Summary

This article presents, by the example of Rawski District, the problem of financing of school and public libraries by local self-governments. It is based exclusively on archive sources. After analysing the rural commune budgets of Rawski District from the interwar period, it was found that on average Zloty 45.50 was spent on school libraries and Zloty 31.48 on public libraries per annum. In both cases the percentage of these outlays in relation to the whole budget was 0.3%.
It follows from the source analysis that the establishment and financing of public libraries in rural areas depended on the funds of the local self-government and the recognition of cultural and educational needs in a given commune.