• Launched: May 2022
• Objektive: Strengthen cooperation and collaboration, facilitate knowledge transfer and promote staff development.
• Role of the German National Library: Member
• Weitere Partner: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz

Reports about the exchange programme

Partner libraries initiate exchange programme

On 11 May 2022, Frank Scholze (German National Library), Klaus Ceynowa (Bavarian State Library) and Dr. Achim Bonte (Berlin State Library – Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation) initiated a joint exchange programme. Its objectives are to strengthen cooperation and collaboration, facilitate knowledge transfer and promote staff development. The programme will enable staff at the three partner libraries to engage in direct dialogue on professional and methodological topics. Participating in everyday work routines and assisting with specific projects at partner libraries will facilitate a direct transfer of knowledge between the institutions involved. The delegated staff will acquire specific knowledge of other library structures and recognise similarities and differences to their own institutions. In this way, they will expand their individual expertise and return with new perspectives as well as a heightened awareness of cross-institutional collaboration and cooperation. The exchange programme also offers benefits at the level of individual personnel development: during their stays, staff will develop and deepen their networks and personal skills.

Programme participants will find this yields much more than just the proverbial "thinking outside the box". By working together and learning from each other, they will gain direct experience of what it is like to actively shape their cooperation.

In 2022, the programme will focus on the topics of project management, user services and artificial intelligence.

PMO visit to the SBB

In June 2022, two staff members from the Project Management Office (PMO) visited Berlin State Library – Prussian Cultural Heritage (SBB) for a professional and methodical exchange with their colleagues in Berlin

To the blog article (only available in German)

Colleagues from our user services department visiting the Bavarian State Library in Munich and the Regional State Library in Regensburg

Staff from our User Services Department visit the Bavarian State Library Photo: BSB, S. Gottstein (protected by copyright)

From 5 to 9 September 2022, staff from the User Services Department of the German National Library (DNB) and Berlin State Library (SBB) visited the Bavarian State Library (BSB) and the Regional State Library in Regensburg as part of the BSB-SBB-DNB exchange programme. The meeting focused on library usage in “normal” and exceptional times, the service spectrum and specific services for users.
A packed programme including guided tours of the BSB’s venerable building, while presentations on various topics provided insights into the library’s structures and working methods. The lively discussions that followed showed that the User service departments at the BSB, SBB and DNB face very similar challenges and that this type of programme is a good way to learn with and from each other. The visit to the SBB is scheduled for January 2023.

To the blog article (only available in German)