World libraries: German National Library marks its centenary

In 2012 the German National Library (Deutsche Nationalbibliothek) is celebrating its anniversary. One hundred years ago – on October 3 1912 – an agreement on its establishment was signed. On this occasion from March to October 2012 the library is going to run 100 events, including exhibitions and meetings with patrons, concerts, open doors days and other anniversary celebrations in its branches in Leipzig and Frankfurt am Main.

In celebration of the anniversary the library’s Deutsche Buch- und Schriftmuseum in Leipzig has launched a permanent exhibition “Characters – Books – Networks. From Cuneiform to Binary Code” (Zeichen - Bücher - Netze: Von der Keilschrift zum Binärcode). The exhibition includes some 1000 exhibits from the museum collection, which revive media history. It presents three key media-revolutions which were witnessed within 5 000 years: origin of writing, invention of printing and digital age. The show covers a long way from the development of writing and movable type book printing through to the world of digital networks and multimedia age.       

The German National Library is also a participant of Leipzig Book Fair, which is running in Leipzig March 15 - 18 2012. 

The program of anniversary events is available on the library’s website. Here users can also read the jubilee issue of the library’s magazine Hundred. Jubilee magazine of the German National Library (Hundert. Das Jubiläumsmagazin der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek).