A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also civil servants.

Józef Andrzej Załuski was a Polish Catholic priest, Bishop of Kiev, a sponsor of learning and culture, and a renowned bibliophile. A member of the Polish nobility (szlachta), bearing the hereditary Junosza coat-of-arms, he is most famous as co-founder of the Załuski Library, one of the largest 18th-century book collections in the world.