Landscape library
| Landscape library | |
|---|---|
 The landscape library
|
|
| founding | around 1600 |
| Duration | 115,000 |
| Library type | Regional library |
| place |
Aurich 
|
| ISIL | DE-Au3 |
| management | Paul Weßels |
| Website | http://www.ostfriesenelandschaft.de/bibliothek |
The landscape library, based in Aurich, is the largest scientific library in East Frisia . After the sale of the princely library in 1746 (two years after the transition from East Frisia to Prussia), it sees itself committed to the tradition of state book ownership in East Frisia and derives from this the claim to be an East Frisian regional library.
history
The exact founding date of the landscape library is unknown, but the time around 1600 is very likely, when the administrators of the East Frisian estates (as a forerunner of the landscape college ) set up a reference library for their administrative activities. At the latest since the Emden Revolution, the estates had established themselves as the second center of political power vis-à-vis the sovereign and needed the library both to carry out their tasks in the state administration and to justify their special constitutional and political claims.
The landscape library is mentioned for the first time in 1696. A possibly incomplete inventory has been preserved for this year.
When the local dynasty died out in 1744 and East Friesland fell to Prussia , the new sovereign, Friedrich II. From 1746 auctioned off many of the values that fell to him in the region, including the East Frisian ducal library from the Aurich Castle , so that hardly anything is left today . After the sale, the administrative library at that time was the only one in East Friesland that maintained book collections of major importance for the entire region, even if it differed from the courtly collection as a purely useful library for the work of the administrators.
The East Frisian population was so interested in a library that was supposed to provide them with scientific literature on the region that Friedrich II instructed the War and Domain Chamber in Aurich to open a public library just a few years after the princely library was sold. for the best of the arts and sciences ”. The holdings of this so-called government library were later incorporated into the landscape library, which remained a small, non-public utility library for the rural administrators throughout the 18th century.
After the Napoleonic era , the associated temporary abolition of their privileges and the transition from East Frisia to the Kingdom of Hanover , the estates rearranged their tasks. For example, the non-public administration library was turned into a public library for which an acquisition profile was created in 1820, which, with small changes, is still valid today. The aim is to acquire “the most complete possible acquisition of regional history and regional studies”, as well as “literature on the neighboring Friesland” and “a certain selection of humanities, especially historical literature”. However, the library did not experience a major expansion of its holdings in the following period; The priorities of the East Frisian landscape in the Hanoverian and the subsequent second Prussian period were more on preserving their old privileges. It was not until the 1930s that the landscape library began to purposefully purchase further book holdings, which was interrupted by the Second World War, but continued from the 1950s onwards. The library, which was housed in the attic of the landscape house after 1945, soon proved to be too small. In 1956, the move to a temporary facility on Hafenstrasse in Aurich followed, where the library resided in the garden of the landscape house until the completion of a new building in 1965. At this point in time, the stock comprised 18,000 volumes, which, however, grew rapidly due to extensive acquisitions and deposits . The landscape library has been connected to the Lower Saxony library computing center in Göttingen since 1987 and handles cataloging and interlibrary loan in an online network. At the end of the 1980s, the library's magazine tower, which was designed to hold 100,000 volumes, was full, so that a new building was necessary. This was started in 1992 with financial support from the State of Lower Saxony and the Lower Saxony Foundation . On August 31, 1995, the building was officially opened by the Prime Minister of Lower Saxony.
staff
When it moved to the new building in the garden of the landscape house, the library had two employees, but this quickly proved to be inadequate due to the expansion of the holdings and the assignment of new tasks. Today it employs six people. Paul Weßels is the head of the library .
Duration
The book inventory of the older administrator library is historically uncertain. For the year 1696 there is evidence of an inventory list which, in addition to national history titles, contains general historical, theological, geographical, business and utility books as well as maps.
A first complete catalog for the administration library has been handed down for 1797 . At this point in time, the inventory comprised 241 titles, including 24 periodicals, and focused on political, regional and historical literature. A printed catalog from 1901 names 1687 titles.
In 1965 there were 18,000 volumes, at the end of the 1980s around 100,000 volumes. Today there are 115,000 volumes and 640 current journals in the library's holdings. The library has a total capacity of 265,000 volumes. Every year around 2500 to 3000 new acquisitions are added.
In addition to its own holdings, the landscape library keeps important book holdings as deposits. The largest single item here is the library of the first Prussian district president Christoph Friedrich von Derschau (1714–1799) with 10,525 titles (plus 3.6 meters of not yet cataloged dissertations), including 3 incunabula, 7 titles up to 1520, 60 titles up to 1550, 381 Titles from the second half of the 16th century, 1168 titles from the first half and 2934 from the second half of the 17th century, 4193 titles from the first half and 1779 titles from the second half of the 18th century. Derschau had bequeathed his books to the State of Prussia in his will, with the condition that they should be left in Aurich. He also recommended making it the basis of a state library.
The government library of the War and Domain Chamber, which was set up during the reign of Frederick II in 1764, contains 1845 titles. The third large deposit is the old grammar school library of the Aurich Ulricianum with 6627 volumes.
building
The landscape library building was built in 1992 according to plans by the architects Arnke, Göken and Häntsch (Berlin and Oldenburg). They included the premises of the old library in their concept and tried to take the library's public into account with their design. The entrance area is provided with a glass front that allows glimpses into the open access area for 30,000 volumes, which is distributed over two levels. In addition, the entrance was relocated to a busy footpath in downtown Aurich. The magazine tower was taken over from the old building stock. Since then, the 3rd floor has been used to accommodate the regional image archive, while the 1st and 2nd floors are used as a book store for 40,000 volumes. The ground floor is now used as an open access area. There is space for another 10,000 volumes. The magazine bolt was also rebuilt . It is located across the reading room and the open access area and can hold up to 180,000 volumes.
The forecourt at the entrance is decorated with a stylized version of the coat of arms of the East Frisian landscape by the Berlin sculptor Christian Schneider-Moll.
The building has received several awards. In 1996 it was recognized by the Balthasar Neumann Prize . In the same year, it was selected by the state of Lower Saxony as one of the showpieces on Architecture Day on June 30th. In 1997 it received the Weser-Ems Prize for Architecture and Civil Engineering from the OLB Foundation.
literature
- Barbara Lison-Ziessow, Martin Tielke : The history of the landscape library. 1995, ISBN 3-925365-87-7 .
- Peter L. Arnke: Landscape Library Aurich. Essen 1996.
Web links
- Information on the library on the website of the East Frisian Landscape
- Library catalog (together with the Johannes a Lasco library )
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Ostfriesenelandschaft.de: Portrait- Die Landschaftsbibliothek Aurich- From the reference library to the "Ostfriesische Bibliothek" ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
- ↑ In: Common Authority File .
- ↑ a b c d Bernhard Fabian: Handbook of the historical book inventory in Germany, Austria and Europe. digitized in 2003 by Günter Kükenshöner .
- ^ A b c d e Martin Tielke: The new library of the East Frisian landscape in Aurich
- ^ A b Lippische Landesbibliothek Detmold: Brief portrait: Landscape Library Aurich .
