Libraries

Dresden has a great number of very varied libraries. With five million loans every year, the Städtische Bibliotheken Dresden are the most intensively used. Its branches – the Central and Music Library in the World Trade Center, the medien@age – new Dresden youth library in Prager Straße, the oldest mobile library in Germany, and 18 other branch libraries form the »gateway« into the world of media for all Dresden's residents and visitors.

The Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek (SLUB) (Saxon Regional, State and University Library) with its stock of 7 million media is of supra-regional importance.

The Landesbibliothek was founded by Elector Augustus of Library Portraits Saxony in 1556. It was opened to the public as early as the end of the 18th century. The collections on Saxony's natural environment, culture and history, on art, music and shorthand writing are of international standard. The library's book museum owns some valuable items, among them the famous Mayan manuscript »Codex Dresdensis«.

In 1996, the Dresden University of Technology library and its 17 branch libraries merged with the Landesbibliothek. A modern library building for the new institution is currently under construction on the university campus.

More than 70 libraries belonging to cultural and educational facilities, authorities and associations, scientific institutes, hospitals and churches provide access to specialist informationrelating to the individual organization.

The Deutscher Bibliotheksverband e.V. (German Library Association) provides descriptions of its member libraries:

• www.bibliotheksportraits.de

The headquarters of the Sächsisches Hauptstaatsarchiv are in Dresden. This is the biggest archive in Saxony, listed among the 100 most important archives in the world by UNESCO, and it is the central place where the written documents of the Saxon state have been collected since the 10th century.
The Dresden City Archive keeps valuable material on all aspects of civic history.