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The article concerns efforts to identify the key users of Polish digital libraries.

The research was based on a questionnaire containing 19 questions, on subjects which included ways of using the library, reasons for using it, and which types of publications were most often used. Use was also made of statistical data collected on the library's server. An attempt was made to characterize the dominant groups of digital library users, taking a user's interests as the main determinant. The analysis focused on age, sex, level of education, and size of town where users reside. An attempt was also made to determine approximately the total number of users.

Approximately 60 per cent of users are amateur historians with an interest in the history of their place of residence or genealogists interested in the history of their family. The remaining 40 per cent consist mainly of academic researchers and students. The number of regular readers – those who use the library at least several times per year – is approximately 30,000. There will probably be a significant rise in the number of users in the amateur historians and genealogists category. One of the factors that may affect the number of users is the expansion of information technology infrastructure in rural areas. This will undoubtedly cause a significant rise in the number of internet users, although the number of digital library users will probably increase only marginally as a result of this. A second factor is the spreading of internet skills in the over‐70 age group. In a few years' time that group will be more numerous. The group that affords the greatest prospects for expansion is students. Firstly this is a group that numbers two million people in Poland, and secondly they require universal access to textbooks. A cause for concern is the minimal interest in digital libraries shown by teachers and school pupils.

This is the first stage of research into the function performed by digital libraries in Polish society.

This is the first study carried out in Poland to answer the question of who uses digital libraries, to what extent, and why.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the state of development of Polish digital libraries.

The paper describes the establishment of the first digital library in Poland, the creation of the Wielkopolska Digital Library and other regional digital libraries. The organisational and technological solutions used by these libraries are described.

The concept of a single central library and several dozen regional libraries has made possible the creation of more than 40 digital libraries and the establishment of wide co‐operation among digital librarians. However, the passage to mass digitisation is still proving impossible at present.

The situation in Poland indicates a clear necessity for the introduction of appropriate legal regulations to place digitisation among the charter objectives of large libraries. The awarding of small grants does not change the situation, and sometimes even makes it worse. Digital libraries have come into being in large numbers over the last few years; because some of them have been functioning for a number of years, much experience has been acquired. Now it is necessary to move on to the next stage – mass digitisation. Polish libraries are quite unprepared for this. Digitisation continues to be treated by libraries as an experimental rather than a fundamental activity.