In our anniversary exhibition, we take you on a pictorial journey through the history of the University and City Library of Cologne. How has the building changed over the years, which technologies and thus new services for library visitors have been added? You will find out all this during a tour in our foyer.
On 14 May 1920, the University and City Library (UCL) was founded. The three academic libraries of the City of Cologne were incorporated into the new University and City Library of Cologne. In 1934, the collections moved into shared premises in the main building of the University of Cologne.
It was not until the 1960s that the books got their own home. The architect Rolf Gutbrod planned a three-part library on Universitätsstraße/Kerpener Straße with a book depository, administration and service, where the majority of the volumes are still housed today. The anniversary exhibition spans the spectrum from black-and-white images from the founding days to the modern services of the UCL today.
Venue
University and City Library of Cologne, Foyer, Universitätsstraße 33, 50931 Cologne, Germany
Opening hours
Monday to Friday from 9 -24 - Saturday and Sunday from 9 - 21.
Original image size Students sitting at desks of the reading room 31968: Concentrated silence in Reading Room III shortly after the opening of the new building at Universitätsstraße 33. When the UCL building was planned in the 1950's, the University of Cologne had 15,000 enrolled students.
Original image size Acquisition strategy diagramOur acquisition strategy of the last 20 years under the aspect of print vs. e-book: We now offer more than 4 million e-books, approx. 150,000 current e-journals and about 1,650 databases.
Original image size Award-winning volume from 2018Award-winning volume from 2018: For their outstanding work, our colleagues of the bookbindery have meanwhile received 14 awards in 13 years at international competitions!
Original image size Collection Engländer: a crocodileOne of over 70 collection portals: The natural scientist and professor of the Cologne University Hans Engländer bequeathed us in his will 4,000 valuable books from the field of zoology.
Original image size reading room 4In 2017, Reading Room IV was newly equipped: We got rid of the old furniture and flooring, each of the 100 newly designed workstations got a power socket and each table had its own light source.
Original image size View from the reading room window onto reedsView from the reading room window onto the "University Garden" with pond, which connects the university library with the lecture hall building. The biotope has already been a research object for biology didacticians.
Original image size Valuable books in a shelfThe UCLis one of the so-called stacks libraries: on a total of eight stack floors we keep about 4 million books, including about 2,350 prints from the 15th century.
Original image size 500-year-old indulgence posterThis 500-year-old indulgence poster was found by a staff member in 2017 in one of our books. Presumably it contributed to the financing of the Cologne Cathedral - those who donated generously could escape purgatory.
Original image size Metropolis film screening 2017The extensive accompanying programme to our exhibition METROPOLIS in 2017 was rounded off by the screening of the film classic in the assembly hall of the university.
Original image size One Wallraf volume in restored conditionThe library of Ferdinand Franz Wallraf, the last rector of the old Cologne University, is currently being renovated and restored thanks to the help of federal and state funding, the city of Cologne and private book sponsors.
Original image size Ana & Bela Kölnisches VolksblattThese "pizza boxes" contain our annual edition ANA & BELA, Cologne's oldest underground magazine. The reprint of the Kölnisches Volksblatt with all issues from 1969-72 could be bought for the first time in 2019 in the bookshop König.
Original image size Open Access logoWe offer the University of Cologne its own Open Access solutions such as the Cologne University Publication Server (KUPS) and also participate financially in Open Access initiatives of individual disciplines.
Original image size our library building as an exhibitIn February 2020 our library building, completed in 1968, became an exhibit in the photo exhibition of the architectural photographer Gregor Zoyzoyla: "Concrete:Imagination - The Aesthetics of Brutalism".
