Libraries in Germany – Expert Discussion

Former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt once described libraries in Germany as the “nation’s intellectual filling stations”. The German Library Association (DBV) has been committed to preserving and expanding libraries for 60 years, while the umbrella organization, Library and Information Germany (BID), has been doing the same for 20 years. In this role, they have an impact on readers, books and opinions.

Children sit on small chairs and rummage happily through a wooden box full of picture books while their fathers chat. The local library in Cologne’s Nippes district also serves as a meeting place. Because it is in the neighbourhood, this is a non-intimidating place to access books for the 100,000 people who live in the district. Just a few kilometres away, students sit in the university library in front of their laptops, preparing for their next semester. Those studying theology can also take advantage of Cologne Cathedral Library, one of the largest specialist theology libraries in the German-speaking world.

All these libraries belong to the German Library Association (DBV), and are testimony to the diversity of the DBV’s 1,900 or so members. Well over half of them are to be found in towns with fewer than 50,000 inhabitants. “Very often, these are libraries with very few staff, sometimes just one person working part-time”, says DBV director Barbara Schleihagen. “Librarians such as these are very much dependent on having the chance to meet fellow librarians so they can share and profit from each others’ experiences and ideas.” One of the DBV’s main tasks besides political lobbying, she explains, is thus to establish links between its members.

“Library of the Year”

Just what libraries can achieve is demonstrated by the “Library of the Year” award. 2009 already saw this, the only national library award, being presented by the DBV for the tenth time. “It is not only the major historical libraries which deserve to win the prize, but in many cases also small, highly specialized libraries such as the prison library in Münster”, says Barbara Schleihagen. When the Münster library received the award (in 2007), it was the first time that many people even realized that prisons had libraries.

“We have found a strong partner in the Zeit Foundation”, stresses the DBV director. The cooperation with the foundation means that the considerable sum of 30,000 euros is made available as prize money. This year, the money went to the Municipal Library in Biberach an der Riss (in Upper Swabia). What impressed the jury, among other things, was the way the library had “extended its opening hours without adding to its staff by automating the borrowing process” and the library’s close cooperation with schools. The media centres of the two upper schools in Biberach became branches of the Municipal Library and were successfully incorporated into the syllabus and timetable. A further distinction of the Municipal Library is the fact that it has repeatedly come top of the Library Index (BIX).

Library index: even a poor rating is a bonus

BIX, the short-hand name for the Library Index, is based on the DAX, the German stock index. Just like its big brother at the stock exchange, it serves as a performance barometer. In its tenth year, the BIX 2009 was compiled on the basis of various indicators, among them cost efficiency, customer orientation and order fulfilment. The BIX is a competition in which even those who come last still profit: “We have found that particularly libraries which do not do so well in the BIX rating can make very good use of this in their argumentation”, reports Barbara Schleihagen. “When they go to their local council or treasurer, they can point out that similar libraries are able to offer much better services because they get more funding.” As a result, it becomes a matter of honour for some local politicians to do all they can to keep up with the library in the neighbouring town.

Breakfast with the German president

Part and parcel of the DBV’s political lobbying work is to take part in the Commission of Enquiry on “Culture in Germany” set up by the German Parliament. Over a period of four years, eleven members of parliament and eleven experts have sat on the commission to draw up recommendations for improving cultural policy. Federal President Horst Köhler has not only invited representatives of the DBV to join him for a “cultural breakfast”; he is also the patron of the nationwide “Germany Reads. Meeting-Point Library” action week, which the DBV is in charge of organizing. The main promoter of the campaign is the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

The public can find out how Germany’s major political parties stand on library-specific issues via what are known as “election touchstones”. These have been created by the DBV in cooperation with Libraries & Information Germany (BID). 20 years ago, the DBV was one of the founding members of the BID which, as the umbrella organization, also counts the Association of German Librarians, the Bertelsmann Foundation and the Goethe-Institut among its members. In addition, the BID also coordinates international cooperation with professional library associations in other countries.

Compulsory funding for libraries

For Barbara Schleihagen, copyright is one major challenge for the future. “It is important that the copyright regulations in the digitalized world do not become over-restrictive and that research and teaching, and indeed private study, can take place freely and without hindrance”. What is more, the DBV’s director is concerned that libraries will see cuts in their funding: “As a result of the economic and financial crisis, it is likely that we will all have to tighten our belts in the next few years.” At present, local authorities provide funding to libraries on a voluntary basis. Schleihagen is calling for compulsory funding to ensure that public libraries are saved, and believes there are two possible ways of doing this – either by passing a library law or via state-wide library development plans.

That would also benefit Nippes district library in Cologne. It was supposed to have been closed down in 2003 due to budget constraints of the City of Cologne; the closure was only averted by a wave of protests, though the library’s opening hours were reduced.