The Congress

Logo and motto

Many non-Hanoverians wonder what the motto ‘Forward to Far’ and the congress logo are all about.

The motto is owed to a play on words by the native Hanoverian Kurt Schwitters, who wrote in ‘Der Sturm’ in 1920:

“The Hanoverians are the inhabitants of a city, a big city. The Hanoverian never gets dog diseases. Hanover’s town hall belongs to the Hanoverians, and that is surely a justified demand. The difference between Hanover and Anna Blume is that you can read Anna from behind and from the front. Hanover, on the other hand, is best read only from the front. But if you read Hanover from behind, you get the combination of three words: “re von nah”. The word “re” can be translated in different ways: “backwards” or “back”. I suggest the translation “backwards”. So then the translation of the word Hanover from behind is: “backwards from near”. And that is correct in so far as the translation of the word Hanover from the front would then result in: “Forward to far.” So that means: Hanover is striving forward and into the immeasurable. Anna Blume, on the other hand, is from behind as well as from the front: A-N-N-A. (Dogs obligingly not brought along). ”

Kurt Schwitters (1920): Hanover. In: Der Sturm 11 (3), p. 40

History

The first German Librarians’ Day took place in Marburg in 1900. Since then, this largest national continuing education event in the German-speaking world has taken place annually. Originally, this conference was restricted to librarians in academic libraries, but for a long time, librarians in public libraries have also been included.
You can find a chronology of all Bibliothekartags in this overview.

The German Librarians’ Congress is organised by the Association of German Librarians (Verein Deutscher Bibliothekarinnen und Bibliothekare e.V. – VDB) and the Professional Association of Information Libraries (Berufsverband Information Bibliothek e.V. – BIB).

Every third year, the Congress for Information and Libraries, organised by Bibliothek & Information Deutschland (BID), takes place in Leipzig. This is also the German Librarians’ Day in the respective year.
The German Librarians’ Day otherwise takes place annually (with the exception of 2003 due to the IFLA meeting in Germany and 2020 due to the Corona pandemic) in May or June in alternating German cities.

If you are interested in the websites of past Librarians’ Days or Library Congresses, you will find the archive on this page.
The authors have published lecture slides and presentations on the OPUS server since 2001.