Public Libraries Section

Country Report: Germany

August, 2000

To set up a public library in Germany is a frequent decision of the authorities in a community.A library law never existed.

Currently one public library in the Federal Republic of Germany supplies about 17.000 inhabitants, with a collection of 1.7 media per capita on average. The lending rate per year is 3.7 media per capita, the collection being turned over 2.5 times. For public library services the local authorities spend about DM 17.80 per person each year. This represents DM 2.40 per person per acquisition. There are two library posts for 10.000 members of the public library. Reading these figures it has to be be kept in mind that they are only on average and that twice as many libraries exceed them while half fall short.

On average, German public libraries are open 22 hours per week and as far as we know 15 to 20% of the population make use of them. In many cases the service is provided free of charge but, especially during the past three years, there has been an increase of various types of charge being brought in. This development points clearly into the direction of some form of cost sharing by users and potential users. So far there has been no development towards a uniform user or lending charge but it seems likely that, in the near future, with the deteriorating economic situation, some form of graded scale of charges will have to be developed and introduced. Information services would be the most likely to be affected by this. Today in Germany there are about 13.500 public libraries in total, but it says nothing about the quality or significance of the services provided. It represents merely the total of all the buildings and rooms someone calls a public library.

There are about 16.000 local authorities in the Federal Republic of Germany, but only about 2.000 of them provide a public library with trained staff. Each city with a population over 100.000 provides a public library with trained staff. In places with a population of 20.000 the library net is relative tight: only 10% of the communities are lacking a public library with full time staff. By comparison, when we come down to places with a population between 5.000 and 20.000, less than half of the authorities make such provision.

Information Technology in Public Libraries
Automation in public libraries - seen from the top of European figures - is still low, at about 30% of them all together. After a slow start about 25 years ago, the use of computerised systems has increased in libraries with better financial funds. Initially they were used for performance measurement development Currently they are more and more instruments in different areas of public library management, particularly since reasonably priced software has been developed for use in smaller libraries. The software systems are various. More than 30 different systems have been introduced in about 500 libraries. At present the most common are BIAP, SISIS, BIBLIOTHECA III, ALLEGRO, URICA, ALSI, Bond, BASIS and BIS LOK. Public libraries are not tied into the regional union cataloque systems although there is some consideration now in the State of Baden Württemberg and the North Rhine Westphalia Co-operative Schemes, whether and how to do so.

Internet Development

Innovative Projects in German Public Libraries

CHILIAS
The European Virtual Children's Library of the Future (Stuttgart Public Library)

Verity
Virtual and Electronic Resources for Information skills Training for Young people (Stuttgart Public Library)

BINE (Bibliothek+Internet=Navigation+Erschließung) The new service offers selected recourses of the www for different topics (Bremen Public Library)

ILEKS (Internet-Lektoratsservice) A follow-up of the BINE project, structuring selected resources in a network of German public libraries

ADAPT - New BOOK ECONOMY Professional Training for Staff in Bookshops, Publishing Houses and Libraries