BWM's 20th Anniversary - The Cracow University of Technology Library

BWM's 20th Anniversary

The CUT Library celebrated 20 years of the Branch at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering (BWM) on 14 November, 2023.

On this occasion, a radio walk through the Branch Library at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering (new window), was recorded. Director Marek M. Górski, together with the Editor of Radio Nowinki, walk through the rooms and nooks and crannies of this unusual place.

The ceremonial opening of the CUT Branch Library at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering (BWM) took place on 28 October, 2003. The inauguration was carried out by the then authorities - the rector of CUT Prof. Marcin Chrzanowski, the dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Prof. Stanisław Michałowski and the Director of the CUT Library Marek Górski. The head of the unit was Piotr Pitala, who held the position for fourteen years.

Initially, the core of the BWM Library collection consisted of books donated from the two decommissioned institute libraries of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. The Branch has been gradually enriching its book collection with works from fields corresponding to the profile of education at Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, as well as collecting fiction. Currently, the BWM provides access to more than 60,000 books (7,000 in the free access zone) and almost 9,000 volumes of periodicals.

In the autumn of 2007, the Library received a valuable gift - a collection of books by Professor of the Department of Mechanical Engineering Michał Życzkowski - an outstanding specialist in applied mechanics, honorary doctorate of the CUT. The ceremony was graced by representatives of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering authorities and the family of the late Professor, who died a year earlier. The donated collection comprises some 3,200 books. These are publications mainly in the fields of mechanics, mathematics, physics, chemistry, geodesy and mining, made available in a dedicated room.

BWM's reading rooms are frequented by students, university staff, but also people from outside the CUT looking for a quiet place to work. In addition to a Lending Room, the Branch Library offers dozens of comfortable places for quiet work and the group-work room. In 2022, a Library self-service outdoor kiosk was launched here, as one of the first in Cracow, which can be used 24 hours a day.