Research Library of the Polish Composers' Union
Logo of the Library
TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF ACCESSING THE LIBRARY’S COLLECTIONS AND INFORMATION RESOURCES
I. The Research Library of the Polish Composers’ Union is run by the Polish Composers’ Union in accordance with the Cultural Activities Act of 25 October 1991 and the Library Act of 27 June 1997. Following a decision of 29 June 2020 of the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Prof. Piotr Gliński, the Library was granted the status of a research library. Following a decision of 31 December 2021 of the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Prof. Piotr Gliński, the Library was made part of the national library network.
II. The mission of the Library and Recording Library of the Polish Composers’ Union – Polish Music Information Centre POLMIC is to promote and disseminate Polish music at home and abroad, to make constant efforts to perform the functions of a research library operating within the national library network with dignity and for the benefit of culture and scholarship, as well as their creators and recipients.
III. In line with its mission, the Research Library of the Polish Composers’ Union makes its collections and information resources available to all interested parties from Poland and other countries without any restrictions. The Research Library of the Polish Composers’ Union does not charge any fees for making its collections and information resources available to users.
IV. The collections and information resources are made available to users on site and remotely. The on-site mode means that the collections are made available for viewing in the reading room and that certain categories of items can be borrowed outside. In the remote mode items are made available via various websites, including the Polish Composers’ Union’s own digital library, as well as other means of electronic communication.
V. The collections and information resources are made available in accordance with applicable law, in particular copyright law (Copyright and Related Rights Act of 4 February 1994, as amended), exclusively for purposes that fall within the category of permitted personal use as described in the Act. Users must take into account the restrictions and obligations imposed by applicable law.
VI. In order to use of the collections and information resources of the Research Library of the Polish Composers’ Union, each User must create an account in the integrated library system of the Research Library of the Polish Composers’ Union. This includes consent to receiving notifications generated by the system as well as consent to direct e-mail and telephone contact (in reasonable cases), and the obligation to immediately update personal data in the system should the data change. The account is created free of charge.
VII. Personal data are processed by the Library only for the purpose of providing services to the User, documenting its own activities and for statistical purposes required by law.
VIII. After creating an account in the integrated library system of the Research Library of the Polish Composers’ Union, the User receives a card number as well as system login information. The User is obliged to use their account and monitor the status of items, in particular those on loan.
IX. In the case of minors, the account application, consent to the processing of personal data and acceptance of the terms and conditions should be confirmed by a legal guardian.
X. Borrowing certain items from outside may require a deposit that will be returned to the User when the borrowed item has been returned to the Library. If the borrowed item is returned late, the amount returned may be reduced in relation to the amount of the deposit paid.
XI. In the case of a considerable delay in the return of the borrowed items, additional fines may be imposed; in the case of persistent or recurring problems with return of items on time, the User’s account may be deactivated and the Library may take steps prescribed by law to recover the items.
XII. Items that are not for loan include archive materials, items from the reference library as well as particularly valuable items. Except in special, justified cases, the Library User may borrow outside a maximum of five items. A return date is set when the items are borrowed by the User. Before the due date the User must return the borrowed items or extend the loan period – directly in the integrated library system through the User’s account, or in person, by phone or e-mail.
XIII. Use of the collections and information resources of the Research Library of the Polish Composers’ Union is possible upon acceptance of these Terms and Conditions.
Warsaw, 2 March 2023
In the library room
The Library of the Polish Composers’ Union was organised shortly after the proclamation of the Union (August–September 1945, the 1st General Assembly of the Polish Composers’ Union in Cracow).
The oldest preserved documents, dating from the late 40. of the 20th century, show from the very beginning an interesting process of organisation here not only a music library, but also a documentation and information centre, focused on Polish (especially contemporary) music.
Such a course was maintained during further decades of the library activities, and was intensified at the end of the 20th century.
As a consequence, in 1998, the Library became Poland’s representative in the International Association of Music Information Centres IAMIC.
In 2001, on the basis of the Library the Polish Music Information Centre was organised and the Polmic.pl website was launched.
In 2020, the Library got the official status of the research library (decision of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage of the 29th June, 2020).
In the library room
The Research Library of the Polish Composers’ Union
- collects and makes available books, periodicals, and other publications on Polish music,
- boasts Poland’s largest collection of scores by contemporary Polish composers,
- possesses a vast collection of Polish contemporary music recordings, in the form of CDs released by professional music labels, radio recordings, and its own documentation of concerts held by the PCU,
- collects and makes available the writings of Polish musicologists and music theorists,
- makes available in the reading room PCU’s archival documents concerning music life and composition in Poland after World War II,
- develops and maintains its own (Poland’s largest) database of contemporary Polish composers and their works that can be accessed online,
- is open to visitors from Poland and abroad.
Mieczysław Kominek PhD – director
Izabela Zymer – assistant director
dr Wiktoria Antonczyk PhD – (a.o.) Polmic.pl, social media
Beata Dźwigaj – (a.o.) music databases, sheet music
Filip Wróblewski – (a.o.) archive material of the Polish Composers’ Union at Zbioryspołeczne.pl, printed materials, photos
Aleksandra Dunin – (a.o.) KOHA online, audiovisual materials, digitalisation and online publication projects
Jakub Tomczak – (a.o.) KOHA online catalogue
Our collaborators:
Agnieszka Cieślak-Krupa PhD – POLMIC digital archive (archiwumcyfrowe.polmic.pl), international projects
Anna Grygowska – graphic designer
Marcin Równicki, Jadwiga Irena Zymer – IT processes
Maria Kominek-Karolak, Tomasz Zymer – translations
Formal and financial matters:
Małgorzata Pliwka – Economical Director, Chief Accountant of the Polish Composers’ Union
Monika Weiss, Mateusz Felisiak – accountancy of the Polish Composers’ Union
Decyzja Ministra Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego z 29 czerwca 2020 r. - nadanie naszej placówce statusu biblioteki naukowej.
Obwieszczenie Ministra Kultury, Dziedzictwa Narodowego i Sportu z 27 stycznia 2021 r. w sprawie ogłoszenia jednolitego tekstu rozporządzenia Ministra Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego w sprawie sposobu i trybu zaliczania bibliotek do niektórych bibliotek naukowych oraz ustalenia ich wykazu.
Decyzja Ministra Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego z 13 grudnia 2021 r. - włączenie naszej placówki do ogólnokrajowej sieci bibliotecznej.
Sprawozdanie biblioteki naukowej z działalności w latach 2018-2021.
Sprawozdanie z działalności Biblioteki w latach 2019-2023.
Izabela Zymer, Polish Music Information
Centre POLMIC – Library of the
Polish Composers’ Union, w: Polish Music Culture Resources in Libraries and Archives, red. Stanisław Hrabia, Publishing House of the Polish Librarians’ Association, Warszawa 2018, s. 54–56.
Izabela Zymer, Biblioteka Związku Kompozytorów Polskich na półmetku swojej drogi do nowoczesności. O projektach modernizacji infrastruktury i usług realizowanych w latach 2022–2023, „Bibliotekarz” 11/2023, s. 17–24.
Biblioteka Naukowa ZKP –
Polskie Centrum Informacji Muzycznej POLMIC
2022–2025
.
