The Joseph Conrad-Korzeniowski Voivodeship and Municipal Public Library in Gdańsk is the main public library of the Pomeranian Voivodeship and the largest cultural institution in Gdańsk. It is financed by the local government of the Pomeranian Voivodeship and the city of Gdańsk. Its headquarters are located in the building at Targ Rakowy 5/6 in Gdańsk.
The origins of the library date back to April 1945, when Marian Pelczar, the pre-war Secretary General of the Society of Friends of Science and Art in the Free City of Gdańsk, returned to Gdańsk. He then became director of the City Library. In 1955, the Gdańsk libraries were restructured, resulting in the establishment of the Provincial and Municipal Public Library and the Gdańsk Library of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Twenty years later, the first one was renamed the Provincial Public Library, and in 1994, Joseph Conrad-Korzeniowski became its patron. In 2003, the name was changed again – to the Voivodeship (Provincial) and Municipal Public Library (abbreviated: WiMBP).
The main tasks of the facility include collecting, processing and making available collections in 30 branches (wg stanu na 2022 r.). They include modern libraries, such as the Manhattan Library, large district branches – the Oliwska Library, the Pilotów Library, the Chełm Library, the Ratuszowa Library, the Żabianka Library, and small ones, such as the Pod Żółwiem Library, the Lawendowa Library or the Gdańsk Branch Library. In addition, the institution exercises substantive supervision over the network of local government public libraries in the Pomeranian Voivodeship. It also conducts educational, cultural and publishing activities, including Pomeranian regionalism. In addition to typical library branches, WiMBP also has the American Corner, established in cooperation with the United States Embassy in Warsaw, and the Shanghai Cabinet, which promotes knowledge about China, as well as the following departments: Promotion, Marketing and Public Relations, Instruction and Training, Regional, Creating Collections, Collecting, Municipal Network Organization, IT, Employee Affairs, Finance, Accounting and Administration.
The Baltic Digital Library, co-created with the Municipal Public Library in Słupsk, is very popular.
Every reader of the Provincial and Municipal Public Library in Gdańsk is a holder of the Metropolitan Culture Card. It allows access to collections and gives discounts when accessing the services of the card’s partners, including local cultural institutions (museums, theatres, art galleries), book shops, cafes and cinemas.
