Basic Partner info
The Main Library was established in 1945 and opened in May 1947. At the time of its opening, the book collection numbered 44,000 volumes, and the foundations of the collection were formed by the holdings of numerous institutions, manor, school, and private libraries – mainly from the Pomerania region – as well as donations from national and international libraries. The Library’s first location was the building of the Toruń Scientific Society, where librarians gathered and processed collections from June 1945. Later, the Nicolaus Copernicus University Library changed its location twice more. First, in 1947, it received an independent building on Chopina Street, and in 1973, it moved to a new building, specially designed and built for it in the academic campus in Toruń’s Bielany district. Today, the Main Library and other faculty libraries from Toruń and Bydgoszcz form a unified library and information network called the University Library. The University Museum, which collects artifacts of Polish cultural heritage, including that of the Polish diaspora, is also part of the Library.
Since 1947, the Library has received legal deposit copies of publications issued in Poland, accepts numerous donations, and exchanges books and journals with both Polish and foreign institutions, which forms the core of its main collection. The acquisition of special collections, which reflect not only the tradition of the region, university, or city but also extend beyond the country’s borders, is also significant for the University. Special collections include Pomeranica, Baltica, Vilniana, Copernicana, Toruniensia, and émigré collections.
However, from the perspective of a modern scientific and research institution, the most important aspects at present are the electronic services and resources that the library provides in various forms (e-books, e-journals, articles, digital maps, ephemeral prints, etc.) on different platforms. These support and accelerate innovation and scientific exchange. All traditional and electronic resources constitute a collection of over 3 million items, which serve both scientific research and academic teaching.