As a treasure trove of cultural heritage, a multimedia information service provider for scholarly research and as an innovative force in the field of digital services, the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek is one of the prime national and international addresses for researchers, students and all those seeking information. This puts it in an optimal position for rising to the challenges of the modern knowledge society.
Founded in 1558 as court library of the house of Wittelsbach, the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek is one of the prime European universal libraries and of world renown as international research library. It forms Germany's virtual national library together with the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (Berlin State Library) and the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek (German National Library) in Frankfurt and Leipzig. The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek is also the central state library and repository library of the Free State of Bavaria. With more than 10 million volumes, about 63,000 current periodicals in electronic or printed form and about 130,000 manuscripts the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek is one of the most important knowledge centres of the world. Every year approximately 160,000 volumes are added, which are selected and catalogued systematically according to scholarly criteria.
The library's unique collection profile is characterised by extremely precious manuscripts, rare printed books and comprehensive special collections from thousands of years of cultural heritage. But at the same time, the library rises to the challenges of the future: The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek is continuously enhancing its digital and Internet-based services, for example in the areas of electronic journals, mass digitisation of its collections and the development of innovative digitisation technologies. With one million digitised works, the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek holds the largest digital data stock of all German libraries. A large variety of services is offered in the field of innovative digital use scenarios.