2000 times a day: browsing, reading, working...

University Library Director Uwe Stadler and the diversity of book culture

"Q" is the title of a historical novel by the writers' collective Luther Blissett (now known as Wu Ming), set in the 16th century. It is about the Peasants' War, the Reformation period and papal spies, all of which are beautifully presented in historical fiction. A book that revolves around the power of the word and occupies Uwe Stadler, Library Director of the University of Wuppertal, in his spare time.

The social science graduate has been in charge of the university library since 2006, naturally has his own library card - the number of which he even knows by heart - and describes the tasks of his central institution as follows: "First and foremost, the library is responsible for providing literature and information to members of the University of Wuppertal. That is the primary target group, i.e. students, employees and academics. This is laid down in our administrative and utilisation regulations. In addition, we are of course also accessible to the city and its citizens."

2000 to 3000 users per day

Between 2,000 and 3,000 visitors use the services of the Book Temple every day, often presenting the 80 or so employees with an immense logistical challenge. In addition to the colleagues who work at the central information desk, the information desks and the lending desk, there are also other staff in the various departments who take care of registration, cataloguing, book processing and the purchase of book copies and electronic media, among other things. In terms of figures, Stadler refers to the current rectorate report, which states that no less than 15 thousand new books were acquired in 2017 alone. The criteria according to which books are purchased at the University of Wuppertal are also clearly regulated. "The book selection is laid down in the administration and usage regulations," he says, "the subject librarians in the library make the selection in cooperation with the faculties. This means that there is also a library officer for each subject at the university, and they work together with our subject librarians to select the collections to be procured. In addition to processing suggestions from the faculties, it is the task of the library's subject librarians to independently and permanently maintain the academic, current basic stock of literature." The Fürth-born librarian sees a focus of the existing literature "due to the economisation of society in recent years" in the field of economics with all its interdisciplinary connections. "You will notice that both in the textbook collection and in the electronic holdings that we have, the economics-related holdings are actually very important." However, considerable investment has also been made in other areas. For example, the library can provide good support for the requirements of the School of Education and the relatively new field of special education, to name just two examples. Stadler calls them "small, new islands of stock" that are growing very intensively.

The secret rare book magazine

Very valuable, rare and even banned works, which are therefore not accessible to everyone, are brought together under one roof. The library houses two valuable incunabula (printed works with movable type from the first fifty years of book printing between 1454 and 1500) from the 15th century in a specially secured, climate-controlled room to which only a few employees have access.

Two further special collections include Franz Kafka's private library acquired for the university and the complete estate of the Irish writer Walter Macken (1915 - 1967). And the plagiarised doctoral thesis of former Defence Minister zu Guttenberg, which is well known from the press and which other universities have removed from their collections because it has no academic value, is also locked away in Wuppertal's so-called Rara-Magazin.

A new building for a special collection

A new, dedicated library, the so-called Johannes Rau Library, will be built on the Freudenberg campus in the coming years to house another 15 thousand volumes from the former NRW state father and former Federal President Johannes Rau. At the moment, the extensive collection, which has been newly analysed, processed and recorded for one and a half years, is still stored in a back room of the library branch on Freudenberg.

Creating space through zero growth

The space requirement is there, but there is a lack of rooms; a fate that Stadler shares with his counterparts in NRW. However, in order to make a virtue out of necessity, the periodicals in particular, i.e. the printed journals, are gradually being removed. "This means that, in addition to the 15,000 new acquisitions mentioned above, we also have a similar number of disposals each year. Due to the tight situation, we are therefore trying to achieve zero growth, taking into account the criteria of duplicates and electronic availability." This is all done in close consultation with the Library Commission, a body elected by the University Senate. For NRW, Stadler and his library colleagues ensure that "we still have a print copy in the state."

Investment in the reading room has paid off

In 2012, the new reading room, a rotunda of state-of-the-art architecture above the library rooms, was opened as an additional floor with a breathtaking view of the valley. An investment that not only creates a wonderful learning atmosphere, but also enhances the entire campus. Financed from tuition fee funds at the time, 99 per cent of this extension will benefit the students. "This was a very sensible project. The funds that were available could be used in the best possible way in terms of earmarking." Stadler is also aware of the points of criticism, but says: "The discussion about volume, about the intensity of group work, none of that is negative for me, it just shows that this is a lively process. And the whole thing was totally worthwhile."

Citizens welcome + Christine Westermann reads

Citizens can also take advantage of the university library's services. The married father says: "You come up here in the entrance area and present your ID card at the central information desk. An ID card is then issued promptly. We have decided to keep this service free of charge." Stadler only sees restrictions for the electronic media, which can only be accessed by members of the university, even from home, due to licence agreements. The opening hours have now been extended to 10 p.m. and "more is not feasible for us at the moment," he says, knowing that many other libraries already offer Sunday opening hours. Instead, he has been organising readings with renowned artists and authors for several years, which attract an interested city audience back to the campus even in the evening hours. This year, Stadler has invited the renowned journalist and author Christine Westermann. The reading will take place on 8 November.

Digitisation?

And how is the library dealing with digitalisation? The director explains: "We started setting up a new department here in 1999. Digital Library as a new library department. That included things like digital library research and databases. Then we gradually added e-books and the introduction of e-journals. We are increasingly moving away from the conventional library towards the digitalised library, also known as the hybrid library." However, this does not mean reading without the haptics. "Of course we still need printed books. We also have proven book-related and book-orientated sciences, such as the focus on edition sciences. Working with books is very important here. For academic work, historical work, you really have to have the copy in front of you. The older the holdings, the more important this is."

Despite all the digitalisation, he reports: "We always get feedback from students who say that even when electronic editions are available, they often still prefer to browse, work and read in the conventional copy."

In the near future, the passionate reader is looking forward to the follow-up novel to the aforementioned book. "Altai", as the title suggests, follows on seamlessly from its predecessor "Q", and in it, too, the rebels battle with the unbeatable power of the word. For Uwe Stadler, of course, in hardback.

Uwe Blass (interview from 21 March 2018)

______________________________________________________________________________

Uwe Stadler has been head of the Wuppertal University Library since 2006. Born in Fürth in 1961, he studied social sciences with a focus on political science in Duisburg, worked as a librarian at the Technical Information Library in Hanover after completing his diploma and library traineeship in Bielefeld and Cologne and came to Wuppertal in 1994 as a subject librarian for educational and social science subjects. Shortly afterwards, he became head of the Digital Library and New Media department. In 2004, Stadler became Deputy Director of the University Library.