Association of German Librarians

The Verein Deutscher Bibliothekarinnen und Bibliothekare e. V. (VDB) represents the professional interests of academic librarians and works to promote academic books and libraries. It was founded in 1900, re-founded in 1948 (Munich) and is the oldest librarian association in Germany. The association has more than 1753 members (2020) who are employed in academic library service - or are being trained for it - or who are close to and represent the goals of the association. The office rotates with the respective board and, with the election of library director Anke Berghaus-Sprengel, has been located in Halle (Saale) at the University and State Library of Saxony-Anhalt since August 1, 2021.

History

To promote librarianship, the Association of German Librarians was founded in 1900 after several years of preparation at the first Librarians' Day in Marburg. Members were initially 58 registered, a year later the number had already grown to 210. As part of the association's work, the "Yearbook of German Libraries" was published for the first time in 1902. This was a collection of statistical data on German libraries. At the time of the First World War, the association counted up to 600 members, who also sought cooperation between libraries.

After the "seizure of power" by the National Socialists, the influence of the association declined sharply, but a collapse in membership numbers could not be recorded. National Socialist ideas increasingly found their way into the commissions and meetings of the association; moreover, the majority of the members of the association's board were party members of the NSDAP. The importance of the association's work continued to decline sharply during World War II. After the end of the war, the association was re-established in 1948.

In the up to 16 commissions, mainly topics concerning factual work were dealt with. Furthermore, the association's own journal was now published regularly, dealing with librarianship and bibliography. In the 1960s, the number of members and the workload increased sharply, so that the organization and the allocation of financial resources had to be reconsidered. One solution, however, which was rejected at a general meeting in 1969, was to involve the individual libraries more in financial responsibility. After the German Library Association was founded in 1973, the objectives of the association were changed. From then on, the focus was on questions of professional training and academic librarianship. On May 28, 2015, the name was changed from "Association of German Librarians" to the current name by amendment of the statutes by the General Assembly.