The Stabi card catalogues will be retained for the time being
News from 02/16/2026
The Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin recently hosted an academic discussion entitled "Card catalogues. Untouchable cultural asset, active object of research or substitutable historical tool?". The colloquium demonstrated the academic interest in fundamental research into the history and significance of card catalogues.
The conference was supported and co-organised by the Institute for Library and Information Science at Humboldt University Berlin and the Gutenberg Institute for World Literature and Written Media at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. There was particular interest in the content of the Berlin card catalogues, which were created during the GDR era, and against this background the State Library would like to open up the possibility of further academic work with the card catalogues and will continue to preserve them for the time being.
Marion Ackermann, President of the SPK, says: "The extent to which society can afford archiving and musealisation is always a social negotiation process. I am looking forward to the contributions and research questions that are expected soon." Achim Bonte, Director General of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, adds: "The academic symposium has so far shown little visible, lively interest in researching historical card catalogues. In order to allow sufficient time for the desired content-related and methodological knowledge processes, the areas within the foundation that have been lacking to date should be guaranteed until further notice."