80 years of the MUG Library – exhibition opening ceremony

16.05.2025

The exhibition 80 years of the MUG Library was officially opened on the 8th May, on the National Librarian and Library Day. The exhibition refers to the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the Medical University of Gdańsk, but at the same time it is related to the Library Week organised by the Polish Librarians’ Association, which has been taking place annually for 21 years. This year’s motto for the event is: Library. I like being here.

The exhibition symbolically illustrates the changes which have taken place in the Library over the years – when the Library began its activities in 1945, it occupied a 40 m2 room that served as both a library workshop, a storeroom and a reading room. In January 1947, it changed location, gaining an area of 450 m2, where it remained for the next 21 years, until 1968.

The new building, after many years of effort and endeavours by successive university authorities and the then director of the Library, Adam Bocheński, was built and put into use almost 60 years ago. At the time, it evoked widespread admiration and joy in the university library community. Over the years, the Library has changed many times to accommodate new tasks and needs. What it looks like today is the result of the 2015-2016 modernisation.

The exhibition includes, among others, original documents from the early days of the Library, a microfiche reader that is still in working order, old prints that are not available on a daily basis, and a librarian’s desk and a reader’s table from the 1960s.

The opening ceremony was attended by Prof. Michał Markuszewski, rector of the MUG, Prof. Michał Żmijewski, vice-rector for science at the MUG, and Prof. Agnieszka Zimmermann, vice-rector for education at the MUG. The ceremony was also attended by the members of the Library Council and loyal friends of the Library, such as Marek Bukowski, M.D., Ph.D. from the MUG Museum. Long-standing employees of the Library, led by former director Anna Grygorowicz and former deputy director Elżbieta Kraszewska, were also present.

The exhibition will be open to the public until the end of November.