Within the last ten years Poland has initiated a number of projects aiming to digitize Polish publications and making them available to a wide spectrum of users. This guide is an attempt to aid in navigating these projects and locating the full-text Polish publications in electronic format, both monographs and periodicals. The most important site described is undoubtedly the Federacja Bibliotek Cyfrowych = Digital Libraries Federation, which enables simultaneous searching of over 70 Polish digital libraries. The guide also lists other projects, which are not a part of the Federation. These latter ones are divided by subject. Most of the sites included in the guide are of a non-profit type. A few commercial project were included, however, to signal the growing number of such initiatives.
The growth of digitization initiatives in Poland is extremely robust, with new projects constantly coming to the fore and existing projects being radically expanded. Thus, this guide makes no pretense of total and absolute coverage of all electronic publications available on the Polish internet. It will undoubtedly need to be revisited in the future and updated as new sites come online. However, for the present day, it captures the major initiatives available, and hopefully will be of use to researchers seeking access to full-text items in Polish.
Polish e-books and Polish electronic-format periodicals on the open Web
Locating Polish electronic books and periodicals on the internet is facilitated by two services provided by Nowy EBIB ( Elektroniczny Biuletyn Informacyjny Bibliotekarzy):
- Biblioteki cyfrowe w Polsce
Within the site Biblioteki cyfrowe, the information is grouped as follows:
• National libraries
• Regional libraries
• Institutional libraries
• Other digital collections
Each grouping provides URLs to the appropriate locations. All the links are accompanied by brief annotations.
Within the site Open Access of particular interest is:
- The section Polskie zasoby otwarte provides links to several Polish repositories of full text materials, and most importantly to the site of the Federacja Bibliotek Cyfrowych (under the link Polskie biblioteki cyfrowe)
Federacja Bibliotek Cyfrowych (FBC) (Digital Libraries Federation)
Here you can find the English language version
This site provides the most complete information on the digital holdings of Polish digital libraries and repositories linked within the PIONIER network, and allows for access to these materials.
The materials collected by the library are created by a number of scholarly and public institutions, such as universities, libraries, archives, museums, and research centers. The scanned documents are of all types: monographs, periodicals, fine art works, maps, music, as well as artifacts of public and political life.
The FBC site is maintained by the Poznańskie Centrum Superkomputerowo-Sieciowe affiliated with the Instytut Chemii Bioorganicznej PAN, and its development is conducted by Zespół Bibliotek Cyfrowych PCSS.
The main goals of the above service are as follows:
• Facilitating access to the holdings of Polish digital libraries and depositories
• Increasing the visibility and popularization of the Polish digital libraries
• Making available to both internet users and creators of digital libraries of new, advanced services, based on the resources of Polish digital libraries
FBC provides the following services:
• Simple and complex searches within the existing and planned digital entities
• Detecting existing duplicates and preventing their creation
• Reviewing the digitization plans, as well as collecting the plans for digitization of online libraries. The ability to search for information within these plans is a unique ability of FBC. This program is aimed at facilitating the coordination of digitization efforts in Poland and prevention of duplicate projects.
• Creation of reports and statistics of the materials available through the FBC.
The data are made available free of charge and users are not required to contribute their digitized publication to the FBC repository. Federacja Bibliotek Cyfrowych fulfills the role of a service allowing to locate holdings of digitized publications distributed through out various Polish digital libraries, however it is not meant as a platform to publish these holdings. That is why IchB PAN PCSS (FBC’s parent institution) relinquishes any responsibility for the materials published in the digital libraries accessible trough FBC. The FBC service is based on the OWOC programming, as well as the exchange of metadata developed within the works of the project dLibra.
Federacja Bibliotek Cyfrowych provides the following capabilities:
• Searching
• Browsing
• Access to Digital Libraries
Searching options:
• By bibliographic description
• By OAI identifier
• Advanced
The function Search by description ( wyszukiwanie wg opisu ) allows for searching bibliographic descriptions of digital publications which are:
• Currently available in Polish digital libraries and repositories, which make their materials available to FBC
• Planned to be made available by Polish digital libraries and repositories within FBC
• Available within the Europeana system
It is possible to search using an entire description or by its part (such author, title, keywords). The user is directed from the search results to the page where the item is stored.
It is possible to narrow the results of the search using:
• Type of publication (already available, or planned)
• Source of publication (names of digital libraries which hold particular items)
The form of search by identifier (wg identyfikatora) allows to locate a digital item on the basis of its unique OAI (Open Archives Initiative) identifier. The format of the identifier is as follows:
oai: <repository domain>: <identifiers of the item in the repository>
For example:
Advanced search combines the ability of searching available and planned items, adding the possibility of constructing compound logical search strings based on Boolean operators.
Browsing
This part of the site allows for browsing the following types of items:
• Items recently added
• Items recently accessed by FBC users
• Items most often accessed within the last 30 days by users of Polish digital libraries
• Items recommended by particular digital libraries
Digital libraries
Within this section of the site we find, among others:
• The listing of Polish digital libraries
• Reports
In the listing of Polish digital libraries we find alphabetically by name:
• Digital libraries that are operational and affiliated with the FBC
• Digital libraries that are operational, not affiliated with the FBC
• Planned projects
Clicking on the name of a digital library directs the user to information about the library, including a link to its homepage.
Projects which are not searchable via the FBC
Periodicals
Czasopisma polskie w wersji cyfrowej – an alphabetical list of digital journals, Polish or connected with Poland, available in various Polish digital libraries.
The goal of the project is ensuring a broad access to the leading titles of the Polish press and Polish scholarly journals by their digitization. It is a joint undertaking of the Biblioteka Narodowa (BN) and Biblioteka Uniwersytecka (BUW) in Warsaw.
The project focuses on digitizing microform copies of periodicals, rather than the hard-copy originals. This is driven by the equipment available to BUW and the rich collection of periodical microforms of BN. The National Library has been preserving and completing runs of Polish periodicals on microfilm for over 40 years and has thus secured over 3000 complete runs of periodicals, not held by any other Polish institution. The digitization project is intended to provide access to this unique collection for patrons who do not have access to BN stacks.
The results can be viewed on the home pages of BUW and BN. The creators go to great lengths to assure the good quality of scans and simplicity and logical search format. The sites use tables of contents, which allow for broader searches (by year, volume, article). If all the parts of the citation are missing a simple search (year, volume) is available, but it is augmented by providing thumbnails of all pages of a particular periodical.
Until 2005 this project was conducted by and financed solely by BUW. In 2006 the project was joined by the libraries of Muzeum Sportu i Turystyki and those of Szkoła Główna Handlowa in Warsaw. On their initiative and financial support large runs of Przegląd Sportowy, Przegląd Gospodarczy and Życie Gospodarcze were digitized. Also the following titles were digitized:
1. Ateneum. [w zasobach e-bUW] – Warszawa: 1876-1898.
2. Ateneum Wileńskie. – Wilno: 1923-1939.
3. Co Tydzień. [w zasobach e-bUW] – Warszawa: 1915.
4. Czasopismo Skarbowe [w zasobach e-bUW] – Warszawa: 1926-1939.
5. Dziennik Lubelski. [w zasobach e-bUW] – Lublin: 1932.
6. Gazeta Bankowa. [w zasobach e-bUW] - Lwów: 1921-1938.
7. Głos Kamiennej. [w zasobach e-bUW] – Kamienna [Skarżysko-Kamienna]: 1925.
8. Głos Podlasia. [w zasobach e-bUW] – Siedlce: 1910-1915.
9. Jeniec Polak: [w zasobach e-bUW] – Le Puy: 1917-1919.
10. Kobieta w Sejmie. [w zasobach e-bUW] – Warszawa: 1919.
11. Kurier dla Wszystkich. [w zasobach e-bUW] – Warszawa : 1914-1915.
12. Lutnista. [w zasobach e-bUW] – Warszawa: 1905-1907.
13. Lwów i Wilno. [w zasobach e-bUW] – Londyn: 1946–1948.
14. Merkuriusz Polski. – Kraków: 1661.
15. Monitor Polski. – Warszawa: 1918-1919, 1929.
16. Polityka Gospodarcza. [w zasobach e-bUW] – Łódź: 1935.
17. Prosto z Mostu. [w zasobach e-bUW] – Warszawa: 1935-1939.
18. Przegląd Gospodarczy. – Warszawa: 1920-1939.
19. Przegląd Lwowski. [w zasobach e-bUW] – Lwów: 1871-1883.
20. Przegląd Narodowy. – Warszawa: 1908-1921.
21. Przegląd Sportowy. – Kraków: 1921-1939, 1945-1959.
22. Przemysł i Handel. [w zasobach e-bUW] – Warszawa: 1920.
23. Ruch Muzyczny. [w zasobach e-bUW] – Warszawa: 1857-1861.
24. Skamander. – Warszawa: 1920-1928, 1935-1939.
25. Tygodnik Handlowy. – Warszawa: 1919-1936.
26. Ziemia Brzeska. [w zasobach e-bUW] – Brześć Litewski: 1919–1920.
27. Życie Gospodarcze. – Katowice: 1945/46-1980.
Work on transferring the holdings (zasoby) e-KCzP to e-bUW. Titles and/or years transferred from e-KCzP are clearly marked. Please note: there may be problems in using the collections of e-KCzP in the DjVu format when using Mozilla Firefox. In such cases the users should use other browsers.
Polish Press on the Internet
Prasa w Internecie is a joint project of Biblioteka Instytutu Literatury Polskiej and Instytut Kultury Polskiej UW.
This project of digitizing periodicals was at its inception in 2000 the first attempt in Poland to create a model for digital presentation of archival periodical holdings. Until then there had been no attempts to digitize 19th-century periodicals.
As the pilot attempts two journals were selected, Tygodnik Ilustrowany and Chimera. The choice was dictated by the overall quality of the journals, as well as their rich illustrative matter.
Also, both journals varied greatly in their format, so their choice allowed for testing of the available technology and the methods of presenting of old imprints in the digital medium. Tygodnik Ilustrowany was considerably larger in its format than Chimera, thus its scans produced files of much larger size, which affected the speed of the image transmission. This is of particular importance in Polish internet networks which often do not allow for high-speed download. The project creators experimented with various methods of compressing the files to overcome this problem.
In the case of Chimera the entire run of the periodical which appeared irregularly in the years 1901-1907 was digitized. This amounted to 10 volumes (30 issues, over 5, 500 pages). In the case of Tygodnik Ilustrowany, due to the challenges of the format, only the first 7 years (1859-1865) were included.
Both of these publications are quite rare and almost no libraries own the entire runs. Thus for the purposes of the project the holdings of the following libraries were used: Biblioteka Instytutu Literatury Polskiej Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, Instytut Kultury Polskiej Wydziału Polonistyki Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, Biblioteka Instytutu Badań Literackich Polskiej Akademii Nauk, and Biblioteka Główna Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego.
The issues displayed on the site contain hypertext cross-references which greatly aid in navigation, and return to previously viewed images. Hypertext indexes of the contents of particular volumes are provided. In the case of Chimera there is also available a database showing the contents of the periodical. The database is constructed on the basis of the makwww software, a product of the Biblioteka Narodowa. The site provides points of access for color illustrations, both covers and lithographic inserts.
Wprost – This periodical allows for free search of its archive starting with 1998. Full text access is unlimited, except for the latest four issues.
Gazeta Wyborcza – The popular „Wyborcza” offers access to its archives going back to 1989. Through several options of electronic payment one can gain access to full text of articles for different periods of time. The range varies from one access of 5, 60, 200 minutes, to seven days. A monthly subscription is also available.
Rzeczpospolita – This newspaper’s archive goes back to 1993. It can be subscribed to on various plans (1,3,12 months).
Encyclopedias and dictionaries
Internetowa Encyklopedia – this encyclopedia produced by PWN contains over 90, 000 entries and is foudn on the portal wp.pl
Encyklopedie (on the Portal Wiedzy Onet)
In the section Encyklopedie on the Portal Wiedzy Onet one can find hundreds of thousands of entries of a number of encyclopedias and lexicons.
By visiting this section the user has access to the following publications:
Wielka Interaktywna Encyklopedia Multimedialna edycja 2006 (WIEM 2006) – WIEM ist the first polish encyclopedia available on the internet since 1998, and since 2000, a part of the portal Onet.pl. WIEM has been created on the basis of the Popularna Encyklopedia Powszechna (20 volumes plus supplement) published by Oficyna Wydawnicza Fogra, and Multimedialna Encyklopedia Powszechna (MEP). The current edition of WIEM contains over 125,000 entries and approx. 9,000 multimedia items. It is the best illustrated encyclopedia within the Polish internet. Its entries contain links to internet pages, and the creators take care in maintaining the up to date status of the entries.
Leksykon biznesu (author: Józef Penc, Wydawnictwo Placet, 1997) – is an item dedicated to business matters, which in an easily accessible way organizes and provides explanation for the language of business. All the entries contain their English equivalents. The item contains 2,300 entries.
Encyklopedia marketingu (author: Tadeusz Sztucki, Wydawnictwo Placet, 1998) – is an item dedicated to marketing in general, as well as issues necessary for practical application of marketing from the areas of economy, sociology, psychology and management.
Słownik wyrazów obcych (red.: prof. Irena Kamińska-Szmaj, Wydawnictwo Europa, 2001) – an item containing 25,000 entries and 300,000 definitions.
The pages of the encyclopedias can be searched by entry name. The results of the search may bring several hits, with the sources listed. The encyclopedias can also be searched by letter – after selecting a letter the user generates a list of all entries beginning with that letter.
Dictionaries of Polish language (on the Portal Wiedzy Onet)
In the section Słowniki–Słowniki języka polskiego on the Portal Wiedzy Onet we find the following dictionaries of the Polish language:
Popularny słownik języka polskiego (30, 000 entries), Wydawnictwo Wilga
Ortograficzny słownik języka polskiego (350, 000words), Wydawnictwo Wilga
Łatwy słownik trudnych słów (2,000 entries), Wydawnictwo Wilga
Popularny słownik frazeologiczny (5,000 entries), Wydawnictwo Wilga
Słownik wyrazów obcych (25,000 entries, 300,000 meanings), Wydawnictwo Europa
Słownik ortograficzny w wyrażeniach, Wydawnictwo Europa
Słownik krzyżówkowy, TiP
Nowy słownik gwary uczniowskiej, Wydawnictwo Europa
On the page Słowniki języka polskiego the user can search several dictionaries of Polish and a dictionary of foreign words. The default setting is for the orthographic dictionary, however from the drop down menu, the user can select other dictionaries for searching.
Dictionaries of foreign languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian Hebrew (on the Portal Wiedzy Onet).
In the section Słowniki — Tłumacz on the Portal Wiedzy Onet we find translation dictionaries:
• From Polish to English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, and vice versa –from these languages to Polish
• A Polish-Hebrew dictionary
The Tłumacz page defaults to databases performing English-Polish and Polish-English translations. Tu use the other dictionaries it is necessary to click on the appropriate flag and select the option from the drop-down menu (whether the translation will be performed from Polish or into Polish).
Dicta: zbiór łacińskich sentencji, przysłów, zwrotów i powiedzeń / collected and edited by Czesław Michalunio
This resource collects approximately 10,000 Latin maxims scattered in numerous publications. It is a work of a distinguished lecturer in Latin. The entries are annotated with Polish meanings and the sources after which they are quoted.
The database is an electronic version of a book published in 2004, (Kraków: Wydawnictwo WAM)
Megasłownik
This “Megadictionary” portal makes available the following dictionaries:
• Translation dictionaries from Polish and into Polish from the following languages: English, German, Russian, French, Spanish, Italian, Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch, Croat, and Ukrainian
• A dictionary of Polish antonyms and synonyms.
Philosophy. Religious studies
This internet version of the Old and New Testament is the so-called Millenium Bible published by Pallotinum. This is the most popular Polish edition of the Bible. It contains the only Polish text of the Bible which is approved for use in liturgy by the Polish Episcopate (Konferencja Episkopatu Polski). The edition contains commentary, notes, maps and a Biblical dictionary.
This “reading room” offers under 20,000 texts (fragments of book, articles from periodicals such as Znak, Tygodnik Powszechny, Gość Niedzielny). Most of the material available is on philosophical and Catholic themes.
The use of the site is made easy by:
• A search enginge
• Lists:
–By author
–By subject
–By discipline
Encyklopedia wiedzy o jezuitach na ziemiach Polski i Litwy, 1564-1995 / oprac. Ludwik Grzebień
The main body of this encyclopedia contains 7,592 biographical, geographical and subject entries. Biographical entries include also Jesuits who left the order and later made significant contribution in various fields. The encyclopedia is accompanied by a list of 11, 000 Jesuits who do not have developed entries.
The website makes availabl online the version of the publication published in 1966 (Kraków, Wydawnictwo WAM). The main body and the additional listing are available in a database form.The English-language foreword is available at http://www.jezuici.krakow.pl/bibl/enc/enc05.htm .
Filozofia jezuitów w Polsce w XX w.: próba syntezy; słownik autorów
Internetowa wersja publikacji wydanej w 2001 r. (Kraków, Wydawnictwo WAM).
Zawiera próbę syntezy filozofii jezuitów w Polsce w XX w. Filozofię autor rozumie szeroko, włączając do niej m.in. także psychologię i pedagogikę. Oprócz „Próby syntezy” publikacja zawiera biografie (często wraz z charakterystyką poglądów) oraz bibliografie podmiotowe i przedmiotowe ponad 100 pisarzy jezuickich.
This is the online version of a 2001 publication (Kraków, Wydawnictwo WAM).
It contains an attempt at a synthesis of the philosophy of Jesuits in Poland in the 20th century. The author understands philosophy very broadly, including other disciplines such as psychology and pedagogy. Besides the “Attempt at a synthesis” the work contains biographies (often including a summary of views), as well as bibliographies of works on and by over 100 Jesuit authors.
History
Cyfrowe archiwum KK NSZZ Solidarność
The contents of the archive of the labor movement Solidarity — Archiwum Komisji Krajowej Niezależnego Samorządnego Związku Zawodowego Solidarność w Gdańsku is one of the largest and most varied of the archives housing Solidarity-related materials. The large part of the collection, containing documentation from December 1970 until the free elections of 1989 can be accessed in digital format. The best represented is the period of NSZZ Solidarność during its “official” period, i.e. 1980-1981. The period 1982-1989 is traced mostly through underground press, the bibuła.
The Memory of Poland – Memory of the World project of the Polish Committee for UNESCO presents:
• Manuscript of Copernicus’ De revolutionibus (from the collection of the Jagiellonian Library in Krakόw)
• Frederic Chopin manuscripts (from the collection of the Biblioteka Narodowa in Warsaw and the Towarzystwo im. Fryderyka Chopina in Warsaw)
• The underground archive of the Warsaw Ghetto, the so called Ringelblum Archive (from the collections of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw)
• Collections entered on the National List Memory of the World (information on the collections, illustrations, bibliography)
Ziemiańska Biblioteka Cyfrowa
This digital library presents full text of the periodicals Verbum Nobile (1993, 1995), Biuletyn Ziemiański (1996, 1997, 2000), and Wiadomości Ziemiańskie (2000-2005).
Humanities and Social Sciences
Polish collection of the ICM
ICM = Interdyscyplinarne Centrum Modelowania Matematycznego i Komputerowego / Uniwersytet Warszawski
This site presents a collection of 121 titles from the area of humanities and social sciences, publisheed in the years 1810-1839:
• Economy – 1 title
• Philosophy – 36 titles
• Geography – Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich (t. 1-15) (1880-1914)
• History — 76 titles
• Law – 16 titles
• Sociology – 7 titles
Literature
Biblioteka literatury polskiej w Internecie (Instytut Filologii Polskiej, Uniwersytet Gdański)
Containing among others:
Wirtualna Biblioteka Literatury Polskiej [Virtual Library of Polish Literature]
The library’s designer and main editor is Dr. Marek Adamiec, Faculty of Languages, University of Gdańsk
The site is produced in cooperation wtih the Polish National Commission for UNESCO
The Virtual Library of Polish Literature makes available the significant works in Polish literature which are not subject to copyright. The presentation is accessible with no restrictions to all Internet users for research and educational purposes. The materials were selected by scholars in the field Polish literature, drafted from the faculty of the University of Gdańsk and a Consultative Council drawing on the specialists from other Polish academic centers. The works included in the library are accompanied by illustrative material, in most cases portraits of the authors or reproductions of the pages of the first edition. Also a biographical entry on the author is provided as well as a bibliography. The works have been digitized in such a way so as to be accessible by users who do not own the very latest in computer equipment. The site is organized in a very simple manner, aiming at intuitive navigation by even the least experienced internet users. Wherever possible the literary works are presented in full, while in the case of poetry most of the time writer’s entire oeuvre is made available.
This virtual collection presents a rich selection of classic titles (both Polish and foreign), as well as new works, some of which have not yet appeared on the market in the traditional hardcopy format.
The collection consists of two catalogs:
• Free catalog – containing over 400 titles. Books are available as downloadable files. To use the catalog it is necessary to set up an account by filling out a form
• Fee-based cataog—including over 600 titles. The books are available as in file format. To use this catalog it is necessary to pay a subscription fee while filling out the account form. The fee is 20 zloty per month, and allows the user to a one-time download from the servers of Literatura.net.pl and making one printed copy of any of the titled offered for a fee.
Here is the English language version
Staropolska, an “e-library for Old Polish Literature, offers access to works ranging from the Middle Ages, through Renaissance to Baroque. It is updated on a weekly basis. All genres are represented. A sizeable section consists of English translations. […] The Translation section presents translations of Old Polish writings. The Bibliography section lists recent publications on Old Polish literature, and the Events section provides information on academic conferences and meetings. An integral part of the undertaking is the ongoing project of the Old Polish Dictionary presently comprising 3,500 entries and the only online lexicon of Old Polish to date.”
There is more information on the site in English.
Wolne Lektury is a free internet library. Its collection contains 1,802 works by authors Polish and Foreign, including many works recommended as classroom reading by the Polish Ministry of Education, and which have already entered the public domain. All the works are accompanied by annotations and are available in several formats: HTML, TXT, PDF, EPUB, MOBI, FB2.
The library contains also several hundred Polish audiobooks read by prominent Polish actors such as Danuta Stenka, Jan Peszek or Andrzej Chyra. These audiobooks are available in the MP3 and Ogg Vorbis formats. For vision impaired readers the books are also available in the DAISY format.
The library is available via mobile apps for the Android and iOS systems.
All the works housed in the Wolne Lektury library can be legally read, listened to, downloaded, quoted, and redistributed to others.
The library is a pro bono project of the Nowoczesna Polska foundation, in cooperation with the
Biblioteka Narodowa, Biblioteka Śląska and Biblioteka Elbląsk. It is sponsored by Ministerstwo Edukacji Narodowej, Ministerstwo Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego, and Stowarzyszenie Pisarzy Polskich. The Komitet Honorowy of the library consists of: prof. Maria Janion, prof. Grażyna Borkowska, prof. Przemysław Czapliński, prof. Mieczysław Dąbrowski, prof. Ewa Kraskowska, prof. Małgorzata Czermińska, prof. Jerzy Jarzębski and prof. Piotr Śliwiński.
Most of the works in the library is not protected by copyright and is in the public domain, which means that it can be freely published and distributed. If a work contains additional materials (e.g. notes) which are protected by copyright, these additional materials are made available using the license Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (Uznanie autorstwa-Na tych samych warunkach 3.0.). In some cases the authors or copyright owners have made the works freely available under the above license.
The contents of the library can be searched using the following criteria:
- Authors
- Genres
- Types of material
- Time periods
- Motifs
- All works (alphabetically by author)
- Audio books
- DAISY
The located items can be:
- Read online
- Downloaded (PDF for print; EPUB for an e-book reader; MOBI for Kindle; FB2 FictionBook; TXT for special purposes)
- Listened to (mp3, ogg) (this option is available only with some items)
There is an English language version.
Natural sciences and Earth sciences
Kolekcja Nauk Przyrodniczych (ICM – Biblioteka Wirtualna Nauki)
This collection of provides full text of articles from 8 Polish scientific journals from the area of natural sciences:
Acta Biochimica Polonica – since 1977.
Acta Clinica – 2001, 2002.
Acta Physica Polonica A – from 2001 (for the years 1996-2000 only abstracts are available)
Acta Protozoologica –from volume 39 (3) 2000 r. (for the years 1996-2000 vol. 39 (2) only abstracts available) [the link given at the site contains an error, the corrected link and information should look as follows:
From vol. 39 (3) 2000 to vol. 43 (3) 2006 (for years 1996-2000 vol. 39 (2) only abstracts are available) at the address: http://www1.nencki.gov.pl/ap-archive.htm
From 2007 full text under the address: http://www.eko.uj.edu.pl/ap/index.php?option=com_docman&Itemid=27]
Animal Science Papers and Reports – from 2003 (vol. 21 No. 1) (for years 2000-2002 only tables of contents are available)
Cellular & Molecular Biology Letters – from 2000 (for years 1996-1999 available are only abstracts) [the page link has an error] from 2006 available via Springer Link
Kosmos – vol 49, nr 3 and from 2002 (for years 2000, 2001 available only tables of contents)
Postępy Biochemii – for years 2005-2009 abstracts and full texts (for years 2001-2004 – available only tables of contents, 2010-2012 –only abstracts are available)
Teledetekcja Środowiska (former title : Fotointerpretacja w Geografii)
This is a periodical of the Klub Teledetekcji Środowiska Polskiego Towarzystwa Geograficznego.
It provides full text of articles in pdf format from the first issue of the journal in 1964.
Physical and applied science
Kolekcja Matematyczna (ICM – Biblioteka Wirtualna Nauki)
In the mathematics collection of the Virtual Library of Science — ICM we find full text of the following materials:
Articles from 10 Polish mathematical journals:
- Acta Arithmetica (1935-2000),
- Annales Polonici Mathematici (1955-1962, 2000),
- Applicationes Mathematicae (1993-2000),
- Banach Center Publications (1976-1983, 1997-2000),
- Colloquium Mathematicae (1947-1964, 1991-2000),
- Control and Cybernetics (2003-2010),
- Fundamenta Mathematicae (1920-2000),
- International Journal of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science (2001-2012),
- Prace Matematyczno-Fizyczne (1888-1952),
- Studia Mathematica (z lat 1929-2000)
67 books published in Poland between 1934-1993 by Instytut Matematyczny PAN and 2 volumes of „Pisma” by Marian Smoluchowski (Kraków 1924-1928)
Repozytorium Instytutu Biochemii i Biofizyki Polskiej Akademii Nauk [ Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics Polish Academy of Sciences Repository ]
Repozytorium site contains full texts of 100 articles written by the members of the Institute and published between 2002-2012.
The contents of the site can be searched:
• By year, subject, author, unit within the Institute
• Search using a search form
Repozytorium Politechniki Łódzkiej CYRENA
This site of the Technical University of Lόdź was launched in February 2010.
- The main goals of the project are:
- Making available the results of research
- Archiving the broadly understood scientific output of the University
The site makes the following types of materials available:
- Digitized publications of the faculty of Politechnika Łódzka since 2004
- Doctoral dissertation of the University (ovr 3,500)
- Post doctoral dissertations (rozprawy habilitacyjne, over 100)
- Textbooks for the visually handicapped (access to full text of these materials is limited to person’s registered in the Biuro Osób Niepełnosprawnych PŁ.)
Overall the site offers over 17,000 digitized items.
Although the is open to all internet users, and all materials are available in full text, there are
certain restrictions put on the access and downloading capabilities.
The creators of the site speak thus of their project:
At the end of February 2010 the Technical University of Lodz Library (TULL) has
completed the first implementation step of DSpace system, which enables to build an
institutional repository at parent university. The DSpace system is an open source
application dedicated to that kind of projects, created and developed by Massachusetts
Institute of Technology university and applied in their own repository.
Main goal of a repository project implemented by TULL was to enable scientific community of the
Technical University of Lodz (TUL) effective management and wide distribution of their
scientific materials in digital form. Almost every university in the world has a repository of
scientific output/works, where deposition of pre- and postprints, laboratory data, reports
from university, is possible. Deposition process is free of charge and quick, researcher
gains increase of his/her publication impact through citations, metadata and content
indexing by search engines, increase of citations with dependence on research fields and
documents language as well as long-term digital preservation of received research data.”
Wirtualna Biblioteka Inżyniera (WBI)
The Virtual Engineering Library is a project aiming to provide free access to various materials (articles, presentations and other materials) made available by their authors. The materials are downloadable in PDF format and can be easily searched by title, author and keywords.
During the first stage of the site’s development, its creators intend to focus on collecting publications from a broadly understood area of construction. Besides purely technical materials (including materials science), other types of publications relating to construction from the areas of law and economics will also be included. Most of the publication available through WBI had already been published in conference proceedings, journals and monographs. However, there is a number of materials which are available exclusively on the WBI site. These items are made freely available through an agreement between WBI and the authors.
Pedagogy
Biblioteka Cyfrowa Zachodniopomorskiego Centrum Doskonalenia Nauczycieli
This library contains over 900 digitized tiems which include:
• Instructional materials
• Pedagogical periodicals from teh 1920s and 1930s
• Books from the subject area of pedagogy and related disciplines
• Items from expositions organized by the Center
• Music materials published in Szczecin before 1945 (approx. 60 items from the collection of Zespόł Szkół Muzycznych w Szczecinie)
Copyright restrictions make some of the publications only accessible while on the premises of the Center.
Law
Internetowy System Aktów Prawnych
This site provides bibliographic descriptions of laws published in Dziennik Ustaw in they years 1918-1939, and since 1944, as well as Monitor Polski 1930-1939, and since 1946 (database of the Kancelaria Sejmu RP) with full text in pdf format.
[More information can be found in the Pomoc tab]
Teksty konstytucji i innych dokumentów (TEK01)
One of the databases of Biblioteka Sejmowa
(After opening the page select the abovementioned database, click on Wyszukiwanie or Indeksy in the menu at the top of page)
The database contains, among others, texts of all Polish constitutions (some also in English). In the case of the three oldest constitutions (1791, 1807, 1815) – the viewer can access scans of the originals housed in the Muzeum Sejmu Polskiego (Wydział Muzealiów Biblioteki Sejmowej).
Commercial projects
Ibuk.pl is the first Polish reading room of on-line university textbooks and scholarly publications in Polish. The site also hosts electronic versions of several hundred books from various disciplines, published by the leading Polish publishers. The ibuk.pl allows for quick and easy locating of materials thanks to its catalog, as well as through providing searching ablilities using as search terms title, author, publisher, keyword, or academic discipline.
The ibuk.pl reading room allows the user:
• To purchase access to a selected item for 24 hrs, week, month, or semester (5 months) by paying via SMS, credit card, or fund transfer.
• Print 10, 20, 60, or 100 pages of text (depending on the itme option purchased)
• Use a book multiple times (depending on the time access option paid for. Time of use is conted starting with the first access of the text).
EBOOK.PL is a modern internet bookstore. It offers a rich selection of digitized books (e-books, audio books) in the most popular formats (MOBI, EPUB, PDF, MP3). Using the option Wypożyczalnia the public can, for a lower fee, use a temporary access online to a particular item. The items purchased are kept on the bookstore servers and are always available from any place in the world via the option Moja półka.
General projects
Polska Biblioteka Internetowa (PBI)
History of the library
At the end of 2002 Komitet Badań Naukowych (KBN) put forth the idea of a national virtual library as one of the goals of the initiative Program Rozwoju Społeczeństwa Informacyjnego (Program for Developing an Information Society). Krakόw was chosen as the location for the library. The extremely short time frame set for opening the portal of the Polska Biblioteka Internetowa (December 21, 2002) caused the initial activities to be somewhat chaotic. Several institutions supported the initiative. Among those, Akademia Górniczo-Hutnicza, Uniwersytet Jagielloński, Uniwersytet Gdański, transferred free of charge their digitized collections for the use by the new library. Thus, initially, in the small database of some 100 items, modern engineering textbooks were found beside Copernicus’ De Revolutionibus, and 21st century mathematical works neighbored classics of Polish literature, such as Mickiewicz’s Dziady.
A private Polish company was chosen in a bidding competition. Initially the librarians of Biblioteka Główna AGH set up a temporary structure for entering the bibliographic data of the works. Unfortunately, the private company entered many of the data in an incorrect way and the AGH Library withdrew from the project.
In March 2004 a Foundation for the Polish Internet Library (Fundacja Polskiej Biblioteki Internetowej) was established. It encompassed the following libraries and institutions: Biblioteka Narodowa, Papieska Akademia Teologiczna w Krakowie, Politechnika Gdańska, Polska Akademia Nauk, Uniwersytet Jagielloński, Wojewódzka Biblioteka Publiczna – Książnica Kopernikańska w Toruniu (acting as a coordinator), and Fundacja Nowoczesna Polska. This initiative led to a new, enlarged version of the Polish Internet Library – Polska Biblioteka Internetowa (PBI).
Goals
The aim of the creators of the PBI was providing the opportunity to access literature in Polish to persons living far from cultural and academic centers, to Poles living abroad, and to secure access to textbooks for Polish students in the time when school and public libraries face severe cutbacks. PBI also plans to include publications intended for the sight-impaired.
The PBI project is one of the means of Poland’s adhering to the European program e-Content, namely its part which calls for creating European databases of digitized materials in the areas of art, cultural heritage, archives and libraries. [Line 1.2 of e-Content].
The main catalog of the Polish Internet Library will contain:
• Classics of Polish literature
• University textbooks and academic publications
• Archival documents
• Publications for the sight-impaired
• Non-literary archival materials, related to music and cartography
• Paintings, graphic art, and photography
• Scholarly periodicals
PBI will also collect film and multiedia items, such as scientific and documentary programs, films based on literary works, and filmed theatrical performances.
The archival materials related to Polish belles lettres has been organized on the basis of Bibliografia literatury polskiej Nowy Korbut.
Using the PBI collections is free of charge to all internet users. Access to the above mentioned main catalog will also remain free, since it contains items for which the copyright restrictions have expired.
The necessity of protecting the copyright law is the reason for a parallel catalog being constructed for works which will be available for a fee, depending on the decision of the copyright holder.
The special access to multimedia items intended for the sight-impaired is being prepared in cooperation with the Polski Zwiazek Niewidomych (Polish Union of the Sight-Impaired).
The collections are available in two main formats:
• Html text (as was intended in the original concept of the PBI)
• Jpg or GIF file