Facility information:
The National Library, as part of its status activities, has for many years supported the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in America (PIASA), the Kosciuszko Foundation (FK), the Pontifical Institute of Church Studies and the Rome Foundation named after Margrabina J. Z. Umiastowska. The National Book Depository supports the above-mentioned institutions, which face a shortage of qualified staff on a daily basis, by sending its specialists to catalogue, organise and process the collections of Polish institutions, while at the same time training the local staff and volunteers in cataloguing the collections and operating the database. Training, if needed, is provided by BN specialists on-site at the institutions as part of the project (at no additional cost). Thanks to the BN's support, it is also possible to identify numerous previously unknown Polonica stored in Roman libraries. Both access to the database of the Libraries of the Polish American community and to the BN catalogue, in which data on Roman polonics is made available, is free of charge.

Work completed:
The grant was used to support Polish-American institutions storing and collecting collections documenting Polish cultural heritage abroad, in particular by providing assistance in their processing, cataloguing and ensuring appropriate preservation conditions.

As part of this year's phase, work was carried out on cataloguing the collections at the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in America (PIASA) and the collections of the Kosciuszko Foundation in New York. Assistance was also provided to the Pontifical Institute of Ecclesiastical Studies and the Rome Foundation named after Margrabina J. Z. Umiastowska in registering old prints from Rome libraries.

The catalogue data obtained as part of the project will be made public and available to all interested parties. Both the Polish American Library catalogue and the BN catalogue are available online. The data they contain can be searched using software that facilitates internet browsing for the visually impaired and blind.

Funding: Programme of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage "Protection of Cultural Heritage Abroad".

More about the project: https://polonika.pl

• Biblioteka Narodowa, realizacja w roku 2023.