within the Ministry of Education of the so-called Interim Government of the Republic of Poland. To this end he intended to introduce the solutions, which he worked out during the long years of the German occupation, and which were a development of his legislative initiatives brought forward already before the Second World War. The draft of the novel library law was ready as early as April 1945, but, as a result of consultations with representatives of the librarian milieu, inter-ministry co-ordinations, and numerous amendments introduced under pressures exerted by various governmental instytutions, the passing of the law was constantly postponed. Finally, the bill was passed as the ‘Library and Library Collections Decree’ by the Interim Government of National Unity on 31 January 1946. After further amendments, the Decree was confirmed by the State National Council in March 1946, and went into force on 17 April of the same year. The article analyzes the participation of J. Grycz in the legislative process, and brings out the various interests which influenced the final version of the act. It is chiefly based on Grycz’s predominantly unpublished private correspondence in the Grycz files, kept at the Manuscript Department of the Polish National Library in Warsaw. Part two of this article, dealing with the activities of J. Grycz as the head of the Central Directorate of Libraries with respect to the various aspects of functioning of the public libraries within the new legal framework, will be published in the next volume of this journal.