Initially the collections were mainly used by students of Krakow's School of Fine Arts. However, because of their great iconographic value, they also became a highly-valued resource for publishers of illustrated works. Since the beginning of its existence, therefore, the collection has not only been used by art lovers and researchers, but has also played a role in wider cultural circles. In the years following World War II the collections were used and studied even more intensively. As (incomplete) reports show, during research carried out in the post-war period the total number of works made available was greater than the number contained in the entire collection.

Almost from the beginning of the Museum's existence the drawings and prints played an important role in permanent and temporary exhibitions both in the Sukiennice and later in the Czapski Branch. One of the first 'independent' graphic exhibitions was the display of portraits of the founders of the May 3rd Constitution organised in the Langierówka in 1891. Over the years the number of paper-based works used in permanent exhibitions gradually decreased, while their presence in temporary exhibitions increased. Currently between a few hundred and around a thousand works from the Department's collections are used each year in museum exhibitions (both our own and in other institutions). In the post-war period the department mounted around a hundred exhibitions of its own.

Due to the large number of artefacts in the Department's various sections and groups, a complete catalogue of the collection has not yet been issued. The most comprehensive existing publication is the multi-volume collective work Catalogue of Architectural Drawings from the Collections of the National Museum in Cracow published in 1975-1986. Work is now in progress on catalogues for particular parts of the collection. A partial record of the Department's collection can be found in the numerous catalogues for temporary exhibitions organised by Department III or the recently published album Polish Art Nouveau Posters from the Collections of the National Museum in Cracow.