Stendal City Library
| Stendal City Library | |
|---|---|
 The extension of the Stendal City Library, which we moved into in January 2012
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| founding | December 16, 1935 |
| Duration | 65,000 |
| Library type | Communal library |
| place |
Stendal 
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| ISIL | DE-Ste3 |
| operator | City of Stendal |
| Website | http://www.stadtbibliothek-stendal.de/ |
The Stendal City Library is a public institution of the City of Stendal , which is housed in the refectory at Mönchskirchhof. The city library looks back on over 600 years of history, even if it only became accessible to broad sections of the population with the Enlightenment . The official founding date of the public library is December 16, 1935; since 1984 it has also been called the Anna Seghers Library . The inventory currently comprises 65,500 media units , including 208,000 loans per year (as of 2005).
history
Beginnings
The oldest book collection in the city of Stendal dates back to 1540, when the St. Nicolai Cathedral Library was founded. But already in the years 1486 to 1488, with the establishment of Joachim Westfal's first book printer in the Brüderstraße, the interest in the new medium was recognizable and verifiable. Another library was added in 1662 with the family foundation of the former mayor Bartholomäus Schönbeck , the so-called Schönbeck Foundation . Just a few years later, this collection comprised over 1200 titles.
The Alvensleben libraries were made accessible to the Stendal public for around 100 years from 1610, but were never part of the Stendal City Library or its predecessor libraries.
In addition, in the 18th century a collection of legal and historical literature was formed in the Stendal city archive. Around 1800, smaller reading circles were created, which were recruited from wealthy and “educated” sections of the population. This can be imagined as a club-like library facility , but also as a loose subscription community for the magazines popular at the time . As a result, the first private libraries opened in 1818 with the "Müller lending library" and in 1825 with the lending library in the bookstore "Franzen & Große" (today Genz). In 1850 a youth library was added in the community school and in 1890 in the Mönchskirchhof grammar school.
When the Altmärkisches Museum was founded in 1888, another book collection was set up that was scientifically oriented.
Public institution
All of these book collections were not accessible to everyone. Just in time for Friedrich Schiller 's 150th birthday on November 10, 1909, efforts were also made in Stendal to commemorate this poet in a worthy way. The Schiller Year initiated by the city on September 14, 1909 also included the establishment of the “General Educational Association”. According to the statutes, the most important concern was "the development and promotion of the works of German and international literary cultural assets for the general population". Furthermore, it was hoped to counteract the spread of so-called dirty and trash literature by providing adequate literature .
The initiator was the editor of the newspaper Altmärkisches Intellektiven- und Leseblatt , founded in 1818 by the publishing house Franzen & Grosse , Hans Jaeger, who was elected chairman. Just six months later, the municipal authorities of the city of Stendal made the necessary rooms available in the Volksknabenschule (Arneburger-Tor-Schule). In addition to the transfer of the Hagemann library, this was another great support from the city. The library had a stock of over 1200 books "from all areas of literature".
The bundle of more than three and a half thousand volumes exceeded the capacity of the reading room in the boys' school three years later. The request of the Volksbildungsverein to the magistrate was granted. On June 15, 1913, on the occasion of the 25th year of the reign of Kaiser Wilhelm II, the new “public library with reading room in the basement behind the court arbor” opened. In 1931 the library's most valuable book was acquired for 2200 Reichsmarks , an edition of the Sachsenspiegel printed by Joachim Westfal in Stendal in 1488 , which the Stolbergische Bibliothek Wernigerode had previously owned.
After the middle school teacher Beckurs had headed the early years as librarian, in 1926 Reichsbahn chief secretary Wilhelm Preiss took over the honorary management. His successor in 1935 was Willy Salewski from Schneidemühl , who was also the city archivist and took on full-time support for the first time. On May 1, 1938, he moved to the Library Council in Berlin and was appointed by Dr. Werner Leffler replaced.
For 1929 an average daily number of readers of 35 was given, for 1935 it was 60. On March 4, 1935, the General Educational Association was replaced by the German Volksbildungswerk “Kraft durch Freude” . So even the smallest village library should become “a nucleus of National Socialist cultural will”. The previously private property was transferred to the city of Stendal, which was founded in 1934 by Mayor Dr. Werneke made the demand for a “municipal public library” obsolete. From November 1936, branch libraries were also set up in other towns and villages in the Stendal district . The Reich Ministry of Education decreed that it was renamed “Stadtbücherei Stendal”.
On February 25, 1937, the city council passed a resolution of 20,000 marks to restore the former refectory of the former monastery of the Franciscan Order at the Mönchskirchhof for inclusion as the city archive. Two years later, a further 30,000 marks were made available for complete renovation in order to also give the public library a larger domicile. In July 1939 the company moved from Hallstrasse 35, where the library had been located since September 1934. On August 27, 1942, the upper floor of the refectory was handed over, in which the Winckelmann Society previously resided.
For the end of 1943 a book inventory of 9,800 is reported with 30,000 loans annually. When the National Socialist and military literature was cleaned up in 1945/46, 2,100 volumes were removed and 1,400 volumes were blocked. By 1951, 10,125 volumes had been removed from the city's inventory. In 1954, with 8,700 and 35,000 loans, the pre-war level was almost reached. In 1960, 11,000 volumes were reached, in 1965 almost 29,500 volumes due to strong expansion into the area and 37,000 volumes in 1970.
Socialist cultural enterprise
The old monastery building with the library and the city archive housed in it survived the Second World War unscathed. In 1945, the library employee, qualified librarian Rosina Stender, who had come from Würzburg eight years earlier, became the new director. 1959 to 1978 her successor was Marie Hoppe, then Gudrun Walinda.
In 1949, the branch of the “Magdeburg Library Advisory Service” was set up in Stendal, and one year later it became the district library. Also in 1949, the then University and State Library in Halle gave the Stendal City and District Library the task of compiling and making available a complete index of the holdings for external lending .
With the reorganization of the state of Saxony-Anhalt and the districts of Halle and Magdeburg in the administrative reform of 1952 , the city libraries of the district and district towns were assigned key tasks in the alignment of the book inventory and the technical and methodical training of the affiliated local libraries. They were subordinate to the Ministry of Culture of the GDR . They also became "Scientific Inventory Centers".
In 1950/51, branches were opened in Stendal- Wahrburg and in the Sportlerheim am Bierkeller in Stendal-Nord, as well as the youth reading room on the upper floor of the monastery building. Until 1956, the two full-time libraries in Arneburg and Tangermünde as well as another 53 part-time libraries were also the responsibility of the Stendal City and District Library. In 1958, Stendal- Röxe was added , in 1960 the branch in Strasse der Freundage 39 (today: Schadewachten), in 1961 in the House of Youth (Platz der Jugend, today Schützenplatz), and in 1964 Am Sandberg. By 1988 another 26 branches, school lending and book clubs followed in the district.
In 1961 the first open access library was set up with the “Friendship” branch , and in 1966 after ten months of construction the main office in the monastery was also set up. With the increasing density of the library, the number of employees grew to 22 full-time employees by 1980, 17 of them full-time.
In July 1974 the possibility of borrowing records and in October 1976 audio cassettes was set up. The initial inventory was 274 pieces. The media inventory in the city of Stendal at the end of 1975 was 70,755, in the district 28,526, the loans in the city around 154,500, in the district 108,500.
An agreement with the Stendal District Council in July 1979 made it possible to work with schools: In the 9th and 10th grades, library lessons were given as part of the German lessons, after having been in the 2nd, 5th and 8th grade since the beginning of the 1966 school year. Class lessons in library use had been given.
As part of the 35th anniversary of the GDR, the collective of the city and district library adopted the name Anna Seghers on May 22, 1984 . In the same year, the number of lending points in the city of Stendal alone increased to 19. At the end of 1985, the statistics for the city of Stendal recorded almost 144,000 media, in the district 35,350, a number of loans in the city around 283,000 and in the district of 148,000.
Post-turnaround time
The network of branch libraries built up primarily in the 1970s was thinned out considerably within two years after the fall of the Wall and the peaceful revolution in the German Democratic Republic . In June 1990, a private video rental company moved to the ground floor of the Franciscan monastery, although it only stayed until the renovation at the end of 1992. In September 1993, library operations could be resumed. According to statistics, for 1995, a good five years after the fall of the Wall, the following were recorded: The media inventory in the city of Stendal at the end of 1995 was 72,000, of which 14,200 were in the school lending offices, the number of loans in the city was around 300,500, of which almost 60,000 were in the school sector .
From 1996 it was possible to borrow free of charge from a selection of 500 films (videos). The loan period was only one week. Since 1999 CD-ROMs, from 2000 audio books and from 2002 DVDs were added.
In 1997 electronics found its way into the Anna Seghers Library. First of all, the inventory was cataloged completely electronically, from August an electronic barrier was installed at the entrance and from 1998 internet access was available in the main library. Since 2003 there have been 30 annual free hours for registered users, each additional hour was charged with corresponding fees. In January 2001 the electronic cataloging was completely finished, from June this was implemented in the loan booking. The rental fees that have been charged since the beginning of the year made themselves felt in the statistics: the number of visitors fell by 1,500, the number of loans by 50,000. At the end of 2005, the media inventory was 65,500, the loans amounted to 208,000.
By resolution of the city council, a new building was added to the old Franciscan monastery building. This was designed for lectures, concerts and exhibitions on the ground floor, while the limited area of the library could be expanded on the upper floor. This new brick building was opened on January 9, 2012. With the opening, Blue-Rays, Nintendo and Wii games were now also available.
literature
- Gabriele Friese: Chronicle of the City Library Anna Seghers Stendal. 2 volumes. Self-published, September 2007.
Web links
- www.stadtbibliothek-stendal.de Official website
- Alvensleben library on the website of the University and State Library of Saxony-Anhalt
- Alvensleben library on the website of the von Alvensleben e. V.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g Gabriele Friese: Chronicle of the city library Anna Seghers Stendal. 2 volumes. Self-published, September 2007.
- ↑ Berlin State Library
- ↑ Handbook of the historical book collections in Germany, Austria and Europe of the University of Göttingen
- ↑ Stadtarchiv Stendal, K-II-10-45, Volksbibliotheken 1899–1935, Blatt 129. From a letter from the then district president in Magdeburg of October 27, 1934
- ^ Volksstimme of October 25, 2010
- ↑ Volksstimme of January 10, 2012