After the anniversary is before the future

How time flies... 2023 is behind us - and so is the anniversary year of Braunschweig University Library. 275 years of knowledge space. 275 years as a meeting place. 275 - a remarkable number, an eventful period of time. To celebrate the birthday of our university library in a fitting manner, we have planned several activities and written articles to showcase the diversity of our university library. The leitmotif was "We open up spaces of knowledge. Since 1748."

The anniversary year began with Henning Peters' article "From emergency accommodation to our own building (German language only)".
We take the familiar library building with its location at Universitätsplatz 1 for granted, but our library, or to be more precise: the things that make it what it is, regardless of its location, namely the collection and the staff, did not always have a permanent home.The destruction of the Second World War also affected the buildings of the Technische Hochschule Carolo-Wilhelmina zu Braunschweig.In order to continue the library's operations, space had to be found for staff and media.From Schleinitzstraße via Hamburger Straße back to the old building and finally to its own building on Forumplatz - the library underwent a number of changes in the period from 1945 to 1972 before it was able to develop into the form we know today.Volumes had to be stacked on top of each other, destroyed catalogs made it difficult to search for specific literature, the stacks and library were separated from each other and there were no workstations.The library's services for students and teaching staff could be maintained to some extent by creatively dealing with the restrictions. Nevertheless, the report makes it clear how important the space is for a functioning knowledge business like ours.

In addition to historical reviews, we also put the open knowledge space into practice: On 11.05.2023, our bookbindery opened its doors for an exclusive workshop and we were immensely pleased with the response. The lucky winners were drawn from a number of registrations. A small group of students then had the opportunity to get a taste of the work of the bookbindery and at the same time bind their own notebook under the guidance of their colleagues. What do you think? Should such a bookbinding workshop be repeated soon? Send us an e-mail on the subject to ub-pr(at)tu-braunschweig.de

On 17.04.2023 we launched our blog parade under the title "An ode to the knowledge space library. A blog parade to mark the 275th anniversary of Braunschweig University Library". We wanted to encourage colleagues from the library sector to use our library's birthday to celebrate their own institutions. After all, joy is best when it is shared. Special personalities, curious objects, memorable experiences or extraordinary records should be able to receive recognition in this format. Unfortunately, the era of blog parades seems to be over. Be that as it may, we appreciate all the more the one submission that reached us: Klaus Graf's retrospective of the 2012 Librarians' Day in Hamburg under the theme "What's wrong with the German library system?". A provocative title, but constructive discussions offer approaches for change and improvement. And shouldn't an anniversary encourage reflection? Transparency is a valuable asset and it can only be a sign of strength if you admit that there are hurdles and complications - which you are willing to work on. Mr. Graf is a polarizing figure in the orbit of librarianship, but it sometimes takes a nudge to look at dusty topics with a fresh eye. At least we now know that blog parades are unlikely to be well received...

The anniversary of a library also includes the voices of those who have shaped and shaped the operation in the past, and so the idea of an "interview" format with former employees was born: "What you always wanted to get rid of... 275 years of Braunschweig University Library - now or never!". A short list of questions was sent by letter to former employees of our library. The core of the asynchronous interview, the answers to which were sent to us by e-mail, was to reflect on the time spent working at the library. Former employees were to be given the opportunity to share their experiences. They were also allowed to do this as unfiltered as possible; after all, as with all workplaces, there is both light and shade. In general, the nice conclusion was that all those who responded to the call have very positive memories of the library. Despite all the hurdles and disputes, the workplace should be a place where you enjoy spending time, where you can meet lots of different people.
We would like to thank Rudolf Görke, Dieter Leseberg, Bernhard Eversberg, Axel Zschippang and Dietmar Brandes for taking us on a short journey through time. Mr. Eversberg in particular gave an enormously detailed explanation of his 40 years at Braunschweig University Library - and thus went beyond the intended format. Irrelevant, because when someone invests so much time and energy in reporting on his past professional experiences, it should be appreciated. Mr. Eversberg's passion for allegro - the electronic library system that enabled our library to be one of the first to make our holdings available to you in an electronic catalog - knows no bounds, even after all these years. Something like that inspires! If a similar campaign is organized in the future, it would be desirable to hear female voices as well.

Of course, the students who come and go in our library also have their eye on the clock. At least one would hope so with reference to all the deadlines... Because we are all human and there are various factors that can stand in the way of completing a term paper, for example, we offered a so-called "term paper sprint" on 13.07.2023 from 16:45 in the Tünzelsaal. We offered drinks and fruit, and oh yes... the opportunity to concentrate on current writing projects in a quiet atmosphere. The evening was guided by the well-known Pomodoro principle, with "intensive phases" interspersed with "breather breaks". Along the way, we opened up three different stations and invited people to ask for support. We offered help with research, literature management and overcoming writer's block; the latter was the clear favorite - a sign of the need for a permanent offer at the library? We generally received very good feedback for the homework sprint. A future repetition of the format is therefore quite conceivable.

Students took part in the seminar "UBiläum - from the files to the web" to present our history. The University Archive teamed up with the Institute of History to offer this course. One of the resulting articles has since been published on the UBlog. Benita Lindemann, Lucie Ossyra and Khalil Daboussi investigated the phenomenon of "uninvited bookworms" in their article "A nightmare for any library (german only)". A newspaper article drew their attention to the problem, in which a new book published in 1977 by Prof. Dr. Josef Daum addressed an unfortunately all-too-familiar topic: pests in libraries and how to combat them. From insects to rodents to mold, the dangers to books are manifold. However, this also includes the users. Because the appropriate handling of books needs to be learned: Pulling them out from the top of the spine, clamping them onto bicycle racks, storing them the wrong way round, spilling coffee... there are so many things that can be done wrong when handling borrowed books. All the more important are such contributions with a corresponding how-to on how to do it better (german only). So a big thank you to the students for this exciting article!

Mit der Präsentation unserer Geschichte befassten sich Studierende im Seminar „UBiläum – aus den Akten ins Netz“. Das Universitätsarchiv hatte sich für dieses Angebot mit dem Institut für Geschichtswissenschaft zusammengetan. Einer der dabei entstandenen Beiträge erschien inzwischen auf dem UBlog. Benita Lindemann, Lucie Ossyra und Khalil Daboussi gingen mit ihrem Artikel „Ein Albtraum für jede Bibliothek“ dem Phänomen von „ungebetenen Bücherwürmern“ auf die Spur. Ein Zeitungsartikel machte sie auf die Problematik aufmerksam, in dem ein 1977 neu erschienenes Buch von Prof. Dr. Josef Daum eine leider allzu bekannte Thematik aufgriff: Schädlinge in Bibliotheken und deren Bekämpfung. Von Insekten über Nagetiere bis hin zu Schimmelpilzen, die Gefahren für Bücher sind vielfältig. Darunter fallen allerdings ebenso die Nutzenden. Denn der angemessene Umgang mit Büchern will gelernt sein: Das Herausziehen oben am Buchrücken, das Festklemmen auf Fahrradgepäckträgern, das verkehrte Lagern, das Verschütten von Kaffee… so einiges kann bei der Handhabe von ausgeliehenen Büchern falsch gemacht werden. Umso wichtiger sind solche Beiträge mit einem entsprechenden How-To, wie man es besser machen kann. Daher ein herzliches Dankeschön an die Studierenden für diesen spannenden Artikel!

Another collaboration took the UBiläum to the Institute for Braunschweig Regional History (IBRG) on the neighboring Fallersleber-Tor-Wall: it was a guest at the Regional History Colloquium with five public evening lectures. Dr. Timo Steyer and Michael Wrehde kicked things off on 22 June 2023, presenting historical perspectives on the use of the university library with "The regulated knowledge space". A week later, Dr. Julian Schenke from Göttingen devoted himself to the exciting topic of "Protest, Movement, Library" and what connects the famous "68ers" with the University Library. This was followed in the winter semester by Tanja Wolf's contribution "The university and its library(are)" on the design and function of the Braunschweig University Library 1745-1972. Dr. Franziska Solana Huigera's lecture on "The Vieweg Archive as a place of research and discovery" was devoted to the case of "Campe vs Moritz". And finally, on 1 February 2024, Dr. Henning Steinführer went back to the roots of the university and presented a knowledgeable foray through the 18th century in Braunschweig with a look at the "City and Collegium Carolinum".

We kept you up to date throughout the planning and implementation of anniversary activities via social media, Instagram and X (Twitter). On X (Twitter), your favourite post was unmistakably the announcement of the anniversary motto and the promotion of the program - above all the ceremony on 23.11.2023. On Instagram, we took you on a journey through time. As part of the #throwbackthursday campaign, a weekly series of historical images illustrating the history of our library was launched on 13.04.2023. You also liked this opening post the best: a nostalgic view of the Haus der Wissenschaft from the perspective of the former main building (now the old building) in Schleinitzstraße. Our library is actually not yet standing at this point, but the area has already been cleared. It is fascinating to have such a snapshot and thus the comparison of past and present circumstances. In addition, our post about the inauguration of our library in February 1972 and our post about the renovation work - or were the celebrations covered up? - between July 2011 and June 2012, during which the shed roof of the University Library was renovated. In any case, the project aroused a great deal of interest among you. After all, it's always exciting to see how far an institution has come - and which past aspects might be missed or could be recycled in the future!

Bei der gesamten Planung und Durchführung von Jubiläumsaktionen hielten wir euch über Social Media, Instagram und X (Twitter), auf dem Laufenden. Bei X (Twitter) war euer liebster Post unverkennbar die Ankündigung des Jubiläum-Mottos sowie die Bewerbung des Programms - allen voran des Festaktes am 23.11.2023. Auf Instagram nahmen wir euch mit auf eine Zeitreise. Im Rahmen der Aktion #throwbackthursday startete am 13.04.2023 eine wöchentliche Reihe von historischen Bildern, welche den Werdegang unserer Bibliothek illustrierten. Auch dieser Auftaktbeitrag gefiel euch am besten: Ein nostalgischer Blick auf das Haus der Wissenschaft aus der Perspektive vor dem damaligen Hauptgebäude (heutigen Altgebäude) in der Schleinitzstraße stehend. Unsere Bibliothek steht zu diesem Zeitpunkt tatsächlich noch nicht, doch die Fläche ist bereits freigemacht. Es ist faszinierend solch eine Momentaufnahme und somit den Vergleich früherer und heutiger Umstände zu haben. Darüber hinaus gefielen vor allem unser Post über die Einweihung unserer Bibliothek im Februar 1972 sowie unser Post zu den Umbaumaßnahmen - oder doch vertuschten Feierlichkeiten? - zwischen Juli 2011 und Juni 2012, bei denen das Sheddach der UB renoviert wurde. Die Aktion hat bei euch jedenfalls großes Interesse geweckt. Schließlich ist es immer wieder spannend zu sehen, wie weit eine Einrichtung gekommen ist - und welche vergangenen Aspekte womöglich vermisst oder zukünftig recyceln werden könnte!

The highlight - but not the end! - of the university's anniversary year was the ceremony on 23.11.2023. Guests were seated in Reading Room 2 alongside the orchestra, including President Prof. Dr. Angela Ittel and representatives of the AStA. The Lower Saxony State Secretary for Science and Culture, Prof. Dr. Joachim Schachtner, and the Lord Mayor of the City of Braunschweig, Dr. Thorsten Kornblum, were also present. The lectern was placed on the stairs between Reading Room 2 and Reading Room 3. It was certainly an unusual scenario: live music in the university library! But who knows? Maybe we'll do it again. After all, background music can boost the learning process. What do you think? In any case, the event was a welcome change and celebrating the 275th anniversary of the University Library on our premises seemed more than appropriate. Welcoming speeches by Prof. Dr. Ittel, Prof. Dr. Schachtner and Dr. Kornblum were followed by four lectures: 

• "The networked library", Prof. Dr. Thomas Stäcker, Head Library Director of the University and State Library Darmstadt
• "Reading palace and labyrinth - the modern library as a public space", Prof. Dr. Julia Schöll, Professor of Modern German Literature at the Institute of German Studies at TU Braunschweig
• "275 years of the future", Robert Strötgen, Head Librarian of the Braunschweig University Library
• and a contribution by the AStA of the TU Braunschweig

Digitization, research data management and open access, but also user orientation, sustainability and diversity were prominent topics at this event. Afterwards, a buffet set up in the group study room on the 3rd floor of our library invited participants to enjoy and discuss together.

The publication of our commemorative volume is planned for spring 2024 as the last official event of the UBiläums 2023. In the most classic medium - the book - various authors combine delightful insights into the history of Braunschweig Library. In this way, the 275th anniversary of our library echoes beyond the boundaries of the actual anniversary year. A testimony to the considerable transformation of this institution. And for the potential of its future. In any case, we look back thoughtfully and forward with confidence. In the here and now, all we can say is:

Thank you - to everyone who made this anniversary possible and took part in it!