Director of the GUT Library, PhD Anna Wałek - the chairman of the Board of Directors of the Polish Group of VIRTUA Users | Gdańsk University of Technology

The group operates under the Agreement on Cooperation of Libraries Implementing and Using VTLS / Virtua system. The Polish Virtua System Users Group was established in 1998. The group’s activities have been focused on improving the quality of services related to making knowledge and library resources available to the society. These activities are mainly based on shaping a common policy regarding the functionality of the VTLS / Virtua library system. The work of the Polish Virtua System Users Group is managed by the Board of Directors which elects the chairman from among the directors belonging to the Board. In the group there is also a Coordination Team which consists of experts who represent various institutions which act under the Agreement.

The new Chairman of the Council - Dr. Anna Wałek - was elected for terms of three years during the online election on June 22, 2021. Dr. Wałek replaced Ms Dorota Tkaczyk, Director of the Centre of Scientific and Technical Information at the Lublin University of Technology. Robert Szczodruch - head of the Digital Archive and Multimedia Creation Services at Gdańsk University of Technology Library - was appointed as a member of the Coordination Team.

The integrated Virtua library system is automated circulation and cataloging system. Unfortunately, in recent years the producer of the Virtua system announced the halt of the system development. Therefore Polish Group of VIRTUA Users faced the challenge of choosing a new system as well as proposing a solution as to how migrate the content of the VIRTUA system to a new library system, which is supposed to be a response to ever-growing expectations of library users.