16 January 2019 press release

German National Library in Leipzig // Wednesday, 23 January, 19:00

What are the roles of libraries, library buildings and architecture in the digital age? How are libraries changing, particularly national libraries and scientific libraries? This event by the MSAO Future Foundation and the German National Library in Leipzig seeks to collaborate with experts to provide answers and offer new perspectives on libraries – as repositories of records and knowledge, and also as dynamic spaces for communication.

The National Library of Qatar serves as an example. Claudia Lux led the National Library of Qatar project in Doha from 2012 to 2017; in her presentation, she gives a first-hand account of the new building designed by Rem Koolhaas and the National Library of Qatar’s digital projects.

How do places intended purely for reading become places of modern research? What challenges and opportunities do digital technologies offer? The German National Library actively engages with these and other questions. In reaction to changing patterns in user behaviour and its growing digital holdings, the Library seeks to continuously modernise its premises. It has set itself the medium-term objective of improving the quality of the visitor experience as part of its Strategic Priorities 2017–2020. In order to create rooms with flexible architecture for changing working practices and user requirements, the German National Library emphasises permanent dialogue with its users. Alongside quantitative user surveys, the Library conducted the user workshop "Plan your favourite place in the Library" in November 2018 as part of its qualitative user research. Innovative methods were employed during the workshop in order to establish the actual expectations and needs of users, as well as their interactions with the environment of the Library. The results will directly influence future architectural remodelling projects in the Library.
The current event organised by the MSAO Future Foundation and the German National Library will provide further inspiration for the future evolution of the architectural environment in a digital society.

In the panel discussion, we will be joined by architects to discuss new spatial and usage concepts for the library of tomorrow. Christian Bergmann is representing the architectural office Hadi Teherani Architects. German-Iranian architect Hadi Teherani is one of the most renowned international architects of the present day. His buildings shape cityscapes all over the world and set new standards for impressive, sustainable architecture. He also pays close attention to the role of the architect in digitalisation. Jette Hopp has been representing the Norwegian architectural and design office Snøhetta. Snøhetta is renowned for its spectacular buildings all over the world, for example the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, and applies an interdisciplinary approach to its projects, that incorporates both the surrounding landscape and the participating stakeholder groups in a collective development process. They will be joined in the discussion by Claudia Lux, Ulrich Johannes Schneider, Director of Leipzig University Library, and Michael Fernau, Director of the German National Library in Leipzig.

The event will be chaired by Thomas Bille, famed as the host of the Leipziger Gespräche (Leipzig Conversations) and the radio station MDR Kultur. Thomas Bille has been shaping the programme of the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk station as a journalist, presenter and feature writer since 1992.

An evening tour of the German National Library will bring together the historical and the modern and offer an opportunity to take a look behind the scenes of the Library's architecture.

The event will be held in collaboration with the MSAO Future Foundation as part of the project series Community Building in the 21st Century.

Podium and panel discussion with

Michael Fernau, Director of the German National Library in Leipzig
Prof. Dr. Ulrich Johannes Schneider, Director of Leipzig University Library
Prof. Dr. Claudia Lux,
Institute of Library and Information Studies, Humboldt University of Berlin
Jette Hopp, Snøhetta
Dr. Christian Bergmann, Teherani Architects

Moderation: Thomas Bille

Background

For over a century now the German National Library has been collecting, documenting, archiving and making publicly available all written and sound recording publications issued in Germany, or in German, since 1913. It provides its comprehensive range of services at its twin sites in Leipzig and Frankfurt am Main, but also in digital form to a global circle of users. In addition, the German National Library also houses valuable and extensive special collections in the German Exile Archive 1933-1945 and the German Museum of Books and Writing. It showcases its valuable collections and promotes the culture of books, reading and music by regularly staging readings, exhibitions, lectures and concerts. It houses over 30 million media units and attracts roughly 220,000 visitors to its two sites in Leipzig and Frankfurt am Main with its collections and rich and varied programme of events.

The Dresden-based MSAO FUTURE FOUNDATION is an international forum for innovative and visionary thinking. It promotes cross-cultural dialogue. The Foundation’s work focuses on projects engaging with the topics of urbanism and architecture in the 21st century, innovation and the future, and international understanding. Under the maxim "We provide impetus and inspire people and projects", the Foundation initiates forums and discussion-based events, for example. The COMMUNITY BUILDING format is dedicated to urban development and architecture, and focuses on examining the latest developments, challenges and tasks in architecture in the 21st century.

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