The library mainly collects publications related to Slavic studies; its holdings also include books on Polish studies and Indo-European languages.
The library meets the needs of a broad range of people interested in Slavic studies: academics, researchers, students, teachers, editors and translators. It holds a unique collection of Russian publications, including nineteenth-century periodicals, as well as Poland’s largest selection of West and South Slavic linguistic and literary studies. The special collections of the library include 1,065 items – microfilms, photocopies and 82 copies of old prints.
Apart from purchase, the publications are obtained by way of exchange with about two hundred foreign partners from all over the world, including the Slavic countries as well as Western Europe and the United States. As a result, the Zdzisław Stieber Library is the largest Slavic studies library in Poland.
Contact
ul. Krakowskie Przedmieście 26/28, 00-927 Warszawa
(the Institute of Western and Southern Slavic Studies building)
e-mail : biblpan.slavist@uw.edu.pl
tel. +48 22 552 04 23 lub +48 22 552 05 49
Opening hours: Monday – Friday, 9:00–16:00
Library staff
Mgr Aneta Majewska-Foder, Senior Curator, Head of the Library
Mgr Krystyna Budek, Senior Curator
Library collections
General collection
The holdings of this collection include general encyclopedias and general retrospective and current bibliographies published in the Slavic countries, as well as monographs devoted to the history of books, libraries and periodicals in those countries.
Linguistics collection
This collection holds works in general linguistics, Slavic-Slavic dictionaries, monolingual Slavic dictionaries, selected multilingual dictionaries, studies in Slavic linguistics (including Polish linguistics), theoretical, methodological and source-related works in the field of Slavic comparative studies, and some non-Slavic comparative studies.
Literature and literary studies collection
This collection includes works devoted to the history and theory of literature (especially Slavic literatures), dictionaries, encyclopedias, literary handbooks, comparative works devoted to Slavic literatures, and literary texts (originals and translations).
History collection
This collection mainly holds encyclopedias, dictionaries, selected comprehensive studies and key monographs, source texts and documents concerning the history of Slavic peoples, as well as works on Slavic archaeology, prehistory and cultural history.
Geography collection
The holdings of this collection include comprehensive studies and lexicons of Slavic countries and regions, maps and cartographic materials for dialectological, onomastic and historical linguistic research.
Philosophy and religion collection
This collection includes basic comprehensive works concerning the history of philosophy, the texts of Slavic thinkers and religious texts providing a record of language history. The collection mainly contains works devoted to national minorities, pan-Slavism, political relations between Slavic countries, legal texts providing a record of language history, and comprehensive studies devoted to the folklore and customs of Slavic peoples.
Fine arts collection
This collection holds general and comprehensive studies presenting an overview of fine arts in the Slavic countries.
Access to Internet databases
The Institute of Slavic Studies has access to the following databases:
- Cambridge University Press
- Web of Science
- Elsevier
- Springer
- Wiley.