It has been 170 years since the Scientific Library of the PAAS and the PAS operating within the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences has been gathering, developing, and protecting its invaluable collections and making them available. Although the PAAS began its activity
in 1815, together with the establishment of the Cracow Scientific Society, it was only in the Statute of 1856 when the Library was included in the Society.

Therefore, due to the anniversary, we would like to devote this year conference to the issue of collections gathered for a specific, often specialised group of readers, which does not however exclude their openness.

To celebrate this great anniversary, we invite you to participate in an international conference titled “Bibliotheca nostra” – the libraries of scientific societies, associations, assemblies, museums and archives which will be held on 19–20 November 2026 in Krakow.

This is “Bibliotheca nostra”, our library – the library of e.g. societies, associations, museums, archives, assemblies – initially not necessarily public and available for all the willing, though possessing specialised collections. We invite you to consider the histories of that kind of libraries regarding their basic tasks and stories as well as the present state of complete collections recording the history of no-longer existing organisations, or possibly well-functioning stocks supporting their current activity. On the other hand – is it sensible to gather thematic, reference collections dedicated to a specific group of experts now, in times of an increasing on-line availability of open resources? Or maybe it is the digitalisation and sharing that create perfect environment for commonness and removing barriers to the use of specialised resources and knowledge?

Librarians, museologists, archivists, bibliologists, historians, conservators, and scientists whose research focuses on this kind of collections are welcomed to both take active participation in the event and as visitors. The aim of the meeting will be an interdisciplinary reflection on both the past and current problems related to these collections.

The event will be accompanied by presentations of our most valuable collections and a guided tour around the Library.