by Alison Wilson
New Hall, University of Cambridge
Between 20th July and 2nd August I made a tour of German libraries, built or renovated in the past 10 years, in eight cities. My object was to study library planning and architecture, and in particular the integration of new technical resources and services. I then attended IFLA Berlin, which gave me the opportunity for several visits to libraries in the capital. I will give a brief summary of these libraries in the order in which I visited them.
Architect: Arat Kaiser
Date of Opening: 1997 
After the re-unification of Germany the Deutsche Bibliothek became part of a distributed National Library, the other sections being the Deutsche Buecherei in Leipzig (which I had seen on a previous visit) and the Musikarchiv in Berlin. The new building in Frankfurt stands on a corner site defined by two main roads. It has been designed so that the main reading area looks out through a wall of glass on to a garden, sheltered by the staff offices on one side and by a tall brick artwork forming a barrier at the front. The entrance rotunda further protects the library from noise.
The areas which readers can access are open plan floors on three levels. The layout is clear and the main routes are visible from the entrance. A glass lift in the centre is less distracting than one might think. The main computer provision is on the lowest floor, away from the windows and sheltered by a ceiling. This seems to work satisfactorily. Upstairs is a separate multimedia room. Round the edges of the floors there is more formal and informal seating, taking advantage of smaller windows. A light shaft extends down into the basement stacks so that staff are not working entirely by artificial light. There is an architect's folly, a wall of books which no-one would want to climb, but on the whole relations between librarians and architects were mutually beneficial, and I was shown an interesting book which outlined their close co-operation.
Architect: Gerber & Partner
Date of Opening: 1993 
I had visited Goettingen in 1997, therefore it was interesting to see how the library had adapted to changing requirements. The area just inside the main entrance which had been a catalogue hall was now populated with computers and designated as an internet area, run by the students' union. There were also dedicated OPACs on all floors, for the library now has an online catalogue and online book ordering. The website also offers access to other catalogues and subscription services, subject information and document delivery. The small lecture room on the ground floor is mainly used for training in online resources. A much larger space is being cleared for a fully staffed IT resource centre where readers can learn to use the latest technology such as streaming video and scanning. The library was more densely populated and noisier than on my last visit, not so much because of computers, but because group work is allowed on the edges of some floors.
The University retained its old library for special collections after the move. This is currently being refurbished and a disused church has become an attractive exhibition centre and lecture room. I also visited the digitisation centre located on this site.
The latest plan at Goettingen is to bring the Natural Sciences libraries together in one (mainly underground) building near the departments. This will be a 24 hour library with state-of-the art computing facilities.
Architect: Koch & Partner
Date of Opening: 2000 
Erfurt is a new university, and the Library is seen as a key building, raising its profile. Goettingen UB has obviously had an influence on the design, which employs the same glass and steel structural elements with an emphasis on spacious open plan floors and maximum use of natural light. Again, the main computer pool is adjacent to the entrance, with the library becoming increasingly quiet as you walk up and out towards the edges. Although considerably smaller than Goettingen, there are plans to extend it as the University grows. Unfortunately staff numbers have been cut, so most of the counters on the upper floors were unmanned. However, staff may be called from their offices to answer enquiries. The Director, Frau Schmiedeknecht, told me that the librarians had a very good relationship with the architects. One area of disagreement was the marble entrance floor and stairs which are inevitably the cause of noise penetrating to upper floors. Nevertheless, the atmosphere was peaceful and conducive to study and two rooms were provided for group work.
Architect: Heckmann, Kristel & Jung
Date of Opening: 2001
Jena suffered major destruction in the War and the library had existed in temporary buildings ever since. Consequently the librarians are thrilled to have a new building which brings together Arts and Humanities under one roof. It is on a somewhat restricted but central site, which the architects have used to advantage, describing it as ?a solitary building in a green area?. Most of the reader places are next to windows, and the building provides angles and corners designed to give stunning views across gardens to the hills beyond. Many features are reminiscent of Goettingen: the rotunda signalling the entrance, light brought into the depths of the interior (in this case by a vertical shaft above the entrance hall with a glass ceiling), dramatic views across different floors and vertiginous drops from balconies. Computers are mostly placed in groups near the central well or in separate rooms, but all reader spaces are networked for laptops. This is a densely occupied building, but it has been very carefully planned with clever use of glass panels so that it still feels open and accessible.
Architect: Valentyn & Schulz
Date of Opening: 1998 
This library has an innovative design, with five floors arranged in tiers so that the full height of the building is visible from the reader places along the edges, with a wall of glass at rightangles providing significant natural light, though shaded by fixed external louvres. Behind each set of tables (except on the top floor) are the open stacks. Most of the computers are in a separate room, nevertheless, there has been some problem with noise in this huge open space. Group work is not allowed. The building fits extremely well into its context, forming a triangle with the new and old lecture theatres.
While in Halle I visited the University Library where the two main buildings have been beautifully restored to their former state, with computers successfully introduced into the catalogue room and the reading room. I also saw the Education and Theology Library which has had a modern extension. Halle has not followed the trend found in other East German universities towards centralisation of its many departmental libraries. This is partly because it had such important historical buildings but also because of resistance from the professors to moving books out of their departments.
Architect: Auer & Weber
Date of Opening: 2003
Magdeburg is another new University, formed from three establishments in 1993. At the heart of the campus it has placed a triangular-shaped library designed to fit with neighbouring buildings to form a small plaza. It has been described by the architects as a folded band of concrete: this leaves a central light well and there are also windows on the long edges of the band. There are three floors above the ground floor and one below, and two more floors could be accommodated on top if necessary. The books were being moved in when I visited, so it was not possible to judge how well the finished library would work. There is a very large atrium, and a great impression of space inside, looking across to the central stairs and the edges of the floors. The architects are obviously concerned about noise as they have put in hanging rods over the stairs and ?clouds? over the information points, both acoustic devices. Once again this is a building of glass, steel, concrete and wood, on a very open plan. The design principles owe much to Goettingen, Jena and Erfurt, but have been adapted to suit the site. The centre of the building is filled with bookstacks and readers are next to the windows. It seemed likely that there would be too much light on computer screens in these positions and the wooden stairs could be noisy.
Refurbished without closing. Completed 2002 
This beautiful nineteenth century building has the traditional symmetrical plan of a grand central staircase and two courtyards. The main reading room is apsidal in shape. The centre of the building was bombed in 1945 and stayed in a ruined condition until the 1990s when money was made available for refurbishment. Part of this has been a faithful copy of the old plans for the entrance hall and staircase, but there was a radical change in the conversion of the courtyards to glassed in reading rooms. The opportunity has been taken to have many more books on open access and to arrange them in subject groups, integrating periodicals rather than having a separate periodicals collection. A computer network covers all the public areas but access to the internet is only available in the reading rooms. The old reading room has also been refurbished and now has a gallery on one side to increase shelving capacity. It has been a difficult task to adapt the building to modern requirements, but the result is impressive.
Architect: Ortner & Ortner
Date of Opening: 2002 
This is the Saxon State Library as well as University Library with nearly 1,000 reader places. It was the most unusual library I visited, because large parts of it are underground. It is, in fact, quite difficult to find the way in. It was also the only new library I had seen with a large traditional reading room, though without an enquiry point. It is surrounded by subject collections which have their own information desks and reader spaces, some equipped with computers. There is some natural light through glass panels at ground level and the electric lighting is carefully arranged to be more than adequate but not glaring. A large number of individual rooms are provided for group and audiovisual work and as carrels, and there is a separate reading room for special collections. There is a great feeling of space, provided by broad corridors and walkways and the height of the reading room, which can be glimpsed from various levels. Despite its original concept the library has a very traditional look and feel, enhanced by the predominantly brown décor. It could however prove depressing for a long stay. Staff are accommodated in a concrete block above ground, and a café and exhibition rooms are in an identical block opposite.
Architect: Gössler
Date of Opening: 2003 
The Erwin Schrödinger-Zentrum of the Humboldt University at Adlersdorf is designed to house a central library for the new Scientific and Technological campus. It is interesting because it combines library facilities with the computer department in a ?convergence? which I had not seen elsewhere in Germany. The two departments are closely tied together by the building, which has a common entrance, a single network, a shared lecture theatre and combined offices. Together they are pledged to organise and exploit the provision of information through electronic media. The library itself is built in the shell of an aircraft factory. A large sunken reading room, 36 metres square, was a feature of this building. It was surrounded by open stacks on all sides, supplemented by closed stacks in the basement. In total there are 287 networked reader places, some of them on two levels along the edge of the stacks. There seemed to be only one point for bibliographical enquiries, at the counter in the main entrance. The computer pool was in a separate room, walled with glass so that it was visible from the library and with glass doors to the outside corridor. The robot book transporters moving quietly to and from the stacks were another innovation.
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I am most grateful to British Council for paying my air and train fares and to the BII for contributing funds to make this visit possible. It has broadened my knowledge considerably and I have made many new contacts as well as renewing friendships in Halle. I also identified other architecturally important libraries which I hope to see in future: Gotha, Potsdam (when completed), and extensions to the Deutsche Buecherei in Leipzig and Anna Amalia Bibliothek in Weimar. I have written an article on new German library architecture which will be published in the English journal CILIP Update in Autumn 2004. I took a lot of photographs on my visits, and these have already proved useful in my consultancy work when demonstrating features such as carrels and lighting to clients.
I would like to thank all the librarians who willingly gave up their time to show me round, answer my questions and in some cases discuss the evolution of their library planning and design; Heinz Fuchs of the BII committee who gave me much useful advice and Guido Jansen, who was most helpful with my application, and whom I was pleased to meet at the British Council Library in Berlin.
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