The university libraries of the Polytechnic University and the University of the Arts are awarded the prize for their exemplary commitment in the fields of digital services and openness as well as for their structural changes in personnel and organizational development. The two institutions share, among other things, a building and have therefore applied jointly for the prize. The National Library Prize, endowed with 20,000 euros, is awarded by the German Library Association (dbv). and the Deutsche Telekom Foundation. The German Association of Towns is also represented on the jury.
Exemplary skills of award winners
Libraries implement the promotion of digital media and information literacy and their publishing services in creative formats, which communicate through various channels in a user-oriented way. Its digital offerings include the “Educational Library” with various learning apps, digital information days and guided tours, regular “Coffee Lectures” and eTutorials, which are intended to make it easier for students and other target groups to use the services of the home library. They also do pioneering work in the areas of research data management and open access in the sciences and arts representing and enabling a sustainable infrastructure with open source software solutions for digitized print media and ‘born digital’ documents.
For this the dr. Frank Mentrup, chairman of the jury and president of the German Library Association: “With their user-oriented offers and services, the university libraries of the Technical University of Berlin and the Berlin University of the Arts are exemplary for academic libraries , because together they show what is possible when infrastructure, ideas and resources are shared. Through their many years of consistent event management and the use of digital communication channels, they reach numerous different target groups and also manage to convey topics complexes easily and joyfully.”
The “Library of the Year” award will be presented on 24. October 2022National Library Day, in Berlin.
Uwe Johnson Library Güstrow: “library of the year in small size
Municipalities and Regions” 2022
For the third time, the German Library Association and the Deutsche Telekom Foundation are presenting the “Library of the Year in Small Municipalities and Regions” award. The Uwe Johnson Library in Güstrow, Barlach, receives this prize, endowed with 7,000 euros.
The Güstrow library received the award for its exemplary modular library concept, which implements both basic media offerings and innovative media education simultaneously. The approximately 30,000 residents of Güstrow have access to a “library of things”, a makerspace with 3D printers, smartboards and laser cutters, film and technology laboratories, learning robots and research training courses.
In addition, there are seating areas for reading and playing games, as well as several internet terminals with free WiFi. With its offerings, services and flexibly usable rooms, the Uwe Johnson Library has become an attractive third place for the region in recent years.
The “Library of the Year in Small Municipalities and Regions” award will be presented in Güstrow at the end of October 2022.
On background
The “Library of the Year” award is the only national library award in Germany and is awarded jointly by the German Libraries Association and the Deutsche Telekom Foundation. The award aims to contribute to the image of libraries in the digital world. The prize is endowed with 20,000 euros. The award recognizes libraries of all types and sizes. Since 2020, a library of a municipality or a region with up to 50,000 residents has also been awarded. This prize is endowed with 7,000 euros. In 2022, a total of 30 libraries have applied for the two awards. A jury composed of representatives of the
The German Association of Libraries, the Deutsche Telekom Foundation, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the Conference of Ministers of Education, the German Association of Cities and Germany of Libraries and Information (BID).
More information about the awards can be found here: Press release dbv and Deutsche Telekom Foundation
