Museum library

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The museum library is a specialized scientific library whose sponsor is a museum or museum association. Structurally and in terms of content, it is closely associated with its sponsor and has a media inventory that is used for scientific research. The museum library is accessible to employees of the agency and, in many cases, also to the public.

The museum library has its own book inventory, but in some cases also manages an image archive and the museum archive, as well as other special collections, e.g. B. the graphic collection, bequests , ephemera , photographs or posters . The media available in a museum library serve both as sources of information and as collection or exhibition items.

Origin and history

Museum libraries have existed since the mid-19th century. They were created through foundations , the acquisition of bequests or hand tools. The content of the new acquisitions was based on the needs and founding history of the museum to which the library belonged, as well as on the wishes of the curators and the management of the museum. Other acquisition forms are in addition to the purchase of new releases, antiquarian books and gifts the acquisition of a license for electronic media, the delivery of reference copies, as well as the font exchange with other libraries.

The creation of a digital collection and a digital catalog are also part of the tasks of a museum library, driven forward in Germany by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The existing card catalogs are transferred to modern databases , with many libraries at times also running two catalogs in parallel. The most widespread form of the development of the offer is now online via the OPAC .

organization

Museum libraries are defined by their respective owners. In order to be relevant for the sponsor, the museum library follows the same model as the sponsor and adapts the acquisition of new holdings to criteria specified by the sponsor. The existence of a museum library is partly anchored in the foundation law of the sponsor, e.g. B. those of the German Historical Museum and that of the Museum Foundation Post and Telecommunications . The structures of the organizational integration of the library into the museum can be diverse and differ between museums. Ideally, the management of the museum library is the responsibility of people with a librarianship .

Art library and print room of the State Museums in Berlin

Of the 508 museum libraries that existed in Germany in 1996, over half (51.5%) had no permanent staff (= zero person library) and a further 32.5% had only one person (= one person library ). The art library of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin represented the largest library with 64 full-time employees. In total, only five libraries had more than eleven employees. In the case of a One Person Library, the person working there usually has additional training or in-depth knowledge of the scientific field covered by the museum and thus the library. The determination of exact numbers proves to be difficult because there is no current statistical list of the museum libraries in Germany.

For many museum libraries, the exchange of documents is an important form of acquisition. Own publications such as exhibition catalogs, research reports, series of publications or scientific journals are exchanged with publications from other museum libraries. This type of cooperation has also proven itself in international cooperation; numerous exchange relationships have existed since the 19th century. In spite of all the specialization and individuality of the individual museum libraries, the exchange of documents enables a targeted addition to the respective holdings, especially between libraries with similar collection profiles ( contemporary art , photography, archeology, etc.). At the same time, the exchange is necessary in order to acquire the latest media even with a small purchase budget.

Another form of cooperation is the joint online catalog of museum libraries. Examples are the Frankfurt museum libraries and the Düsseldorf cultural institutes. So z. For example, the general catalog of the Düsseldorfer Kulturinstitute (GDK) looks not only for books but also primarily gray literature and is mainly used by employees of the Düsseldorf art institutes.

The Association of Art and Museum Libraries (AKMB) founded in 1995 is an important forum for the professional exchange of museum librarians . The AKMB offers - often together with the Initiative Fortbildung eV - a specialized program for training and further education. The discussion of current technical issues also takes place via a mailing list and the specialist journal AKMB news .

Use and function

The museum library is used by all departments of the museum, it supports research on museum objects, the conception of museum educational offers and the planning of new exhibitions. Museum librarians are sometimes involved in the curation of exhibitions and write texts for exhibition catalogs.

The library's holdings, often consisting of unique prints and books, serve as exhibits themselves and the library is responsible for the care, conservation and restoration of these objects. Provenance research is increasingly one of the tasks of the museum libraries. Librarians support the provenance research of the objects exhibited in the museum on the one hand and examine the provenance of the library holdings on the other. The museum library offers background information on the museum objects and exhibition topics for the interested public. She also supports her own research projects. The inventory is usually expanded according to a defined acquisition profile, which is based on the museum's collection and exhibition concept and the curators' research projects.

The library's internal responsibilities also include museum publications, staff management and training, and book maintenance. The museum library also participates in events. The information provided by the library is also used for scientific publications and lectures, as well as expert opinions and scientific inventory lists.

The work in a museum library can be very diverse. In addition to the basic library tasks such as building and maintaining collections, this can also include the technical training of students (practical semester) or the training of specialists for media and information services (FAMIs). Training courses or workshops on topics such as open access, literature management programs or image database research can also be part of the offerings of the museum library. Many institutions participate in museum events and present the library offers or special book objects, but they also offer their own events such as readings, lectures or book flea markets.

Museum libraries have different usage concepts. They are mostly available to the public , but some can only be used as reference libraries for internal use. A museum library is often a reference library , ie the media cannot be borrowed. Some of them are set up as a magazine library. Museum libraries are increasingly used not only by museum employees, but also, for example in the library of the German Historical Museum, by specialist scientists and students. Also restorers , journalists , collectors, art dealers and local historians use the museum library.

The holdings in museum libraries adapt to the respective specialization of the museum and complement its collection. The core holdings of the library are often manuals , monographic literature and specialist journals , as well as encyclopedias , bibliographies and catalogs. The inventory also includes diaries and photographs, as well as ephemera. The stocks of individual categories can vary in size, since curators need a different number of media for the preparation of exhibitions and exhibitions have different budgets for the acquisition of new materials. A change in content or quantity can be made through the collective purchase or the acquisition of larger bundles.

The museum libraries in Germany also differ greatly in size. The largest part (50.5%) has 10,000-50,000 volumes. Only eight libraries (2.5%) have more than 200,000 volumes and 13 libraries (4.1%) are in the category of the smallest libraries with less than 1000 volumes. The support situation of these libraries is just as different. So even larger libraries with a stock of up to 50,000 volumes are partly unmaintained, on the other hand the museum of the Elbe Shipping Museum Lauenburg had four full-time employees in 1996 with a stock of 2500 volumes. The largest German museum libraries , judged by their holdings, are those of the Deutsches Museum in Munich (939,000 volumes), those of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg (670,000 volumes), those of the German Museum of Technology in Berlin (500,000 volumes) and those of the Art library of the Dresden State Art Collections (also 500,000 volumes).

See also

literature

  • Matthias Miller: Who are we? And if so, how many? Museum libraries in Germany - an attempt at an overview . In: AKMB-news . Vol. 20, No. 2, 2014, doi: 10.11588 / akmb.2014.2.26480 , pp. 16-20.
  • Monika Steffens: Museum library - a look behind the mirror. Notes on a hidden facility . In: AKMB-news . Vol. 1, No. 2, 1995, doi: 10.11588 / akmb.1995.2.318 , pp. 5-9.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Museum and Library AKMB News: Information on art: Museum documentation and libraries in Germany: the current status . 2010, doi : 10.11588 / AKMB.2008.2.501 ( uni-heidelberg.de [accessed on May 6, 2020]).
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Museum and Library AKMB-News: Information on art: Who are we? And if so, how many? Museum libraries in Germany - an attempt at an overview . 2015, doi : 10.11588 / AKMB.2014.2.26480 ( uni-heidelberg.de [accessed on May 6, 2020]).
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Museum and Library AKMB-News: Information on art: Museum library - a look behind the mirror. Notes on a hidden facility . 2009, doi : 10.11588 / AKMB.1995.2.318 ( uni-heidelberg.de [accessed on May 6, 2020]).
  4. ^ A b Hacker, Rupert .: Basic librarianship . 8., completely reworked. and exp. Edition KG Saur, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-598-11771-8 .
  5. ^ Lehmann, Klaus-Dieter .: Picture, book and ark: library and museum in the 21st century . 1st edition Berlin University Press, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-940432-20-9 .
  6. ^ Daniel A. Starr: Cataloging in the Art Museum Library . In: Joan M. Benedetti (Ed.): Art museum libraries and librarianship . Scarecrow press, Lanham, Md. 2007, ISBN 978-0-8108-5921-0 , pp. 61-65 .
  7. ↑ Gillian Currie: Demonstrating the Library's Value at the National Gallery of Australia research Library . In: Joan M. Benedetti (Ed.): Art museum libraries and librarianship . Scarecrow press, Lanham, Md. 2007, ISBN 978-0-8108-5921-0 , pp. 181-184 .
  8. ^ Museum and Library AKMB News: Information on art: Art and museum libraries in Austria . 2009, doi : 10.11588 / AKMB.1996.3.314 ( uni-heidelberg.de [accessed on May 6, 2020]).
  9. ^ German Historical Museum: Tasks. Retrieved May 6, 2020 .
  10. ^ Museum Foundation Post and Telecommunication - Museum Foundation. Retrieved on May 6, 2020 (German).
  11. ^ Marlis Groth: Exchange as a means of building up holdings in museum libraries . In: AKMB-news: Information on art, museums and libraries . tape 11 , no. 1 , 2005, ISSN  2197-7402 , p. 23–26 , doi : 10.11588 / akmb.2005.1.53948 ( uni-heidelberg.de [accessed on May 6, 2020]).
  12. ^ Museum and Library AKMB-News: Information on art: Networking strategies in art and museum libraries . 2009, doi : 10.11588 / AKMB.2002.3.244 ( uni-heidelberg.de [accessed on May 6, 2020]).
  13. ↑ Red .: Petra Hauke: Special libraries in Germany / 2. Art, culture, museums. Bock + Herchen, Bad Honnef 1996, ISBN 3-88347-189-5 .
  14. ↑ a b Linda Seckelson: Reader Services and Reference in Large Art Museum Libraries . In: Joan M. Benedetti (Ed.): Art museum libraries and librarianship . Scarecrow press, Lanham, Md. 2007, ISBN 978-0-8108-5921-0 , pp. 17-22 .
  15. ↑ Marcus Kenzler: Provenance Research . In: Marcus Kenzler (Ed.): Origin obliges! The story behind the works: 101 keywords for provenance research . State Museum for Art and Cultural History Oldenburg, Oldenburg 2017, ISBN 978-3-7308-1396-6 , p. 66 .
  16. ↑ Michael Brand: Foreword . In: Joan M. Benedetti (Ed.): Art museum libraries and librarianship . Scarecrow press, Lanham, Md. 2007, ISBN 978-0-8108-5921-0 , pp. ix-x .
  17. ↑ Deborah Barlow Smedstad: Art Museum Library Collections and Collection development . In: Joan M. Benedetti (Ed.): Art museum libraries and librarianship . Scarecrow press, Lanham, Md. 2007, ISBN 978-0-8108-5921-0 , pp. 93-95 .