Who's behind the news?
Who's behind the news?
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Newsjunkie.net is a resource guide for journalists. We show who's behind the news, and provide tools to help navigate the modern business of information.
Use of Data
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The Bavarian State Library (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek; BSB) is the central state library of the Free State of Bavaria and one of Europe's most important and internationally renowned universal research libraries. Located in Munich, it is also Germany's largest scientific library, with approximately 39.4 million media units as of 2024, and forms part of Germany's virtual national library alongside the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin and the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
The library was founded in 1558 when Wittelsbach Duke Albrecht V acquired the private library of Austrian humanist and orientalist Johann Albrecht Widmanstetter, declared it the foundation of his court library, and installed it in Munich. In 1571 the substantial library of Augsburg banker Johann Jakob Fugger was added. The collection grew substantially in 1803–04 when holdings from secularised Bavarian monasteries—representing a thousand years of ecclesiastical scholarship—and the Mannheim court library of the Electors Palatine were incorporated. The current library building on Ludwigstraße was constructed between 1832 and 1843 under King Ludwig I. The library assumed its current name, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, in 1919. World War II bombing in 1943–1945 heavily damaged The BSB is the central state library of the Germany’s Free State of Bavaria and one of Europe's most important research libraries. Located in Munich, it is also Germany's largest scientific library, with approximately 39.4 million units of media (books, manuscripts, music scores, photographs, maps, etc.) as of 2024, and forms part of Germany's virtual national library alongside the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin and the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
The current library building on Ludwigstraße was constructed between 1832 and 1843 under King Ludwig I. The library assumed its current name, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, in 1919. World War II bombing in 1943–1945 heavily damaged the building and destroyed approximately 500,000 volumes. Since 1663, two copies of every item printed in Bavaria have been deposited with the library. Since 1997, the BSB has operated the Munich Digitisation Centre (Münchener Digitalisierungszentrum) holds over 5 million digitized works.
The BSB's collections span virtually every field and language, with strengths in classical studies, history, musicology, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia. Highlights include approximately 140,000 manuscripts, around 21,000 incunabula, approximately 130,000 sixteenth-century prints, some 450,000 autographs, over 450,000 maps, 100,000 music prints and manuscripts, and an image archive of more than 19 million individual images (including the STERN photographic archive acquired in 2019). The library's newspaper portal, digiPress, provides access to over 1,200 digitized historical newspapers. The BSB also serves as the responsible collecting institution for German prints from 1450–1600 within the Sammlung Deutscher Drucke cooperative framework. It has cooperative digitization agreements with Google and partners with numerous international research institutions.
The BSB is open to the public for research and study. Users must register in person with valid identification. The reading rooms, manuscript department, and special collections are accessible to researchers. Online access to digitized materials and the full catalogue is available at www.bsb-muenchen.de without registration. The BSB also manages the regional cultural portal bavarikon and the Literaturportal Bayern.
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (Bavarian State Library)
Ludwigstraße 16
80539 Munich, Germany
Phone: +49 (0)89 28638-2322
Email: Info@gsb-muenchen.de
Website: www.bsb-muenchen.de/en