On 24 October 2025, the Medical College of the University of Rzeszów hosted the ceremonial opening of a branch of the Main Medical Library (GBL) – a modern centre of medical knowledge that will henceforth serve students and staff of medical disciplines, as well as the wider research community of the region.

“We are symbolically opening today the Branch of the Main Medical Library on the premises of the University of Rzeszów. It is worth recalling that a similar unit operated here in the past, but for various reasons its activity was suspended. Today we are, one might say, returning to our roots, restoring this place of access to medical knowledge and resources that is so important to the academic community,” emphasised Professor Adam Reich, Rector of the University of Rzeszów.

The GBL Branch in Rzeszów, working in cooperation with the headquarters in Warsaw, serves as a regional centre for access to medical and scientific resources. It offers traditional library services – a reading room, lending services and print collections – alongside modern digital solutions, including access to licensed databases, e-books, the University repository and e-lending services.

"A library for future doctors and nurses"

At the opening, the Rector of the University of Rzeszów, Professor Adam Reich underlined the importance of the Branch for medical education in the region:

“This is a library dedicated above all to our future doctors, our future nurses and midwives, to all medical professions. Thanks to it, they will be able to draw on a vast body of knowledge and access all kinds of databases,” said the Rector.

Meanwhile, the Director of the Main Medical Library, dr Feliks Orchowski highlighted the innovative character of the new Branch:

“We are introducing here one of the most advanced medical knowledge bases in Poland, giving the University of Rzeszów and its community access to resources that until now have been available mainly in the largest academic centres. We are delighted that this space has been created here at the Collegium Medicum, where students and staff of medical disciplines will be able to make full use of it,” stressed Director Orchowski.

The GBL Branch in Rzeszów forms part of the nationwide network of medical libraries, providing access to global sources of scholarly information. The Library provides, among other things:

• the Polish Medical Bibliography – a database of over 680,000 records;
• international full-text databases (EBSCO, LWW, Medline Complete, Nature, Oxford Journals, Science, ScienceDirect, Springer, Taylor & Francis, Wiley Online Library);
• the national e-book platform IBUK Libra;
• print collections comprising approximately 1,566 titles.

The Library also offers information services, interlibrary loans, themed literature searches, and the ordering of document copies in both electronic and print form.

Photo: Michał Święcicki