Yesterday and today – general information

The beginnings of the Library of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences are related to the collection of Industrial and Agricultural Courses in Warsaw, which in 1918 was donated – in the number of 5000 volumes – to the Warsaw University of Life Sciences. Initially, the Library kept its collections in several places, and it was only when it moved to its headquarters at Rakowiecka street, which took place in 1933, made it possible to start work on their planned consolidation and expansion as well as completing qualified personnel; in August 1939, approx. 42 thousand  were registered in the collections.

After the war events, despite the depletion of the collection as a result of robberies organized by the German occupation authorities, the robbery was in a state that made it possible to be used when the university resumed its activity.

However, as a result of the expansion of the collection and deteriorating housing conditions, it could no longer properly fulfill its tasks, so in 1996 the rector’s authorities decided to build a new building on the campus in Ursynów. This investment, divided into three stages, was completed on July 7, 2007 with the opening ceremony of the library, which was named after prof. Władysław Grabski.

The new seat has created conditions for the proper functioning of the library and information network of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences, which consists of the Main Library and 2 institute libraries, where collections in the fields and specialties represented at the university are collected.

Readers have access to over 500,000. volumes of books, magazines, and special collections saved in paper form. In addition, the library provides access to licensed electronic databases containing approx. 500 thousand. titles of journals, books, and factual documents, searchable using extensive information tools; Thus, readers have access to the world’s scientific achievements on an ongoing basis. The Primo multi-search engine also enables the use of documents provided in the Open Access formula.

Over 600 places in reading rooms with wireless Internet network are waiting for Readers.

Our reading rooms are open to the public without registration.

The lending room offers students approx. 70 thousand textbook volumes.

The library catalog is fully automated and provides multi-faceted information about its resources.

The Main Library participates in the processes of scientific communication by participating in documenting the academic achievements of the university and organizing access to full-text, abstract, factual, and bibliographic databases, which can be used on site, and after logging in, also from personal and home computers.

It also conducts training activities in the field of information retrieval, thus helping academic teachers and students to develop research skills.

The quality of the collected collection, as well as the scope and level of the tasks carried out, place the university library among the best scientific libraries that operate at live sciences universities.

Full information on the activities of the library and information network of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences and the Main Library is available on its website https://bg.sggw.edu.pl/

An important supplement to the library’s activity is its participation in the processes of social communication, using the following websites: