Two hundred years and counting...

This year, librarians from all over the world celebrate 200 years of the publication of “Versuch eines vollständigen lerbuchs der bibliotheswissenschaft oder Anleitung vollkomenen Geschäftfurung eines Bibliothekars in wissenschaftlicher Form abgesfaast” (Complete works on Library Science or a management guide for librarians written scientifically,) by Martin. W. Schrettinger (1772-1851). This is one of the most important books in the library world and it revolutionized the field.

Scherettinger states here that the purpose of libraries should be to provide the easiest and fastest way to access information and said that librarians should focus on three principles: technique, usefulness and system implementation. This approach has been used in libraries ever since. Before this book, libraries were not accessible to the public and were not designed for serving as a tool to easily access information. Each librarian organized the books the way he wanted to and only he knew where to find them.

Thanks to Scherettinger’s innovative ideas, libraries still have an important role in modern societies. They evolve and improve over time in order to best meet communities’ needs.