Future Memory Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek

Discovering collections

The focal points include the further development of the library's discovery system, the cataloguing and digitisation of the Weimar military library and atlas collection, as well as the strengthening of the library as a media archive by activating the collection of friendship books and its networking, through cataloguing projects on the Bible collection and on Ernestine princely libraries as well as through the cataloguing of picture postcards and the cataloguing, annotation and networking of library media on knowledge about nature around 1800 (guidebooks, handbooks and textbooks, dictionaries and encyclopaedias).

To the search portal (discovery system)

To the digital collections

To the overview of the collections

Testimonials

On 2 September 2004, the library caught fire and the building and collections were severely damaged. The largest library fire in Germany since the Second World War was followed by the renovation of the building in record time and work on the restoration of salvaged items that continues to this day. Nothing was the same after the fire, but the public sympathy and willingness to help made it clear that the library is sustained by the people who are connected to it.

In preparation for the 20th anniversary of the fire on 2 September 2024, the library is looking for contemporary witnesses to help shape the library's collections with their memories and expectations, but also with images and found objects. They are part of the basis for future memories, for a library as a repository for the future.