The cooperation agreement was signed by Director General Dr. Klaus Ceynowa on behalf the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek and by Director Fazli Gajraku on behalf of the National Library of Kosova.

The cooperation will be focused above all on projects, such as the mutual exchange of bibliographic data, supporting scholars of the respectively other country by facilitating access to information resources, cooperatively developing and implementing scholarly projects and digitizing copyright-free holdings. Mutual information about open access publications, organising joint events on site or online, exchanging information materials and publications and joint public-relations work are on the cooperation agenda as well.

Markus Blume, the Bavarian State Minister for Sciences, Research and the Arts, welcomes the cooperation between the two libraries: "Libraries are gates to the achievements of the human mind: They are information storages of every country’ s own history of scholarship and culture and, at the same time, build bridges that lead beyond one's own intellectual homeland. The cooperation between the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek and the National Library of Kosova is intercultural understanding practised on a scholarly basis – which represents a valuable treasure of peaceful coexistence in times like these in particular."

About the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, founded in 1558 by Duke Albrecht V, is the largest academic universal library in Germany with around 37 million media units and one of the most important research libraries internationally. With more than 3 million digitized works, the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek holds the largest digital data stock of all German libraries. The library offers a broad variety of services in the field of innovative digital use scenarios. Among other things, it manages the "Specialised Information Service for East, Central and Southeast European Studies" funded by the German Research Foundation, and is thus responsible in particular for supplying literature from the Balkans throughout Germany.

About the National Library of Kosova "Pjetër Bogdani"
The library was founded in Prizren in 1944 and has been the National Library of the Republic of Kosovo since the country declared its independence in 2008. It preserves the national written cultural heritage and holds the legal deposit right with respect to all materials printed in Kosovo. Its collections include 2.5 million media units, among them 1,300 manuscripts. The National Library of Kosova is the national bibliographic center and the supervisory authority of all libraries and public library institutions in Kosovo.

Presse release for download  (PDF, 98 KB)

Contact persons
Peter Schnitzlein
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
Press and Public Relations
Ludwigstr. 16, 80539 Munich
Phone +49 89 28638-2429
presse@bsb-muenchen.de