University Library Freiburg
The term "biblioteca universitatis" was used for the first time in 1505 in protocols of the university's Academic Senate probably for the faculty of arts library.
The abolition of the Catholic order Society of Jesus in 1773 marked the end of the Jesuit presence at the university.
The secularization and reforms introduced by Emperor Joseph II of Austria subsequently caused the disbandment of several monasteries, further contributing to the increase in books.
After the library had moved into a gothic revival building in 1903, numerous reforms to the organization were enacted.
In 1932, a collection of natural scientific and medical textbooks were acquired, further the so-called "Preußische Instruktionen" (a system of rules for libraries) helped to bring forward the alphabetical categorisation and participation on establishing the German general catalogue from 1931 until its destruction during the second world war World War II.
In recent years, the expansion of digital volumes and new media has been a focus of the development of the University Library Freiburg.
The first hall serving as location for the University Library mentioned above was expanded in 1822 to ensure its continuous use.
A new building was approved by authorities on 22 February in 1897, which was designed by the architect Carl Schäfer, originally from Karlsruhe, in a neo-Gothic style and which was to be located in the Rempartstraße.
From there, you could see the inflow of the stream that, by driving the 23 hp underground turbine unit, powered the lighting of the building.
[4] The library had to be renovated primarily because the technology that was used in the building, e.g. the air conditioning system, was outdated, and because the front was damaged.
The newly constructed building holds 1,200 workspaces in four reading rooms as well as 500 work areas in the parlatory.
Due to the temporary move of the library, the UB 1 (in the former city hall) initiated 24/7 opening hours.
On the other hand, the previously planned addition to the existing ceilings would not have fulfilled the new earthquake norms.
In October 2012, while building the shell, it became public that the renovation would exceed the planned cost of 44 million euros.
On 10 November 2012, a construction worker died on the site of the new university library because he fell from the scaffolding.
In the same month, interior construction began, as well as the installation of a 7,300 m2 facade of glass and matted, dark chrome steel.
[8] Further difficulties with the building include the fact that traffic participants are blinded by the reflections on the southeastern corner of the glass front when the sun is low in spring and fall.
[9] The new university library began test operation on 21 July 2015, almost two years after initially planned.
During this phase the building services, book drop, WiFi, guidance systems and other procedures were being optimized.
[7] The central concept behind the building's design was to have workspaces around the exterior of each floor with books stored in the center.
The building is organized as follows: At peak times, the library counts 12,000 visitors per day which makes the 1,700 workspaces insufficient.
[17] Since February 2016, so called "Pausenuhren", similar to parking discs, have been used to mark workspaces which are left by students for a break, which may not be longer than 60 minutes.
As a consequence electrical wheelchairs and bookwagons had to be carried on wooden plates laying above the normal floor.
[24] When repairing the floor in the beginning of 2017, a few stone plates were slightly lowered in order to install a felt cover that was supposed to reduce the noise.
In the beginning of 2017 a water damage was wantonly brought about, leading to the palatorium being closed for a couple of days.
The head of "assets and construction", Karl-Heinz Bühler, admitted that the air flow was not optimal in every part of the building, especially in smaller offices and in the basement.
In 2019, the Carl Friedrich von Siemens Foundation supported the acquisition of printed books with 350,000 Euro (about 424,000 US Dollar).
[35] With its current holdings of more than 4.6 million media units (in print, audiovisual and electronic [36]), it serves not only as an information centre for the university but for the whole region of Southern Baden as well.
[32][37] The inventory includes 64,000 newspaper articles, 4,000 scripts and autographs, around 3,500 incunabula, 42,000 prints of the 16th and 17th century, 45 literary legacies of professors and various papyruses (fragments that are prepared in 147 glass plates).
[36] The film-director Christian Ditter was inspired by a picture of the futuristic building to choose Freiburg as the film location for the Netflix series Biohackers, which was shot in 2020.
