Berlin State Library
Berlin State Library | |
---|---|
Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin | |
incunabula and manuscripts | |
Size | 23,110,423[1] Consists of 12.3 million books; 206,700 rare books; 60,100 manuscripts; music autographs; 1,600 estate archives; 25,000 periodicals; 180,000 newspaper volumes; 4,300 databases; 2.7 million microfilms; 13.5 million images at the bpk |
Legal deposit | Yes, German parliament and government publications[2] |
Access and use | |
Access requirements | any person over 16 years of age |
Circulation | 1.7 million |
Other information | |
Budget | ~€16,000,000 |
Director | Achim Bonte |
Website | staatsbibliothek-berlin.de |
The Berlin State Library (German: Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin; officially abbreviated as SBB, colloquially Stabi) is a universal library in Berlin, Germany and a property of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (German: Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz).
Founded in 1661, it is among the largest libraries in Europe, and one of the most important academic research libraries in the German-speaking world.[3] It collects texts, media and cultural works from all fields across many languages, from all time periods and all countries of the world, and offer them for academic and research purposes.
Prominent items in its collection include the oldest biblical illustrations in the fifth-century Quedlinburg Itala fragment, a Gutenberg Bible, the main autograph collection of Goethe, the world's largest collection of Johann Sebastian Bach's and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's manuscripts, and the original score of Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9.[4]
Central functions and cooperation with other libraries
The SBB is one of six libraries forming the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Sammlung Deutscher Drucke (AG SDD) which "collaborate to build a comprehensive collection of printed literature published in German-speaking countries from the beginning of letterpress printing to the present, to provide information on it, to make it accessible to the public and to preserve it for future generations."[5] This creates a "distributed" national library, in which each library is responsible for a given period, of which the SBB covers 1871–1912 for regular prints, 1801–1912 for maps and newspapers, and 1801–1945 for musical scores.
Within the cooperation of German and Austrian libraries, the SBB is responsible "for the maintenance and further development of the ZDB", the central periodicals database. "The ZDB actually contains more than 1.8 million bibliographic records of serials from the 16th century onward, from all countries, in all languages, held in 3700 German and Austrian libraries, with 15.6 million holdings information. It does not contain contents, i. e. journal articles."[6]
The SBB is one of 12 libraries and archives with significant holdings of historical documents which form the Allianz Schriftliches Kulturgut Erhalten (DE) (English: Alliance to Preserve Written Cultural Heritage). This alliance sets itself as main task raising the consciousness of the importance to preserve the century-old cultural heritage both by securing the physical integrity of the objects in question as well as making them available in digitized form, thus preventing their deterioration by use.
The SBB itself is digitizing its holdings and offers digitized newspapers for public access via the Web through their "newspaper information system" ZEFYS, or Zeitungsinformationssystem. ZEFYS "currently provides total of 281990 issues from 192 historical newspapers from Germany and foreign newspapers in german."[7]
History
The history of the Berlin State Library closely parallels that of German history. It has lived through creation, neglect, expansion, war damage, division, unification and re-creation like few other libraries.
Library of kings
In the early period, the fortunes of the State Library rose and fell on royal whims. In 1658
Rise to preeminence
With new resources and authority, construction began on a Royal Library building on the
At the founding of the Weimar Republic the Royal Library was renamed the "Prussian State Library" (German: Preußische Staatsbibliothek – Preussischer Staatsbibliothek). After 1919, economic effects of war and inflation on the library were mitigated through the active support of the Emergency Association of German Sciences (after 1930, the German Research Foundation).
War and destruction
The
Rebuilding and reunification
After 1945, parts of the collection that had been hidden in what became the
A larger proportion of the collection wound up in the American occupation zone, including a cache of 1.5 million volumes hidden in a
After
Legacies of the past
Many important items from the original collection are now located in Poland and territories of the former Soviet Union – declared as war reparations, sometimes controversially – such as the Berlinka Art Collection. The original score of Beethoven's 8th Symphony is a starker example of division: while the first, second and fourth movements are in Berlin, the third is kept in Kraków.[13] Conversely, it is estimated that about 10,000 volumes and 9,000 other items in the Berlin State Library are there as a result of Nazi plunder. As such, repatriation and self-criticism about these materials became controversial issues, so in 2005 the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation established the Center for Provenance Research to resolve the problems. For example, in 2008 a library user found an encyclopedia entitled Religion in History and the Present Day with a bookplate indicating it once belonged to a Jewish theologian. Library staff managed to find his widow in Israel, but she wrote back: "I appreciate your offer to return this book to me, but I have no use for it now."[14]
Locations
The State Library operates from two major public sites, Haus Unter Den Linden and Haus Potsdamer Straße, called the "Library in Two Homes".[15] There are additional subsidiary locations for newspapers, magazines, and archives not open to the public.
Haus Unter Den Linden
The original main building was built between 1908 and 1913 by the Prussian Construction and Financial Directorate of Berlin, then responsible for public constructions in the city. The
Haus Potsdamer Straße
This is the newer building in the Kulturforum on Potsdamer Straße in West Berlin, designed by Hans Scharoun with substantial participation by Edgar Wisniewski. Construction began in 1967 to house those parts of the library's evacuated holdings from the western Allied occupation zones at the end of World War II. After 11 years of construction, it was finally dedicated by Federal President Walter Scheel and opened to the public in 1978. It was renovated from 1999 to 2001. The building is currently being further redeveloped into a modern research library as a companion to the Haus Unter den Linden and will house the collection from 1946 onwards.[18]
Additional sites
- Westhafen: located in Berlin-Moabit, this building is a renovated granary and houses the newspaper collection and the children's and youth's library. It also serves as a temporary site for other major collections while the Unter den Linden building is renovated.
- Friedrichshagen Storage Magazine: located in cultural artifacts. It encompasses 22,000 square metres (240,000 sq ft) of climate-controlled space, and plans are in place to triple its size.
Collection
- More than 11 million books
- More than 200,000 rare books
- 4,442 incunabula
- 18,300 occidental manuscripts (including parts of the Nibelungenlied)
- 42,170 oriental manuscripts (including early Ming block prints)
- 250,000 autographs (including Lessing, Goethe, Kleist)
- 66,350 music autographs
- 1,400 estate archives (including the Mendelssohn family)
- 460,000 editions of sheet music
- 1.1 million maps, atlases and globes (including the world's largest bound atlas)
- 38,000 subscription periodicals and monographicseries
- 180,000 early newspaper volumes
- 22,900 printed and magazines
- 24,400 licensed electronic newspapers
- 4,700 databases
- 2.3 million microfilms
- 13.5 million images at the Prussian Heritage Image Archive
Among the library's most precious treasures are the
The library also has an extensive collection of important music manuscripts, including 80% of all the autographs of
Other notable items are a 1491 Map of Germany by
Notable librarians
Several notable scholars have held positions at the library, among them:
- Georg Heinrich Pertz, head librarian 1842–1873
- Valentin Rose, chairman of manuscript department 1886–1905
- Karl Richard Lepsius, head librarian 1873–1884
- Adolf von Harnack, head librarian 1905–1921
In film
The western library played a starring role in Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire. Two angels, the stars of the film, read the thoughts of the library's patrons.
See also
- Berlin Central and Regional Library (ZLB)
- German National Library (DNB)
- German National Library of Economics (ZBW)
- German National Library of Medicine (ZB MED)
- German National Library of Science and Technology (TIB)
- Kunstbibliothek Berlin
- Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation
- Prussian Heritage Image Archive
References
- ^ staatsbibliothek-berlin.de Archived 12 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine in German. Retrieved 25 February 2012
- ^ "Centre for Deposit Copies". Zentral- und Landesbibliothek Berlin. Archived from the original on 19 April 2022. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
- ^ "Die Staatsbibliothek: Porträt" [About the State Library] (in German). Retrieved 1 February 2012.
- ^ a b c "Die Staatsbibliothek: Zahlen und Fakten" [Facts and Figures] (in German). Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
- ^ Bubenik, Claudia (2017). "AG Sammlung Deutscher Drucke – Home". ag-sdd.de. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
- ^ "ZDB OPAC – start/text". zdb-opac.de. 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
- ^ "ZEFYS :: Historische Zeitungen – Zeitungsinformationssystem". zefys.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de. 2017. Archived from the original on 15 December 2017. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
- ^ "Die Staatsbibliothek: Geschichte 1661–1810" [History 1661–1810] (in German). Retrieved 1 February 2012.
- ^ "Die Staatsbibliothek: Geschichte 1810–1945" [History 1810–1945] (in German). Retrieved 1 February 2012.
- ^ "Die Staatsbibliothek: Geschichte 1946–" [History 1946–] (in German). Retrieved 1 February 2012.
- ^ "Die Staatsbibliothek: Geschichte 1945–1990" [History 1945–1990] (in German). Retrieved 1 February 2012.
- ^ "Die Staatsbibliothek: Geschichte 1990–" [History since 1990] (in German). Retrieved 1 February 2012.
- ^ "Die Staatsbibliothek: Kriegsfolgen" [Consequences of War] (in German). Retrieved 1 February 2012.
- ^ "German Libraries Avoid Association with Nazi Looting". Der Spiegel Online International. 24 October 2008. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
- ^ "Die Staatsbibliothek: Zwei Häuser" [Two Homes] (in German). Retrieved 1 February 2012.
- ^ "Berlin State Library reopens after long pause – 25.01.2021". DW.COM. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
- ^ "Haus Unter den Linden" (in German). Retrieved 1 February 2012.
- ^ "Haus Potsdamer Straße" (in German). Retrieved 1 February 2012.
- ^ "Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in d minor, op. 125". UNESCO Memory of the World Programme. 26 December 2008. Archived from the original on 25 August 2009. Retrieved 15 December 2009.
External links
- Official website (in German and English)