O zbliżeniu bibliotek i archiwów w związku z pełnieniem przez nie funkcji naukowej

For centuries, archives and libraries developed side by side without noticing closeness and similarity between one another. Despite some restrictions on access or being devoid of the public institution status, libraries played an academic function in the society, while archives remained tightly closed and deeply immersed in their legal-administrative or official sphere. This situation changed in the nineteenth century. Archives were set to work for the purpose of science, though initially purely historical. Moreover, they became public institutions. At that moment, archivists and librarians came to notice one another and jointly form associations, publish periodicals, organise scientific confer-ences. Thus it was no coincidence that the principle of provenance, so fundamental for archives, was proclaimed at the First International Congress of Librarians and Archivists in Brussels in 1910. That community on a global scale was a sign of the times. In Poland, in 1937-1939, the circumstances were as much favourable as the Association of Polish Librarians and Archivists could be established. However, World War II hampered it. The idea revived soon after the war. The Association of Polish Librarians and Archivists existed in 1945-1951. Initially, it published an archival journal entitled „Archeion”, was a forum for terminological and methodological discussion of archivists, and favoured the transplantation of the latest world achievements in scientific infor-mation into archival studies. The archivists' withdrawal from the Association, and consequently its liquidation, resulted from a political decision rather than the necessity for its development. Nevertheless, the closeness between archives and libraries did not disappear in the second half of the 20th century. Eventually, it resulted in recognizing archival studies as information and system science, similarly to librarianship, library science or bibliology. In the age of computerization and standardization of the archival information description, archivists again drew on librarians’ experience and achievements. Finally, since the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, liaison between both institutions has been possible thanks to their social educational function, although unlike libraries, it has been recent commitment for archives. This indicates that there is an opportunity to bring librarians and archivists back together as an organization in the future.