Library planning in Germany

Abstract

The position and the efficiency of German libraries are rather ambivalent. On the one hand the infrastructure is quite well developed: 2000 public library systems with full time personnel, 275 million books issued, 75 million Euro for acquisitions; 280 scientific general libraries, 60 million books issued, 1300 million Euro for acquisitions. Nevertheless there are a lot of problems, which arise from the administrative structure and the political position of libraries.