The Classification of Libraries and the Image of the Librarian in Nineteenth and Early Twentieth-Century Germany

Abstract

This article examines the classification and arrangement of libraries and the image of the librarian, and explores possible links between the two, in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Germany with particular reference to academic libraries in the period between 1850 and 1920. The first part of the article argues that the systematic classification and shelf arrangement which were the norm in German libraries during this period tended to support a particular image of the librarian in contemporary writings on library science: specifically, a view of the librarian as a congenial guide to the collection, who would selflessly serve the library and its users. The latter part of the article examines the critique of systematic arrangement in libraries in Germany in the second half of the nineteenth century, and suggests that new views of the library's arrangement and function at this time helped usher in a new conception of the librarian's role and ideal persona.