Eight months later, on January 18, 1992, the Polish Library in Washington was opened to the public at its present location at 1503 21^st St., NW. The space was given to us free of charge by the Office of the Economic Counsel to the Polish Embassy in Washington. The first patrons could choose from several hundred books lent to the library by the Polish Embassy and donated by other individuals. Soon thereafter our video collection began as a donation of a few dozen films by friends from the Polish-American Arts Association.

Today we have close to 7,000 books and over 400 films on video. The original membership of 50 has grown to almost 250 (individuals and families). The library is open three times a week, for the total of 8 hours weekly. Last year the library was open 147 times, there were 1,053 visitors, who checked out 1,155 books and 833 videocassettes.

Besides running the library, the Friends of the Polish Library organize and sponsor many cultural and social events, in close cooperation with the Polish Embassy as well as other local Polish-American groups. The highlights of the past ten years include the annual December Christmas Carols concerts, the December, 1999, presentation of Andrzej Wajda’s film “Pan Tadeusz” to over 600 people, as well as many meetings with Polish authors, artists and other distinguished guests.

The credit is due to a group of volunteers, who work at the library, help organize events, and manage the business of the organization. Most of them form the Board of Directors, which is elected annually by the General Meeting of the Friends of the Polish Library. Friends of the Polish Library in Washington is incorporated in the District of Columbia as a non-profit, cultural organization and has a tax-exempt status granted by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.

After ten years of successful growth we are now seeking ways of improving and expanding the library, reaching out to a wider audience, and preparing the library to better serve future generations. The most critical is the need for more space. The library has already run out of shelf space and for each new book we put on a shelf one book has to be removed. To accommodate the needs of our readers and to make room for the books we already own as well as new acquisitions over the next 5 years the library needs at least to double its present space.

The library development and expansion program also calls for: extending library hours, hiring professional help in addition to volunteer staff, stronger Internet presence including making the book catalog accessible on-line, full service for out of town patrons, fast and reliable reference services.

Besides maintaining its traditional Polish and Polish-American local membership base, the Polish Library in Washington given better facilities and new means can reach out to new audiences such as out of town Poles and Polish-Americans as well as Americans interested in Poland and Polish issues.

We want to build on the initial success of our Web-site www.polishlibrary.org which had 700 unique visitors per month and an average of 500 hits per day just a few months after its installation. We are planning to add a full-fledged on-line book catalog and to offer to out of town patrons the ability to order library books over the Internet.

New facilities, more books and films, better service, and continuing growth require money. This is why we call all our Members, the whole Polish-American community as well as our American friends to contribute to the Polish Library’s Tenth Anniversary Fund. Together we can lay a strong foundation for the Library’s future.

Tadeusz Walendowski
President, Friends of the Polish Library
in Washington, D.C.