The Main Library is the scientific library providing didactics and specialized library services. Its main task is to provide researchers and students of the University with the widest possible access to information about domestic and international achievements in medicine and related disciplines. It offers access to the most advanced search tools and the latest scientific literature via medical databases.
The Library keeps a register of the literature of the University's academic staff, creating the "WUM Publikacje database".
The beginnings of the library date back to 1947, when the Medical Faculty Library was established by the decision of the Medical Faculty Council of the University of Warsaw, from which the Medical University of Warsaw stems. Professor Wiktor Grzywa-Dąbrowski was the person entrusted with the resposibility for the library. The first seat of the Library was in the basement of the Clinic of Internal Medicine. In 1948, thanks to the professor's efforts, it was moved to the building of the Department of Forensic Medicine.
1950 was a important year in the history of the Library - the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Warsaw was transformed into the Medical Academy and thus the Library became the Main Library of the Medical University of Warsaw. In the following years, in anticipation of the new building, along with the expansion of the Library's activities and the related need for more space, more rooms of the Forensic Medicine Department and the Medic's House were adapted. However, in view of the ever-increasing book collection, such solutions were only temporary.
The 1990s marked the beginning of the new computerization era, so in 1998 the first Multimedia Internet Reading Room was opened and new tools to support library processes were introduced - the SOWA service system.
During the nearly fifty-year development the Library has managed to gather a large collection -more than 400,000 books and periodicals, despite the space limitation.
Today the Main Library consists of four basic departments:
- Department of Collection and Development of Collections - acquiring and developing library materials.
- Circulation Department – provides access to library collections, handles interlibrary loans.
- Scientific Information Department - provides users with a variety of scientific information, promotes library collections and services.
- Department of Library Processes Automation - handling all processes related to the library system, digitization and reprography.
On March 22, 2008, the Medical University officially changed its name to the Medical University of Warsaw, and the Main Library became the Library of the Medical University of Warsaw. The new name emphasizes the rank of the University, at the same time referring to its roots and tradition.
2012 was another important breakthrough year in the history of the Library, which after half a century of struggling with difficult conditions and the lack of its own space, was moved to a modern building intended for the Library and Information Center. The new four-storey building, equipped with multimedia lecture rooms, fully computerized reading rooms and
a lending library, provides students and employees of the University with optimal conditions for using the services of the Library.