A friendly conquest: German libraries after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989

Wimmer, Ulla; Seadle, Michael

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/89810 Copy

Description

Title

A friendly conquest: German libraries after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989

Author(s)

• Wimmer, Ulla
• Seadle, Michael

Issue Date

2014

Keyword(s)

• Central and Eastern Europe--Libraries
• Russia--Libraries
• History of Libraries
• Post-Communism Development

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of the development of libraries in the geographical area of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) after it joined the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) in 1990. It briefly describes the situation of libraries in the GDR and the major changes that accompanied the unification process. It also touches on a series of three nationwide studies on reading and library-user behavior, and on library legislation and major national-planning initiatives since 1989. For academic libraries, the unification process was mainly favorable, as a structured plan and continuous funding were introduced as part of higher education development. For public libraries, the process was less structured, severely reducing a previously very dense system within a very short time. Recent library statistics indicate, however, that the integration of the two library systems has benefited the remaining libraries and left no clearly visible difference between library systems in the eastern and western parts of Germany.

Publisher

Johns Hopkins University Press and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

ISSN

0024-2594

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/89810

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1353/lib.2014.0032

Copyright and License Information

Copyright (2014) Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

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