In the twenty-year interwar period, the Municipal Library was one of the most important Polish institutions in Bydgoszcz, contributing significantly to scientific and cultural development of the city. Its employees initiated many social and political initiatives, and the library rooms served as seats of several organizations. The article refers to the source of this success, since it illustrates transitions of the library in the first years of independence, when it had changed from a Germanization tool to a Polishness center. The chronological range of this article encompasses three years of library operation; starting from 1920, when it was taken over by the Polish management, until 1922, the year that marked completion of German personnel replacement with Polish staff. In that period, the library collection was expanded by Polish books and adjusted to the fast changing national profile of the city, in which the Poles were the dominating population. The article describes many problems that the library management had to tackle in the beginning of its Polonization. Some of the challenges included insufficient funds, lack of qualified Polish personnel and a weak publishing market. Other interesting issues reported in the article focused on cooperation between various regions of the newly restored country, information flow, relations between the local elites and central authorities, international relations inside one institution, and the attitude of society, which dedication allowed to pursue many ambitious goals, despite scarce funds.
