J. ZALEWSKI’S ACTIVITY AS DIRECTOR OF THE CENTRAL POLISH STATE LIBRARY IN KIEV IN1925–1931

Abstract

The purpose of the article is an attempt to discover and analyze the activity of J. А. Zalewski (1894–?) аs director of the Central Polish State Library in Kiev in 1925–1931, on the background of the development of the main components of its functioning, to characterize the main achievements of his personal contribution as a director of the library in connection with the formation of the book collection as one of the leading library institutions in the city. In his scientific work the author has widely used historical-comparative, historical-genetic, statistical, chronological, biographical methods of research, the method of diachronic analysis, etc. The article analyzes the main socio-cultural factors of the development of the Central Polish State Library in Kiev, the dynamics of the main library components of its work and the main directions and achievements of book collections under the direction of J. А. Zalevsky during the specified period. Against the background of the characteristics of J. А. Zalevsky’s activity as a library director, the growth of book collections, composition and range of library readers, their reading interests, as well as the dynamics of the main library activity indicators of book collections under the direction of J. А. Zalevsky were investigated. The main directions of the work of J. А. Zalevsky as director of book collections and the sphere of the most important tasks of the library during the studied period are identified and characterized. The importance of activity of J. А. Zalevsky as a director of the library through the prism of the main tendencies of its development is analyzed. It was found that the sustainable development and successful activity of the Central Polish State Library in Kiev under of the direction J. А. Zalewski in 1925–1931 were limited by the shortcomings of the material and technical base, lack of funds, lack of systematic acquisition of books in Polish language, insufficient the number of publications published in Polish on the territory of the country, as well as political and socio-cultural factors of the country’s social life in the conditions of strengthening of the state totalitarian regime of the party bureaucracy and the curtailment of gender roots of rooting, ”which began at the turn of the 1920s‑1930s. However, thanks to J. Zalewski’s leadership, despite all the obstacles and objective difficulties, the work of the Central Polish State Library in Kyiv during the second half of the 1920s evolved steadily. Slowly, the bookstore was transformed into a cultural, educational, scientific and organizational-methodical center, which provided not only ordinary readers but also many experts who studied the history and culture of the Polish and Ukrainian peoples with the necessary information sources and bibliographic materials. Under the guidance of J. Zalewski of the Central Polish State Library in Kiev actively carried out cultural-educational,cultural-mass, educational and scientific-bibliographic work, in particular in book collections organized classes with graduate students, held certain measures to improve the skills of library staff of Polish libraries, organized exhibitions, lectures, creative evenings, exchange of library experience and more. Under the pretext of J. Zalewski, employees of the Central Polish State Library in Kiev carried out extensive organizational and methodological work; created Polish mobile libraries serving the Polish population in remote regions of the country; helped to organize new Polish departments at district book collections in many cities of Ukraine. It was at the turn of the 1920s‑1930s, when the institution was headed by J. Zalewski, that the greatest growth rate of development of the Central Polish State Library in Kiev was observed, when a certain network of Polish libraries, reading rooms and clubs was almost formed in the Ukrainian SSR.