Discovering Libraries: A Different Kind of City Tour
The gallery hall of the municipal library in Stuttgart (Photo: Frank Schneider/ Stadtbibliothek Stuttgart)
27 April 2013
They are quiet refuges in the middle of the big city, often impress us with spectacular architecture and usually offer not only any number of books, but also a few surprises. So why do we rarely see libraries listed in travel guides? By Jens Boyer
A first visit to a new city offers a number of opportunities for spending one’s time. Landmarks, restaurants, museums – there are no limits to curiosity and personal preferences. Interested travellers quickly notice that there is one institution to be found in every larger town. There are over 10,000 libraries in Germany alone and even greater numbers throughout Europe and worldwide. A spontaneous visit to a library can be added to practically any travel itinerary.
Not only is the number of libraries high, but the variety of surprises that await explorers there, too – both in the form of impressive architecture and things that cannot be experienced in the physical space.
My Tip of the Month
Once every month we present a cultural recommendation to you in this column. By turns, we ask experts from the various specialist divisions of the Goethe-Institut for their own personal tip. Whether a classic or a novelty, insiders’ tip or urbane culture – what we seek is what they like.
Anyone who would like to experience the space of a library as an intellectual and cultural place can find inspiration for planning their next journey at the digitalization project Bibliotheksbauten and the Library Buildings database. It is also the opportunity to approach an unknown city in an entirely new way. For instance, the Stadtbibliothek is only a few minutes walk from the railway station in Stuttgart. Hardly recognizable as a library from the outside, inside it reveals its space all the more spectacularly and gives the impression of a multi-coloured painting in its open, multi-storey gallery hall. In Leipzig, the building of the German National Library, which has grown over the decades and been expanded a number of times, demonstrates both its architectural development and functional evolution.
Once every month we present a cultural recommendation to you in this column. By turns, we ask experts from the various specialist divisions of the Goethe-Institut for their own personal tip. Whether a classic or a novelty, insiders’ tip or urbane culture – what we seek is what they like.
But, a library can be used and experienced without going anywhere, anytime and from anywhere. The cultural and knowledge treasures of Bavaria is available in this manner as well as the new e-books of one’s favourite writer as a digital element of all sorts of libraries’ programmes – whether national libraries, university libraries or the municipal library around the corner. The annual campaign week Treffpunkt Bibliothek held by the German Association of Libraries is the opportunity to gain a national and local insight into the abundance of activities that libraries have to offer. Its motto is Information has Many Faces.
Jens Boyer, 40, is the head of the Information and Library division at the Head Office of the Goethe-Institut. He began working at the institute in 2001 and was the library director in Tokyo for four years. The special thing about his work, he feels, is the opportunity to combine the local experience with global perspectives in a worldwide network. Today, as often as he can, he still follows the advice of one of his university teachers to visit at least one library in every unfamiliar city.
