Maria Łabyk Can the Academy exist without a specialised library?
	The Christian Theological Academy in Warsaw
	This article was translated thanks to the grant received from the Open Society Institute

The Christian Theological Academy in Warsaw, being the only one of this kind in Europe, has in its possession a very well equipped specialised theological library. It is difficult to imagine its function and activity without such facility.

At present, the Academy is a state theological university, however, in pre-war Poland, it used to function as one of the University of Warsaw departments, namely, the Faculty of Protestant Theology and Department of Orthodox Theology. With the assistance of Old Catholic Churches, it was transformed into the Christian Theological Academy in 1954.^[1] The Academy instructs students in two specialities: theological and pedagogical, within the scope of three sections (Evangelical, Orthodox, old Catholic). The Academy's library has been playing a very important role in its function since the beginning. The library's successful activity is essential in its future and development. The library's content is based on the 9,000 volumes remaining of the Faculty of Protestant Theology of the University of Warsaw from the pre-war times. Since the very beginning, the library has been shaping its book collection to fit the ecumenical profile of the Academy, and the needs of its clientele interested in the history and activity of Christian churches. The library has been regularly updating its content through the formation of new sections, including history, origins and theology of various denominations. It has quickly become a specialised library gathering publications referring to Protestant, Orthodox and old Catholic theologies.

Due to the library's ecumenical profile, the majority of its book collection refers to the history and theology of the three mentioned church traditions.

The political and economical changes of the 1989 made the Academy into an independently run institution. What followed was the creation of an Ecumenical Catechetic Institute, later transformed into the Ecumenical Pedagogical Institute. This educational institution produces future priests and secular workers for Christian churches, state administration, educational and social care posts. Regarding the Institute's extended profile, the Library has begun the expansion of its collection with new book acquisitions on the subjects of pedagogy, church pedagogy, sociology and psychology.

At the moment, the library content consists of 37, 095 volumes and 4,941 periodicals. There are two catalogues: alphabetical and subject. The Library has been partially computerised since the year 2000 (MAK system) and co-operates with other theological libraries.

The Library has been gathering resources by the way of acquisitions, book exchange and local and foreign donations. One of the most important institutions supporting the library for over 50 years has been Hilswerk der Evangelischen Kirchen der Schweitz (the organisation of inter-church assistance of the Evangelical Church in Switzerland). Thanks to the help and generous donations of the theological department of the University of Bonn, the Library is now well stocked with valuable theological books.

One of the most precious Library's possessions are collective works of Martin Luther (61 volumes) and Corpus Reformatorum (85 volumes). There are also 176 old prints, including the Bible translated by M. Luther in 1555.

The Library, over the years, has been of a great assistance to the university staff and students participating in a variety of didactic processes. As well, its unique book collection sparks interest of users who are not directly connected with the Academy. The readers interest in ecumenical dialogue and co-operation among churches of various denominations has been steadily growing - and the Library seems to be just the right place to find required reading material. The Library has been involved in inter-library co-operation and lending (involving staff and student of other universities from other cities, as well).

As part of the customer service improvement, a fully equipped computer station has been installed. The Library's database has 2,885 regular entries and 646 entries with descriptions of doctoral, master's and license theses. There is also a bibliography of Rocznik Teologiczny (The Theological Yearly) the newspaper published by the Academy since 1959. The Library's main future goal is undoubtedly its full computerisation, gaining access to the Internet, and further development of co-operation with other scientific libraries in the country and abroad.

Footnotes

[1] No 728/54 Resolution of Council of Ministers, 26 of October 1954.

Translated by Dorota Jaglarz