National Reading Development Programme 2.0 adopted
On June 21 the Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sport announced that it will be extending the National Reading Development Programme for the years 2021–2025. The National Library of Poland will be responsible for implementing Priority 1 of the Programme: Improving the offer of public libraries. This involves the purchase of new publications for libraries and the development of a national library network.
In terms of its financial scale, the National Reading Development Programme represents the largest multiyear programme run by the Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sport in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Science. Three national cultural institutions are involved in coordinating the Programme – the National Library of Poland, the Book Institute (Instytut Książki) and the National Centre for Culture Poland (Narodowe Centrum Kultury) – alongside the Department of Curricula and Textbooks (Departament Programów Nauczania i Podręczników) of the Polish Ministry of Education and Science. Together they will implement the priorities of the Programme, which are as follows:
- Priority 1: Improving the offer of public libraries
- Priority 2: Investing in public library infrastructure
- Priority 3: Purchasing new publications for pre-school facilities and school and pedagogical libraries
- Priority 4: Grant programme for libraries and the promotion of reading
Under the first priority, the National Library of Poland will perform two tasks:
- 1.1. Purchase of new publications and provision of remote access. This is the continuation of an earlier priority Purchase of new publications for public libraries. Between 2021 and 2025 it will now be possible to provide financial assistance to local governments for the financing of activities by libraries, including the purchase of books. Under the Programme it will be possible to purchase not only printed books but also – in response to needs expressed by the users of public libraries – remote access to publications in the form of e-books, audiobooks and SynchroBooks. Individual libraries will decide which books they want to buy and to what extent they should be printed or digital; librarians know best what books are needed in their communities. The National Reading Development Programme 2.0 provides libraries with secure funding for purchases and enables local governments to predict the size of their own contribution up to 2025.
- 1.2. Building a nationwide network of libraries through the introduction of an integrated library resources management system. This will involve implementing and maintaining a single system (Alma and Primo) linking the catalogues of almost 500 different libraries so as to facilitate access to information about the collections held by Polish libraries for users all over the country.