Royal Library of Berlin
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| Country | Germany |
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| Type | Universal library |
| Established | 1661 |
| Location |
Unter den Linden 8, Potsdamer Straße 33, Westhafenstraße 1, Berlin, Germany |
| Collection | |
| Items collected | books, journals, newspapers, magazines, music autographs, databases, maps, prints, drawings, incunabula and manuscripts |
| Size | 23,110,423 Consists of 12.3 million books; 206,700 rare books; 60,100 manuscripts; music autographs; 1,600 estate archives; 25,000 periodicals; 180,000 newspaper volumes; 4,300 databases; 2.7 million microfilms; 13.5 million images at the bpk |
| Legal deposit | Yes, German parliament and government publications |
| Access and use | |
| Access requirements | Open to anyone with a need to use the collections and services |
| Other information | |
| Director | Barbara Schneider-Kempf |
| Website | www.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de |
The Berlin State Library (German: Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin; colloquially Stabi) is a universal library in Berlin, Germany and a property of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. It is one of the largest libraries in Europe, and one of the most important academic research libraries in the German-speaking world. It collects texts, media and cultural works from all fields in all languages, from all time periods and all countries of the world, which are of interest for academic and research purposes. Among the more famous items in its collection are the oldest biblical illustrations, in the fifth-century Quedlinburg Itala fragment, a Gutenberg Bible, the main autograph collection of Goethe, the world's largest collection of Johann Sebastian Bach's and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's manuscripts, and the original score of Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9.
The history of the Berlin State Library closely parallels that of German history. It has lived through creation, neglect, expansion, war damage, division, unification and re-creation like few other libraries.
In the early period, the fortunes of the State Library rose and fell on royal whims. In 1658 Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg decreed that his private books be organized, cataloged and made available to the public. His library opened in 1661 at Cölln as the "Library of the Elector" (German: Churfürstliche Bibliothek zu Cölln an der Spree). In 1699, Frederick I more than doubled the collection, extended opening hours and introduced the first Prussian legal deposit law. In 1701 it was renamed the "Royal Library" (German: Königliche Bibliothek) upon Frederick I's accession as first King of Prussia. Frederick William I then cancelled the acquisition budget in 1722 and gave away the valuable scientific collection to the Prussian Academy of Sciences in 1735. Frederick the Great also cared little for the library at first, preferring instead his own literature in the French language. However, in 1770 he granted the library substantial assets and it made several important acquisitions. To avoid the problems caused by its dependence on the crown, Frederick the Great also granted the library considerable autonomy.
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Wikipedia