News archive

Karl-Georg Pfändtner, born in Bamberg in 1965, senior researcher in the Department of Manuscripts and Rare Books of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich, has been appointed Director of the State and City Library of Augsburg as of 1 January 2017. He is the successor of Reinhard Laube, who had occupied this position since 2013.

In the form of a special series, the editorial office of the Literaturportal Bayern introduces literary gems from the archive of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek: selected highlights which are related to Bavaria with regard to their origin, tradition and effect and have entered the annals of literature.

The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek has returned three books from the property of the Jewish art historian August Liebmann Mayer (1885 – 1944) to his daughter Angelika Liebmann. Mayer was arrested in 1944, deported to Auschwitz and murdered there. A major part of his library is considered lost.

The Deutsche Biographie (German Biography), a service jointly offered by the Historical Commission at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, posted the number of one million visitors for the first time in 2016.

bavarikon, the Internet portal on the art, culture and regional studies of Bavaria, presents its services also on Facebook as of now. The aim of the new Facebook channel is to inform about the plethora of contents and scope of bavarikon and to raise the awareness of different user groups of the multi-faceted service.

Cabinet presentation of the series "Musical treasures"
15 November 2016 – 31 March 2017
On 18 June 1816, Gioachino Rossini's opera buffa "L'italiana in Algeri" was staged at the Munich court theatre. This was not only the premiere of a Rossini opera in Munich, but in Germany on the whole. Rossini's music took Munich by storm.

First editions are connected to that thrilling moment in which the author detaches himself from his work to bring it to the public for the first time. The Literature Portal Bavaria now enables you to rediscover first editions with a connection to Bavaria and its history.

23 November → 14:00 – 17:30
The event will first introduce the planning and preparations for the specialised information services "historical studies" and "Russian, East and Southeast European studies". Subsequently, the researcher's demands on the currently planned services will be discussed.

Along with the relaunch of the website of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, there are also new e-tutorials available again: Short video clips familiarize you with the library and give you detailed information about loaning books or about the functions of the OPACplus.

The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek has been given a Burmese adorned manuscript from the 19th century as a present from a private holder. Palm leaves as writing material and the magnificent design indicate the Buddhist content of the manuscript.

"It is not sufficient for a library to be merely a feast for the eyes, it has to function, too." (Dr. Gustav Hofmann, Director General from 1948 to 1966): On 27 October 1966, the annex of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek was inaugurated. In the course of the years, the interior of the glass building has been adapted to current requirements again and again.

During the period from 2017 to 2021, the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek will be supported by the Carl Friedrich von Siemens Foundation with EUR 180,000 annually for the acquisition of printed books from the field of philosophy.

The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek has launched its new website on 17 October 2016. The website has been set up newly in its entirety, regarding both its design and the technical platform. The contents have been written newly or revised for the most part. The new website is intended to present all aspects of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek and, as a user-centred platform, to make all services available in a well-structured manner.

The wealth of holdings, services and further benefits offered by a universal and research library of world renown is enormous, and frequently not obvious at first glance. The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek has been present on Facebook, Twitter, etc. for years in order to spread information about its activities, services and innovations and to foster exchange with interested members of the public. Simultaneously to the launch of the new website, the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek has now also opened an Instagram account.

Manuscripts, printed works, handwritten drafts and letters: In the cultural portal bavarikon, over 300 digital copies from the holdings of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek have been published. The new bavarikon collection "Literatur in Bayern" ("literature in Bavaria") contains literary treasures from twelve centuries, which are related to Bavaria with regard to their origin, tradition and impact, and which have gone down in history.

With the support of the Literature Portal Bavaria, the Munich writer and winner of the Ingeborg-Bachmann Award Thomas Lang is writing on an interactive novel – live on the Internet at netzroman.thomaslang.net.

The one thousandth article of the Historisches Lexikon Bayerns (HLB, Historical Encyclopaedia of Bavaria) has been published. It addresses the purity law related to the brewing and serving of beer.

Dr. Bettina Wagner, the Head of the Division Manuscript Cataloguing Center and Incunabula Collection at the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, has been appointed Director of the State Library of Bamberg as of 1 October 2016. She is the successor of Prof. Dr. Werner Taegert, who had been in office since 2006.

The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek has documented research publications on the collections of the Department of Manuscripts and Rare Books for more than half a century, in order to provide experts and the interested public with references to relevant secondary literature. This research documentation, by now including over 200,000 entries, thus represents an essential and strongly sought-after aid.

Thanks to the generous financial support by the Association of Sponsors and Friends of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek expands its collections by a convolute of 30 rare palm-leaf manuscripts form Sri Lanka and Burma.

In 2016, the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek acquired nine Ethiopian parchment manuscripts in Ge'ez, the ancient literary language, which is still used today by Ethiopian Christians as their liturgical language. With respect to content, the manuscripts are psalms and liturgical texts.