by Jean-Marie Reding
General library relevant information
Population: 493.500 habitants (2008)
Local authorities: 116 (2008)
Cities over 10.000 habitants: 7
Administrative languages: Luxembourgish, German & French
Percentage of Not-Luxembourgish people: 43,7%
National Library
Foundation: 1798 as school library by French Revolutionary Regime
Historic names: Bibliothèque de l'Ecole Centrale (1798-1803), Bibliothè-que de la Ville de Luxembourg (1803-1848), Bibliothèque de l'Athénée royal-grand-ducal (1848-1875), Bibliothèque de Luxembourg (1875-1899) & Bibliothèque nationale (1899-) [Landesbibliothek 1940-1944]
1st book catalogue: published in 1848 by Nicolas Clasen.
1st card catalogue: August 1903
1st computer catalogue: 1985
Staff: One-person-library 1798-1853
Chief librarians: Jean-Baptise Halle, Dominique-Constantin Munchen, Nicolas Clasen, Antoine Namur, Jean Schoetter, Nicolas Muller, Joseph Schwickert, Martin d'Huart, Nicolas van Werveke, Pierre Frieden (Alexander Roeder 1942-44), Joseph Goedert (1st "director"), Gilbert Trausch, Jules Christophory, Jean-Claude Muller & Monique Kieffer.
Most famous chief librarian: Pierre Frieden, Head of national library (1929-1959) and Prime Minister (1958-1959).
Collection development (year: doc.): 1800: ca. 9.500 ; 1846: 9.978 ; 1875: ca. 56.000 ; 1910: ca. 80.000 ; 1929: ca. 101.500 ; 1955: ca. 400.000 ; 1978: ca. 600.000 ; 2007: ca. 1.100.000.
Registered users: 3.531 active users (2006)
Loans: 38.054 (2006)
Separation between Luxembourgish-Non Luxembourgish books: by creation of the Luxemburgensia-Department in 1930
Legal deposit implementation by Luxembourgish Government: Law of the 05.12.1958 (implementing regulations of the 06.05. & 12.06.1960)
National bibliography: Bibliographie luxembourgeoise (Print: 1944-2004)
International loan: national centre since the 1930ies
Academic libraries
Biggest academic libraries (over 50.000 documents):
- National Library: ca. 1.100.000 doc.European
- Court of Justice Library: ca. 150.000 doc.
- European Investment Bank: ca. 150.000 doc.
- University Library Campus Limpertsberg: ca. 130.000 doc.
- Seminary Library: ca. 120.000 doc.
- Abbey Library of St.-Maurice in Clervaux: ca. 120.000 doc.
- Central Library of the European Commission: ca. 90.000 doc.
- National History & Art Museum Library: ca. 60.000 doc.
- Grand-Ducal Institute Libraries:- History Section: > 50.000 doc.
Natural Sciences Library: (over 50.000 documents):
- Secondary School Library Diekirch: > 50.000 doc.
Most frequent library type: specialised library
- Library legislation: only libraries in laws, no library law.
- Legislative library creation obligation for: elementary school libraries (since 1912) & secondary school libraries (since 2004).
Public libraries
- 1st reading cabinet in Luxembourg: J.P. Müllendorff, Son, founded in 1823.
- 1st parish (catholic) library: created in Luxembourg in 1844.
- 1st Borromeo-library (catholic public library): created in Luxembourg in 1847.
- 1st workers' library: created in Luxembourg in 1878.
- Popular library (public school library) creation movement: 1889-ca. 1918.
- Zenith of public library creations: in 1910, opposing catholic public libraries (Katholischer Volksverein) against liberal-social public libraries (Volksbildungsverein).
- Oldest existing public library: Municipal Library of Esch/Alzette, founded as school library in 1892.
- 1st public library law proposition: in February 1928 by Socialist Member of Parliament Jacques Thilmany, based on Belgian Destrée-Law of the - 17.10.1921 (library creation obligation).
- Zenith of commercial lending libraries (ex.: grocery stores): 1930ies.
World War II: Complete dismantling of parish and association libraries by Nazi regime.
- Biggest public library today: Municipal Library of Luxembourg (76.000 documents), inaugurated in December 1967.
- 1st mobile library: 1978, entirely supported by Ministry of cultural affairs.
- 1st children's section in a public library: 1988 in Esch/Alzette.
- Renaissance of the association public libraries: beginning by the creation of the Tony-Bourg-Library in Troisvierges in November 2000.
- 2nd public library law proposition: in July 2003 by socialist Member of Parliament Marc Zanussi, based on personal Finnish experiences (library creation obligation).
- 3rd public library law proposition: in July 2007 by Christian-social Member of Parliament Marco Schank, focussed on the establishment of a national library authority/state library agency.
Standards
- 1st national online union catalogue name & software: October 1985 April 2000, implemented by National Library: SIBIL - Système Intégré pour les Bibliothèques de Lausanne.
- Biggest national online union catalogue software today: Aleph 500 (Ex Libris), successor since April 2000.
- National online union catalogue name today: Bibnet.lu (2006: 579.831 bibliographic records) with 35 libraries as members.
- Cataloguing standards today: AACR2 Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules.
- Special union catalogue rules: KIDS Katalogregeln für den Informationsverbund Deutschschweiz (Swiss German).
- Union catalogue subject headings index: Répertoire des vedettes-matière (RVM) de Laval (University of Laval, Québec, Canada) and - Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC).
I- ndexing in public libraries: a self enlarged 1958th trilingual Universal Decimal Classification (UDC) is in use.
Education
- Library schools: no library schools in Luxembourg.
- Most popular library schools for Luxembourgish students: Cologne (Germany), Liège & Brussels (Belgium).
- Number of active qualified Luxembourgish librarians: 19 bachelors and 1 master (2008).
- 1st in Luxembourg published monograph about libraries: "Ländliche Volksbibliotheken : Beitrag zur Lösung der Volksbildungsfrage" by elementary school teacher and popular education activist Franz Joseph Felten (*1888- 1919) in the year 1915.
