Storage solutions in a co‐operative library system: The case of Germany/Bavaria

Aims to highlight how the complex issue of storage problems is managed within the context of German and Bavarian libraries.

Introduces very briefly the main features of the German scholarly library system, focusing on the aspects of storage and archiving. Then, presents the characteristics and peculiarities of the repository concepts realized on the national and the regional level. For the latter, focuses on Bavaria, which provides perhaps the best example of a working co‐ordinated regional archiving system.

In Germany, establishing a repository library like those in the Scandinavian countries or in the Anglo‐Saxon world seems impossible. In the last few years in the area of storage concepts there has been an avoidance of the idea of central and regional storage libraries. The few existing co‐operative models (examples are to be found in the states of North Rhine Westphalia and Baden‐Württemberg) have failed. In light of experiences thus far, the idea of a more or less self‐sufficient, self‐staffed and independently organized regional storage library must be viewed with scepticism.

A storage library is, at least in Germany, currently only conceivable in the sense of a stacks enlargement project, or in the creation of an additional stacks location for an already existing and already archive‐friendly library. The best example is Bavaria.