Fritz Milkau zum Gedächtnis

Abstract

This article commemorates the eminent German librarian Fritz Milkau on the occasion of the 150 th anniversary of his birth and 75 th anniversary of his death. Milkau was employed at the Prussian Ministry of Culture in Berlin, then as library director at the universities of Greifswald and Breslau (Wroclaw), and finally as the successor to Adolf von Harnack and first professional librarian in the office of General Director at the Prussian State Library in Berlin. There he decisively influenced the development of modern librarianship in Germany.The use of cataloguing rules titled »Prussian Instructions«, or »Pl«, the creation of a Prussian Union Catalogue, and the first nation-wide inter-library lending statute ( 1924 ) would hardly have been possible without Milkau's inspirational and pioneering involvement. The establishment of a well-grounded library science in Germany would be unthinkable without the Institute of Library Science he founded at the University of Berlin or without the Handbook of Library Science which he initiated.