| Saxon State Library (SLUB) | |
|---|---|
| Name | Saxon State Library — State and University Library Dresden (SLUB) |
| Native name | Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden |
| Native name lang | de |
| Established | 1556 (origins) |
| Ref country | Germany |
| Location | Dresden, Saxony |
| Coordinates | 51°03′N 13°44′E |
| Collection size | ca. 8 million items |
| Director | Hans-Rainer Rother |
Saxon State Library (SLUB)
The Saxon State Library (SLUB) is the combined state and university library for the Free State of Saxony and the TU Dresden in Dresden. It functions as a major regional cultural heritage institution, research library and public lending library, holding important historical manuscripts, incunabula and modern scientific collections that document Saxony's intellectual history and support university teaching and research.
The origins of the SLUB reach back to the princely and electoral collections of the Electorate of Saxony and the court libraries of the House of Wettin in the early modern period. Successive institutional predecessors included the court library of the Elector of Saxony and the Dresden university library; notable early holdings were augmented through acquisitions during the 17th and 18th centuries under rulers such as Augustus II the Strong and Augustus III of Poland. The library sustained severe losses and dispersals during the Napoleonic era and again in the Second World War, including damage to the Zwinger collections and wartime evacuations. Postwar reconstitution under the German Democratic Republic consolidated state holdings, and in 1996 a merger formally created the present SLUB as a joint institution serving both the state and the newly restructured TU Dresden. Contemporary history includes the construction of the new central building at the Großer Garten edge in 2002–2002 and participation in international collaborative projects such as the DDB-affiliated digitization initiatives.
SLUB's holdings encompass approximately eight million volumes, serials, maps, music scores and audiovisual materials. The historical treasures include medieval manuscripts, early printed books (incunabula), and important special collections such as the Dresden Codex facsimiles and holdings from the former Electoral libraries. The library preserves notable individual items like illuminated manuscripts, early atlases, and collections assembled by figures associated with Dresden's cultural life (collectors, scholars and court librarians). SLUB also serves as legal deposit library for Saxony, maintaining contemporary regional newspapers, official publications and scientific output from TU Dresden. Subject strengths reflect humanities and natural sciences, aligning with research priorities at regional institutions including the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden and the Germanisches Nationalmuseum collaborations.
The SLUB central building was designed by the architectural firm Pitz & Hoh and opened in the early 2000s to unify dispersed locations into a single complex adjacent to the TU Dresden campus and the Großer Garten. The facility integrates modern repository architecture with public reading rooms, conservation laboratories and exhibition space. The complex comprises stack towers, climate-controlled vaults, and open-access learning zones intended to support both traditional collections and digital scholarship. The site is part of Dresden's post-reunification urban development, located near transport links such as the Dresden Hauptbahnhof tram and suburban rail connections, and is designed to mediate between historical built fabric in central Dresden and contemporary campus planning.
SLUB provides reference services, interlibrary loan, acquisitions and cataloguing for regional and university users, and reading rooms for researchers and students. Public programs include exhibitions, lectures, workshops, and guided tours that highlight items from the Handschriften and special collections. Outreach targets schools and lifelong learners through partnerships with municipal cultural actors like the Landeshauptstadt Dresden cultural office and the German Hygiene Museum. SLUB also supports scholarly publishing, institutional repositories for TU Dresden theses, and cooperative services with regional libraries such as the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin and the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek for interregional loans and collection development.
SLUB has been a pioneer in large-scale digitalization, contributing digitized manuscripts, newspapers and maps to national platforms. The institution operates digital services and repositories that provide online access to digitized images and metadata, and it participates in projects with the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek and the Europeana portal. The SLUB Dresden Online portal offers catalogues, digitized newspapers from Dresden's press history, and access to the institutional repository of TU Dresden. The library develops digital humanities services, supporting text mining, georeferencing of historical maps, and integration with Linked Data principles. Collaborative projects include digitization partnerships with regional archives and the national State and University Library network.
SLUB houses specialized conservation and restoration laboratories staffed by conservators trained in paper, bookbinding, and photographic material treatment. The laboratories support long-term preservation of parchment, paper, and modern media, applying preventive conservation and conservation science practices. Research activities collaborate with TU Dresden faculties, notably in materials science and conservation science, for analytical studies of inks, pigments and binding structures. Ongoing projects address disaster preparedness, provenance research (including restitution histories), and catalogue enhancement for manuscript and rare-book collections, often in cooperation with provenance researchers at the Saxon State Office for Monument Preservation.
SLUB is governed as a public institution under Saxony's cultural and higher-education frameworks, with a dual mandate to serve the Free State of Saxony and TU Dresden. Administrative oversight involves a board of trustees and academic stakeholders from the university; funding derives from state appropriations, university contributions, project grants from bodies such as the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, and revenue from services and cultural programs. Strategic planning aligns with regional cultural policy, higher-education priorities and international standards for research libraries, ensuring continuity of acquisitions, digitization, and preservation programs. Category:Libraries in Dresden