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Kazimiera Maleczynska (1925-2010) conducted research into various areas of historical bibliology. She recognised the need for more general approaches, which, as she recommended, should be achieved by means of the “small steps” method: monographs concerning various issues (periods, areas, institutions and people). Her own research dealt mostly with old libraries, examined with regard to various aspects and temporal frameworks, in full social, political and cultural context. She devoted most of her attention to Renaissance municipal book collections in Poland and Silesia, as well as to the role of books in Poland during the partition period (1795–1914). Maleczynska analysed the conditions in which book collections were compiled (publishers’ offer, ideological climate, owners’ interests and wealth), as well as their organisation and history. She focused in particular on the use of the collections and on readership (The reception of French books in Wroclaw in the 16th century, 1968; Reading interests of Lower Silesian burghers during the Renaissance, 1982). Professor Maleczynska was particularly interested in the book culture in Silesia.