Financial and personnel problems of research libraries in Poland

Explains how managers of Polish research libraries face many problems provoked by the changes which have taken place both in these institutions and in their surroundings on the one hand, and by the obsolete rules which their operations regulate. Among the most serious financial obstacles are the following: a prolonged delay in the confirmation of a library's budget; too many financial sources; financial dependence of the majority of the libraries; restrictions on self-governing, profit-oriented activities; and criteria for the allocation of funds. Among the problems connected with the personnel the following are at the top of the list: disproportional employment in the various types of libraries; inappropriate educational background; lack of certain types of qualified professional (e.g. information scientists, computer technicians); very low earnings; and the degraded status of the librarian, which discourages candidates from this profession. The management and the structure of the organization of the library are also outdated and there are too few competent professionals to make the necessary transformations efficiently. This article will introduce the reader to the main problems affecting the financial and personnel management of Polish research libraries at the academic level. In the complex arrangement of Polish libraries, the academic libraries form a significant part of the research libraries, and their book collections are unquestionably an essential component of the latter [1] in quantity as well as in quality. This is why these libraries cope with a variety of problems pertaining to the subject under discussion, which outnumber those faced by the smaller libraries at the professional research institutions