University and City Library Cologne

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University and City Library Cologne
logo
founding 1602/1920
Duration 4.4 million
Library type University library
place Cologne
ISIL DE-38
Website http://www.ub.uni-koeln.de/
The library building (Photo: 2012)

The University and City Library of Cologne (USB Cologne) is the central university library of the University of Cologne and, according to its constitution, is its "lending and magazine library". It is therefore a service facility especially for the members and institutes of the university, but also for the citizens of Cologne and the region. It works with the institute's libraries and uses modern information and communication technology to carry out its tasks. The University and City Library of Cologne is part of the Cologne Libraries Association .

The library offers a wide range of current information media as well as a rich collection of historically valuable holdings. With extensive special collections and collection focuses (business administration (until 2012), social sciences (until 2013), Benelux cultural area, historical collections in the Rhineland, European Documentation Center ), it particularly appeals to national and non-university customer groups. It also sees itself as a partner for the economy, whose information needs it seeks to satisfy through its collection focus. The inventory comprises a total of 4.4 million media, including 330,000 e-books and around 66,000 electronic journals on all subject areas except medicine. This makes the USB Cologne the largest library in North Rhine-Westphalia.

The medical department is in the German Central Library for Medicine (ZB MED).

In June 2020, the USB Cologne was the target of a hacker attack.

History and historical inventory

The library was created as a result of the establishment of the New University of Cologne in 1920. Its roots go back to several predecessor institutions, from whose holdings its rich and significant old stock comes. The oldest root is the so-called Syndikatsbibliothek , founded in 1602 by the Cologne City Council , a reference library with predominantly legal works for the work of the Council.

The Wallraf Collection , another important source for the old stock, goes back to Ferdinand Franz Wallraf (1748–1824), the last elected rector of the Old University. The collection, together with the syndicate library, formed the basis of the old Cologne city library.

Another base comes from the grammar school library , which goes back to the collection of the Jesuit college, which was abolished in 1773. During the time of the French occupation, after 1794 books were owned by numerous Cologne monasteries and the old Cologne high schools.
The library was handed over to the Cologne City Library as a permanent deposit of the grammar school and foundation fund, and with this came to the library in 1920.

Until 1880, the library was organizationally and structurally connected to the historical archive of the city of Cologne until 1934 . When the archive and library were separated, it was decided that the archive should keep the manuscripts , while all prints from the old holdings were sent to the library.

University and City Library Cologne (1964–1968)

The current library building was built between 1964 and 1968 under the direction of Rolf Gutbrod .

In the old stock there are two valuable block books from the 15th century and 2350 incunabula (prints up to the year of publication 1500). The library also has a copy of the Shakespeare first edition from 1623 ( Shakespeare's Folio ).

Particularly well-kept collection focuses in the historical area are:

  • “Cologne prints before 1800” including fake Cologne prints
  • Coloniensia and Rhenensia.

In the course of time, numerous other bequests and collections came into the possession of the library, such as B .:

Some spines of the Hittorff library labeled "Hittorff"

Directors since 1920

Conservation

A separate department for Historical Collections and Preservation is responsible for all the literature in the library before 1801 and for the other valuable collections and holdings, as the library sees an important task in preserving the holdings. This includes preventive conservation measures such as cleaning soiled volumes or creating appropriate storage conditions. The preservation of endangered stocks through filming or digitization is also becoming increasingly important. Finally, restoration work is also part of the tasks in order not only to restore the usability of the tape, but also to ensure the preservation of the historical object “book”, which has a high source value for research.

On behalf of the state, the library is also responsible for looking after and advising smaller, non-governmental libraries with historical book collections. The contact person is the regional library office for historical holdings in the Rhineland based at the library.

Collection selection:

  • DFG special collections
    • Business Administration (until 2012)
    • Social Sciences (until 2013)
    • Culture area Belgium Luxembourg
  • Modern collections
  • European Documentation Center
  • Historical collections
    • Origin and existence of the Rhine department
    • The Old Book Department in the university
    • Historical collections reading room
    • Special catalogs
  • Cover collection
  • Islandica Collection
  • State librarianship " Historical holdings in the Rhineland "
  • Digital collections

further services

In addition to maintaining holdings and the daily routine business of a university library, such as the procurement, indexing and provision of media, the library offers a variety of other services. Information services, guided tours and training courses should serve as initial orientation aids.

For some years now, the library has also concentrated on expanding its electronic services. In addition to the creation of digital collections and the development of intelligent research systems, this also includes the document delivery service subito , which can be used to conveniently order literature. Using the USB portal, which was implemented on the basis of the IPS software of the digital library , a parallel search in catalogs and literature databases as well as in the EBSCO Discovery Service can be started under one interface.

Selection of ongoing projects

  • SSOAR - Social Science Open Access Repository
  • BuR - The Open Access eJournal Business Research
  • Systematic online catalog of the reading room
  • Newspaper clipping collection (1840–1975)
  • Retrospective indexing of the contents of the Icelandic collection
  • Online Contents Database of the special collection area social sciences
  • The University and City Library of Cologne during the National Socialist era
  • Nazi provenance research
  • Provenance directory
  • Digital Romansh Chrestomathy
  • Work edition by Caspar Vopelius
  • Retro-conversion of the holdings 1800–1988

literature

  • Annual report of the University and City Library Cologne 2000 ff. ( Full text ).
  • Hoffrath, Ch. (2013): Library Director under National Socialism. Hermann Corsten and the University and City Library Cologne , Cologne 2013.
  • Boeff, R. (2005): Treasures from the binding collection of the University and City Library Cologne , Cologne 2005.
  • Gabel, G. (2002): Building history perspectives. The University and City Library of Cologne and its predecessor institutions , Cologne 2002.
  • o. V. (2001): From commercial college to university. 100 years of economic and social science teaching and research in Cologne , Cologne 2001.
  • o. V. (2002): 400 years of the council library / university and city library. Speeches at the ceremony in the Hansasaal of the historical city hall of Cologne on November 28, 2002 , Cologne 2002.
  • o. V. (2003): Scholars - Diplomats - Entrepreneurs. Cologne collectors and their book collections in the USB , Cologne 2003.
  • Quarg, G. (2002): All of Cologne is full of book treasures. From the Council Library to the University and City Library 1602-2002 , Cologne 2002.
  • Quarg, G. / Schmitz, W. (1995): German Book Art in the 20th Century. Catalog for the exhibition on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the USB , Cologne 1995.
  • White, W. (1973): The Cologne copy of Shakespeare's First Folio (1623) , Krefeld 1973.

Web links

Commons : University and City Library Cologne  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Homepage University and City Library Cologne: facts and figures. Status: December 2018, accessed on May 5, 2020.
  2. ↑ Server in quarantine: Cologne university library was the target of a cyber attack. June 3, 2020, accessed June 9, 2020.
  3. ↑ Inventory history in the manual of the historical book inventory .

Coordinates: 50 ° 55 ′ 33.3 "  N , 6 ° 55 ′ 41.3"  E