Roczniki Biblioteczne was established in 1956 by Komisja dla Spraw Bibliotek Rady Głównej Szkolnictwa Wyższego [The Main Council for Higher Education Committee for Libraries] as “an organ of academic libraries”. The founder of the journal and its first Editor-in-Chief was Antoni Knot (1904–1982), then the Head of the University of Wrocław Library, a distinguished and very active organiser of academic life in Wrocław and co-founder of the academic centre for training librarians at the University of Wrocław.

The first editors of the journal were also Ksawery Świerkowski (1897–1979) and Walery Taborski. The Editorial Team consisted of outstanding librarians from research libraries, who were active researchers in the field of library science: Aleksander Birkenmajer (1890–1967), Jan Baumgart (1904–1989), Marian Des Loges (1898–1957), Helena Kozerska, Władysław Skoczylas (1904–1981) and Helena Więckowska (1897–1984).

Antoni Knot was the Editor-in-Chief until 1980. Between 1981 and 1996 this function was performed by Kazimiera Maleczyńska and between 1997 and 2014 by Anna Żbikowska-Migoń, followed by Maciej Matwijów in 2015.

For many years, the highly competent editorial secretary of Roczniki Biblioteczne was Aleksandra Mendykowa (1926–2000).

The journal’s editorial section has always been located at the Institute of Information and Library Science (formerly, the Department of Librarianship) of the University of Wrocław with which it has many personal connections.

The members of the editorial board have changed several times but they have always been distinguished managers of Polish research libraries, outstanding librarians combining their professional activities with creative research work as well as library science academics. Among them were: Zbigniew Binerowski, Radosław Cybulski, Zbigniew Jabłoński, Janusz Kapuścik, Józef Korpała, Zbigniew Nowak, Jan Pirożyński, Jan Sójka, Irena Treichel, Jan Wróblewski, and Zbigniew Żmigrodzki.

The Editorial to the first issue of the periodical stated that the periodical was a publishing platform for papers written at academic libraries, whose scope would cover bibliography, book studies, library science and related fields. Roczniki Biblioteczne has always followed this plan and published articles in library science, book studies and information science with special focus on the history of books and libraries.

The scope of Roczniki Biblioteczne has always been broad, comparable with the scope of Rocznik Biblioteki Narodowej [The National Library Yearbook].

Apart from original articles reflecting research carried out by book studies and library science scholars, Roczniki Biblioteczne has published historical sources on the history of books and libraries, compiled bibliographies (e.g. of the master and doctoral theses written between 1962–1990 in library science institutes and departments), reviews of specialists literature, a chronicle of Polish and foreign events and obituaries.

Some issues were dedicated to outstanding Polish book and library science scholars including:

• Aleksander Birkenmajer (1961 R.5, 2007 R.51),
• Stefan Vrtel-Wierczyński (1963 R.7),
• Adam Lewak (1964 R.8),
• Antoni Knot (1970 R.14 z.1/2),
• Helena Więckowska (1971 R.15 z.1/2),
• Marta Burbianka (1973 R.17 z.1/2),
• Helena Radlińska (1974 R. 18 z.1/2),
• Bronisław Kocowski (1977 R.21 z.1/2; 1988 R.32 z.1),
• Józef Korpała (1979 R.23 z.1),
• Ksawery Świerkowski (1980 R.24 z.1),
• Karol Głombiowski (1983 R.27 z.1/2),
• Alodia Kawecka-Gryczowa (1985 R.29 z.1/2),
• Konrad Zawadzki (2002 R.46),
• Kazimiera Maleczyńska (2005 R.49).

Until 1980 Roczniki Biblioteczne was a biannual of 50 publishing sheets each, which published long discussions. Unfortunately, the 1980s recession had its bad impact on the periodical, which gradually became shorter. The turning-point was 1989, when Roczniki Biblioteczne became a 15–20 publishing sheet long annual.

Despite this difficult situation, the editors managed to maintain a high rank and quality of published papers, which made it possible for the experts representing the Scientific Research Committee and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education to classify Roczniki Biblioteczne as a high-scoring periodical (in 2003 it was placed on List A and received 6 and 9 points).

Between 1957–1994 Roczniki Biblioteczne was published by Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe and since 1995 it has been issued by Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego.

Roczniki Biblioteczne in a new academic discipline in Poland:

Roczniki Biblioteczne was first published in 1957 as a journal dedicated to  bibliography, book studies, library science and related fields. The periodical was closely associated with academic librarianship, as was evident in its earliest subtitle used for over a dozen years: Organ bibliotek szkół wyższych [The Organ of Academic Libraries]. However, from the very beginning, the scope of topics covered by the journal has been much wider than that suggested by its initial title. The periodical has always dealt with book and library studies, focusing especially on historical aspects of widely defined book culture. From the organ of academic libraries the journal has developed to be the organ of broader circles of book studies researchers. It has been associated with the sixty-year history of the name and status of the very discipline, which used to be part of humanities, and in 2005 was called bibliology and information science. In 2018, the new Higher Education Act impacted upon this discipline moving it from the field of humanities to the field of social sciences and merging it with the discipline of social communication and media studies. This development has motivated the Editorial Team of Roczniki Biblioteczne to modify the title of the periodical by adding a new subtitle to it: Czasopismo poświęcone kulturze książki i komunikacji piśmiennej [The Journal of the Book and Written Communication Culture]. This new title reveals the plan of the editors who wish to preserve the character of the periodical, focusing on books yet open to new research fields, related to the dissemination of knowledge and information via various channels and media in the past and today. Roczniki Biblioteczne will hopefully continue to play its important role in academic circles, the role it assumed when it was launched.