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Most important elements of the buildings:

  • general collection stacks: about 4 000 000 items (new print materials) in the main building and about 500 000 in the special collections building,

  • reference department, catalogs, reading rooms, circulation units, open stacks, individual reading rooms

  • teaching and conference center: classrooms, exhibition areas, the library’s museum and an exhibition room

  • basic units: Acquisition and Collection Development Departments, New Books Department, Conservation Department etc.

  • other units: administration, library technical services, security etc.

Building characteristics:


Area of utilized space 37.652 m2
Including
- library rooms 22.077 m2
- Rooms for service purposes 992 m2
- Rooms used for other purpose 14.583 m2
Wall space 7.686 m2
Building volume 179.861 m3
Lot space 2,2 ha
Reading rooms capacity 1.000
Library staff 250

The most important dates in the new library construction:

1982 Senate of the Wroclaw University decides to build a new building for the University Library.

1988 Social Committee for the New Wroclaw University Library Building is founded under prof. Jan Kosik chairmanship.

1997 Reorganization of the Social Committee for the New Wroclaw University Library Building; new members and board are registered and prof. Henryk Ratajczak was elected a new chairman.

1999 An architectural contest for the new Library building design begins.
Final results of the contest are announced: a winning project was designed by a group of architects from Warsaw, Jacek Rzyski, Jerzy Ruszkowski and Jacek Kopczewski.

2001 Department of Architecture of the Office of the City of Wroclaw approves the design of the new Library building; main architect Jacek Rzyski is appointed.

2002 Polish Parliament passes a bill about observances of the Wroclaw University Tercentenary Jubilee (includes a support for the new Library building).

2002 Erection Act on the construction site of the new Library building was signed by Aleksander Kwasniewski, President of the Republic of Poland, Krystyna Lybacka, Minister of Education and Sport, prof. Michal Kleiber, Minister of Science and President of the Scientific Research Comitee, prof. Henryk Ratajczak, President of Social Committee for the New Wroclaw University Library Building, Ryszard Nawrat, the governor of Lower Silesia, and prof. Zdzislaw Latajka, the Rector of the Wroclaw University.

2003 The contract for the construction of a new library building with Mitex Co. from Kielce (Poland) was awarded by tender. From May to December the foundations were laid, two floors of the building were build, as well as construction of plumbing and electrical installations has begun. From 3.09. to 8.10. the rescue archaeological research were carried out on the construction site because of discovery of skeleton graveyard (dated by archaeologists to around the 14th - 17th centuries).

2004 Construction works: finishing of assembling of the reinforced concrete construction, the mounting of the roofing and stone facade of the building. Works within the plumbing: installation of the ventilation system and ​​fumigation chamber. Works concerning the electrical installations: ​​lightning protection system was completed, cable boxes for lighting was done..

2005 The state of construction: building works - 88%, finishing works - 41%; plumbing works - 32%, electrical systems’ works - 19%.

2006 In May the contract with the main contractor was broken off. The dispute over the financial settlement will be resolved in court.

2007 Construction of the library has been put on hold because of court proceedings. Survey of the building has been conducted. The tender for the replacement investor was prepared.

2008 Tender announcement for the completion of the library building. 23.10.2008 - signed a contract with Skanska S.A.

2009 Continuation of building works, mechanical and electrical ones, including: the completion of the stone flooring from boards of sandstone, gypsum and painting of ceiling, plastering of rooms, installing: central heating radiators, sprinkler system and gas extinguishing system.

2010 Further building works, mechanical and electrical ones, including: construction of floors with finishing them with: stone, stoneware, and the resin, installation of suspended ceilings and door joinery, start making all low voltage installations, structured cabling, alarm systems, laying of power cords, installation of ventilation and air conditioning as well as sanitation system components.

2011 Finishing of building. On 15th December 2011, along with permission to use, new Library’s building was submitted under the administration of the University.

2012 25.01. Grand opening of the new Library building by the Rector of the Wroclaw University.
Because of the lacking of funds for furnishing the new building, Rector decided to conduct moving of the Library in stages. Plan and estimate of the first stage of the moving were prepared. In the fourth quarter of 2012 the Rector allocated space in the new building for the University of Wrocław Archive (theses’ storage) and, temporary, for employees of Department for Investment’s Preparation and for Department of Investments’ Maintenance.

2013 July - the tender for transportation services has been adjudicated.
August - completion of moving all departments for internal work from Karola Szajnochy 10 St. (office furniture, including large-scale and movable monuments, reference collections, computer equipment). Beginning of moving of the periodical storage.
September - Wroclaw University Library adopted a new mailing address: ul. Fryderyk Joliot-Curie 12 St.


The new library construction