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The 1990 Annual Conference of German Librarians

By Siegfried Feller Chief Bibliographer University of Massachusetts

Expectations and speculation in the Saarland.

The 80th conference of German [Academic/Research] Librarians (Bibliothekartag) was held June 5-8, in Saarbrücken, capital of the Saarland, a state adjacent to Luxembourg and near the French city of Metz. The primary host institution was the University of Saarland; it lies a few miles outside the city, but is well-served by municipal buses. All open sessions, except for the formal opening ceremonies, were held on campus— mostly in a building near the library.

The Verein Deutsche Bibliothekare (VDB) and the Verein deutscher Diplom-Bibliothekare (VdDB) are the chief sponsors of each annual conference, and this year, for the first time, the annual meeting of the German Library Association

(Deutscher Bibliotheksverband, DBV) was held in conjunction with the Bibliothekartag—the U.S. analogy would be if the annual ARL meeting were held at the same place and time as ALA Annual Conference. Also participating (for the second or third time) was the Association of Library Support Staff (Bundesverein der Bibliothekassistenten/innen, BBA).

“Libraries in Europe” was the theme of this year’s conference, and the new president of the VDB, Engelbert Plassman (rector of the Professional School for Librarianship and Documentation, Köln) made a considerable effort to attract professional colleagues from other countries. An unusually large percentage of these visitors delivered papers and/or sat on panels at a number of the sessions.

This year many eastern European librarians were able to attend for the first time. Special funds were found to support invited colleagues from the east, and a collection taken up at the Thursday membership meeting of the VDB yielded a large and welcome supplement to assist the many participants who had no western currency for their visit. By next year’s meeting most of these difficulties will have been alleviated, but this year many restrictions still existed.

Following the traditional pattern, after the Monday holiday (Pentecost or Whitsun), Tuesday morning was devoted to executive committee meetings of the professional associations, registration, and the opening of the exhibits, which were very conveniently situated in the hallways on the entrance level of Building 16, where most sessions took place. In the afternoon, nine working committees met in closed sessions, and four were open to any interested participants. A 31/2-hour session on “Library Education and Professional Training in Europe” included papers by two German library educators and one from France.

Following a general meeting of the DBV and brief reports of committee activities, Prof. Karl- Heinz Jügelt, Rostock (and President of the East German Library Association), spoke on the development of libraries in the German Democratic Republic (DDR). I attended this session because while I am quite familiar with the academic and research library milieu in the Federal Republic (BRD), I have only a passing acquaintance with DDR libraries. Jügelt outlined the situation as it has been, and spoke of hopes for the immediate future. With much ground to make up, he hopes to modernize by following the models provided by libraries in the BRD.

During the discussion afterwards, H. Havekost (Oldenburg) cautioned DDR colleagues against following the models of West Germany too closely, with its various online systems in different stages of development, not always compatible from state to state, and urged a single, unified system for the DDR that might be integrated with whichever Verbundssystem in the BRD is most effective at the point of reunification. This doubtless needed to be said, and many librarians of my acquaintance who were there (or heard about his remarks) agreed with Havekost. But several also noted that the BRD’s “uneven progress” in the development of library systems is a sensitive issue, and Havekost will not be thanked by all his listeners.

The Lord Mayor’s Reception in the City Hall (Rathaus) was well attended, with refreshments to accompany a welcoming speech of the mayor’s representative. Librarians’ Association representatives reciprocated with words of appreciation from

Hans-Jürgen Kuhlmeyer (on behalf of the VdDB) and Engelbert Plassmann. Many participants then joined other librarians for more refreshments and socializing at a nearby cafe in the Saint Johann marketplace.

The official opening was at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, June 6, at the Civic Center Auditorium. Plassmann began the ceremonies by outlining this year’s theme, and the implications for all European libraries of the impending merger of the two countries. He noted the presence of many librarians from other European countries, some represented for the first time in many years at a Bibliothekartag (including Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Rumania, and Turkey) and “even a delegate—well known at these conferences—from the United States.” Although I did not hear or read actual statistics, I estimated from the Index of Participants, as well as from comments heard at various activities, that at least 48 foreign librarians from at least 14 different countries were present. If you add the “not less than 60” from the German Democratic Republic (43 were students and faculty from the Professional Librarians’ College at Alexander von Humboldt University) you have a respectable number indeed, one that testifies to the generosity of the BRD librarians, library organizations, and governmental agencies who contributed funds toward the expenses of many visitors.

This was followed by a series of short speeches of welcome and appreciation by official representatives of the Saarland State Ministry for Science and Culture; the Saarbrücken Lord Mayor’s Office; the Saarland University President’s Office; the President of the German Association of Documentalists (DGD); the President of the Saarland Society of Publishers and Booksellers; and the Chief Conservator of the University of Strasbourg Library (representing the foreign library associations invited to attend). The keynote speaker was local folklorist and author Ludwig Harig, whose “Nirgendwo ist Babylon” (Babylon is Nowhere) was well-received by an appreciative audience of several hundred listeners.

In the afternoon four public presentations were scheduled simultaneously, two of which I found to be of considerable interest. The first two speakers in the program on European aspects of acquisitions outlined the present situation and the practical steps that would be required for a European Library Cooperative. Arianne Iljon (Commission of the European Community, Brussels) noted that the aggregate enterprise is huge: 1.2 billion volumes in 75,000 libraries, employing 950,000 staff, and serving 7.4 million users; this will require much coordination. There is a pilot project underway to make national bibliographies available on CD- ROM, and Iljon outlined some of the problems and requirements to create such a bibliographic database. Klaus-Dieter Lehmann (Deutsche Bibliotheke, Frankfurt) spoke of the critical need for uniformity and standardization of data, as well as cooperation and harmony between the many participating libraries. Reimer Eck, Göttingen, spoke on international cooperation in cataloging, using examples from his own experiences at the Lower Saxony State and University Library.

After a discussion period, moderator Peter Borchardt (German Library Institute, Berlin) called for a break, and the session resumed with presentations by two foreign librarians on the subject of responsibilities of subject specialists (Fachreferenten) in their respective libraries. M. Menil (Ministry of Education Library, Paris) outlined the educational requirements of French professional librarians (two levels, as in West Germany) and subsequent training leading to various kinds of specialization, such as selection of materials in specific subjects or language areas. She also noted which tasks were assigned to the different levels, and how the library administration is organized.

John Hutchins (Norwich University) spoke of the hard times currently endured by British university libraries, and outlined the administrative structure and job titles that apply for various levels of education and training. He noted that in Great Britain, the system of Fachreferenten is much admired but not fully applied, since no library can afford a subject expert in every discipline taught at the university. So, like the University of Massachusetts and elsewhere, Fachreferenten must select materials in subjects outside their area of expertise, and their responsibilities may include languages or geographic areas as well as (or instead of) academic subjects. In the discussion that followed, I noted that it was not only in England where the Fachreferenten had broader responsibilities, dictated by practical rather than theoretical considerations; moreover, when seeking Fachreferenten for vacant positions I look for subject generalists rather than subject experts, as the latter tend to be too narrow in their interests.

The other Wednesday afternoon sessions included a mixed closed/public meeting of the Working Group for Law Library and Documentation Practices, open presentations on Reference Materials and Services, and a closed meeting of the VdDB Commission on New Technologies. In addition, four successive hour-long presentations were made by data processing firms or agencies. In the evening a reception was held by Saarland University’s President’s office, also well-attended.

Thursday morning was devoted to general membership meetings of the VDB, VdDB, and BBA. At the VDB meeting, Plassmann solicited contributions to assist guest colleagues from the east, and the response was generous and enthusiastic. I spent the morning among the exhibitors, where I was able to discuss mutual problems (and possible solutions) with a number of publisher/ vendor representatives with whom the University of Massachusetts has done business. In addition to publishers, there were library jobbers, vendors of library furniture and supplies, and library systems—a mixture pretty much as at ALA, but on a reduced scale.

On Thursday afternoon, seventeen sessions were scheduled, of which several were closed, some partly closed and partly public, and others entirely open to the public. In the last group, there were presentations on microforms in scholarly libraries; cooperation among European Parliamentary libraries; the “Sick Book” and its restoration; women in higher library service; online research with front-end systems; library education and training for academic librarians. I chose the presentations on microforms, which included “Acquisition and Indexing of Large Microform Collections,” by Ulrich Montag (Bavarian State Library, Munich); “Aspects of Protective Filming,” by Wilhelm Richard Schmidt (German Library, Frankfurt); “Bibliographic Control of Master Microforms in European Libraries,” by Heiner Schnelling (University Library, Giessen); the moderator was Dieter Stäglich (University Library, Wuppertal). Each paper was followed by discussion, with greatest interest shown in protective filming, potential copyright problems, coordination of filming activities, and the possibility of centralization.

As on Wednesday, there were also four afternoon presentations in succession by vendors/publishers. The traditional “Festive Evening” was held in the Mensa (dining commons), with dinner, liquid refreshments, dancing, and table-hopping, enjoyed by several hundred people.

Friday morning offered four programs: subject indexing; legal questions (e.g., copyright, depository obligations, online services, etc.); European Forum (outline of services available, plus “Library Procedures at the University of Leipzig” by Bernd Rüdiger, and a presentation by Axel Plathe, Paris, on “UNESCO and International Library Work”); “Databank Systems for Institute [i.e., independent branch] Libraries,” based on experiences at Heidelberg (Monica Münnich), Munich (Gunther Heischmann) and Tübingen (Klaus Teige). Also, as on previous days, three successive presentations were made by exhibitors, two on automated library systems, and one on bookbinding.

The afternoon’s closing session was entitled “The Book Trade and Libraries in Europe: Expectations within the Common Market.” Elmar Mittler (director of libraries, University of Heidelberg; now director at the University of Göttingen Libraries) was moderator. The panelists from the library world were Hermann Josef Dörpinghaus (University of Freiburg), Willem R. H. Koops (University of Groningen), and Joachim-Felix Leonhard (Tübingen). Representing the book trade: Jürgen Becker (German Publishers’ Association), Peter Porhansl (Springer Verlag), and Hermann-Arndt Riethmüller (Osiander Book Shop). Much of the early discussion centered on questions of price variations (e.g., a given book sought through the normal trade sources in three different countries is likely to be offered at significantly different prices at present) and the question of possible standardization within the EEC. Though spirited, the discussion (on the podium and from the floor) reached no universally acceptable conclusions on this point.

The concluding remarks by Hans-Jürgen Kuhlmeyer, VdDB President, signaled the formal ending of the 80th Bibliothekartag, and the Audimax (seating capacity approximately 800) slowly emptied. There were still executive committee meetings of the sponsoring organizations, evening entertainments, plus Saturday excursions for those able to participate. It was one of the most interesting of these conferences that I have attended in Germany, both because of the papers presented, and because of the unusually large number of “foreign” participants. About 1,800 people were registered, and there were at least a few who attended informally, plus others whose names were left out of the Participants’ Index (many from the host university, such as Director Otwin Vinzent).

There will be many library problems to resolve in the next few years, especially coordinating the activities of a reunited Germany within the European Community. One immediate matter relates to the linking of the two national bibliographies, the western Deutsche Bibliographie (DB) and the eastern Deutsche Nationalbibliographie (DNB). For “good and sufficient” political reasons, the duplication of effort has continued for 40-plus years, but soon will end. The staff of the DB (aided and abetted by computer applications) numbers about 250, whereas the less fortunate DNB requires nearly twice as many staff to produce their publication (and without the ancillary services DB can offer). If each staff is to be responsible for publications originating in its own geographic area (with the DDR producing annually only a small fraction of the titles produced in the BRD), what is to become of surplus personnel at each installation? And how will DB and DNB divide responsibility for German-language publications produced in other countries: Austria, Switzerland, and elsewhere? I’m sure that appropriate agreements will be worked out by the two parent institutions and their respective staff organizations, but it will take a while.

The presence of an official ALA representative was noted publicly by Plassmann on at least two occasions; these international efforts are widely appreciated. Even this year, when the focus was understandably on European matters, my remarks during discussion periods and in other contexts were welcomed because German librarians are truly interested in the outside world. And I appreciate the opportunity to exchange views with my many German and other European friends at the Bibliothekartag, and to make site visits before and after the conference. Bibliothekartag locations have already been chosen for 1991 (Kassel) and 1992 (Bochum). Optimists are predicting a possible Bibliothekartag in the east in 1993 (Berlin or Leipzig). It will be most interesting to follow new developments.