1.1. General Information:
The Wurttemberg state library is financed by the ministry of science, Research and fine Arts of the Federal state of Baden- Wurttemberg.
It is a regional library for Baden- Wurttemberg, in particular for the administrative districts of Stuttgart and tuebingen, the library currently comprises 5.3 Million media items, i.e. 3.4 million volumes, 13.500 current journals, 15.263 manuscripts, 7.077 incunabula, and 140.422 maps and portraits.
1. 2. Staff: about 200 employees.
1. 3. Organization:
Accessions department, cataloguing department, information, Circulation, special collection and archives (manuscripts and valuable prints, Library of Contemporary history, bible collection, sheet music collection, hoelderlin Archive, Stefan George Archive); Union list of periodicals for Baden- Wurttemberg, Bibliography of Baden- Wurttemberg, and facilities for centralized cataloguing of manuscripts.
1.4. History:
The library was founded in Ludwigsburg as a public library on 11 February 1765 by Duke Carl Eugen Von Wurttemberg; after 1777 it was housed in series of different buildings in Stuttgart, in 1886 it was moved into a modern library building, the greater part of which was destroyed in 1944. The present building was opened to the public in 1970. From the beginning, Duke Carl promoted the development of the library’s collections (manuscripts, bible collection, incunabula) after 1803 under King Friedrich there was a tremendous increase in holdings as a result of the Secularization. A separate “court Library” of selected volumes became part pf the state; library in 1918. The library has always been the official deposit library for Wurttemberg, since 1964 for Baden- Wurttemberg more than 500.000 volumes were lost during World War II.
1.5. The Present Library Facility:
The new low-rise building is composed of three units (reading rooms, the administrative offices and a central section with lobbies and catalogues) the stacks are located underground, in two stores, each with an area of 120X60 meters, the building is constructed on a modular system, using exposed concrete and red brick, The reading room unit has a copper facing. A conveyor belt moves books from storage area to the circulation desk.
The Central section, the reading rooms and the stacks are equipped with air conditioning, a computer system is used to process book request, online public access catalogue, internet access, the show cases in the exhibition area (lower lobby) are air conditioned and burglar-proof.
1. 6. Use of the Library:
The library is open to the general public. Borrowing privileges are extended to all residents of Baden- Wurttemberg and to anyone holding an identification card from one of the universities in the state. Numerous borrowers from beyond the greater Stuttgart area obtain books on loan by mail, free of charge.
In 2006 there were 1.35.783 requests for books from the stacks, and the trend is still increasing, Although less than 3% of the 3.4 million volumes in the state library are on open access, approximately 311.721 visitors per year make use of the public reading rooms (main reading room, music reading room, fine arts library).
بقلم : محمود سيد
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