Działalność czytelni dla uczniów w szkołach średnich autonomicznej Galicji

Abstrakt

The authors of this article studied the important role in the didactic process and educating students in secondary schools in early 20th century Galicia. The schools housed student reading rooms, and their organization was supported by the National School Council, which knew in them an important means in the process of upbringing and self-education of students. They were created in the first place in small towns, e.g. Jasło or Sanok, because unlike large urban centres, they were one place where students could encounter a substitute of cultural life. Their number grew fairly quickly and at the outbreak of the Great War, and they constituted more than half of Galicia’s secondary schools. The schools attracted mainly older students and operated in the winter, spring, and summer periods. They enjoyed considerable interest from these students, though in some schools the attendance was not high. Their main task was to amass collections of books and magazines, but there were also scientific and artistic circles in the reading rooms. Therefore, they were a place where students had the opportunity to deepen their scientific knowledge, broaden their knowledge and skills, gain access to new information, and develop their cultural interests.