Mlodziezowa Agencja Wydawnicza (MAW) was established by an ordinance of the chairman of the “Prasa-Ksiazka-Ruch” Workers’ Publishing Cooperative of 31 December 1973 as an entity which was part of the “Prasa-Ksiazka-Ruch” (“Press-Book-Movement”) media group. The foundation documents mentioned the takeover of the property and plans of the “Prasa Mlodziezowa i Sportowa” (“Youth and Sports Press”) publishing house. The aim was to establish a monopoly on the market for books and periodicals addressed to children and young people by taking over the “Horyzonty” (“Horizons”) Publishing House, “Iskry” (“Sparks”) State Publishing House and later also the Publishing Institute “Nasza Ksiegarnia” (“Our Bookshop”). These plans were implemented only with regard to the first of the companies in question. The MAW headquarters were located in Warsaw (successively at 46 Wilcza Street, 6a Koszykowa Street, 53 Aleja Stanow Zjednoczonych). In the early 1980s two regional branches were set up in Szczecin and Katowice. In late 1984 the MWA was expanded to include the “Glob” press cuttings office, the role of which was to gather and catalogue press documentation and make it available. The publishing house also had its own bookshop in Warsaw, at 62 Wilcza Street. An important role was played by a department conducting large-scale readership surveys. In 1985, a Record Club was founded, providing mainly pop music records, in editions about 5 thousand copies. Books and periodicals were printed mainly by a printing house which formed part of the “Prasa-Ksiazka-Ruch” group. The Agency also began to cooperate with similar publishing companies in neighbouring countries. Over the dozen or so years of its operations, the MAW placed nearly 1200 titles to the market with a total of about 55 million copies, a significant number of which were part of various series. Series that enjoyed great popularity included the “Tytus, Romek and A’Tomek” comic series by Henryk Jerzy Chmielewski. The MAW also published several dozen youth and sports newspapers and magazines (including the dailies “Sztandar Mlodych”, “Przeglad Sportowy” and “Swiat Mlodych”) of which a total of over 200 million copies were published annually.
The issues of building up and popularising public library collections are subjects of lively debates among librarians in France. The principles of the French policy of compiling collections were presented in 1991 in the Charte des bibliothéques (Library Charter) and in the brochure Acquisition et bibliothèques de service public published in 1998 by the Association of French Librarians. These documents, just like opinions expressed by respected librarians, show, first of all, a concern for high quality of the acquired collections, for their variety and usefulness for the needs of all readers. The French attach a lot of weight to making the collections available in various media, and to high substantive and artistic value of the acquired works. The popularity of such media as records, tapes, electronic documents, etc. has led to the emergence of a new type of libraries characteristic of France — called media libraries (“médiathèques”). The versatility of the French collections as well as their considerable variety in terms of the level of difficulty and the medium have a significant influence on the fulfilment of the basic functions of libraries (cultural, educational and informationrelated). The article examines the French collections supporting these functions. The French believe that just as important as building up collections is the duty of libraries to make these collections popular. This is to be achieved by animations organised on a regular basis. The article analyses the most common initiatives in this respect. In addition, the author points to the important role of the central government in boosting the development of public libraries in France (including promoting the idea of building up the collections in various media, of digitising them and creating digital databases), and to the coordinating function of the National Library with regard to the compilation of educational resources and successful regional and local cooperation between libraries and other institutions to create, among others, shared catalogues and databases.
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