As if the city were still divided: On the future of the Central and State Library

Jonas Fansa has no reason to wear the rubber boots his predecessor, Director General of the Berlin Central and State Library, gave him as a handover gift. It's a mild and dry autumn evening as he sits on the podium in the bright pop-up building behind the Amerika-Gedenkbibliothek (AGB). And the construction site for which these boots were intended still doesn't exist: The move from the overused buildings of the Stadtbibliothek Mitte and the AGB hasn't even begun. In fact, it's not even the topic of the evening.

And that could be called a scandal. "What future does the Berlin Central and State Library have?" is the title of the event. Seated next to Fansa at the front is Cerstin Richter-Kotowski, State Secretary in the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion. She points out that she has only been in office since June. She repeatedly recalled on Tuesday evening that she is particularly familiar withSteglitz-Zehlendorf . The CDU politician served as district mayor there for several years, most recently as deputy mayor and also as city councilor for education, culture, and sport.

Thirty years in temporary accommodation

Jonas Fansa briefly recounts the history of the ZLB, which, along with the City Library in Berlin-Mitte, dates back to 1901. After the division of Berlin, the Amerika-Gedenkbibliothek (American Memorial Library) was opened in 1954, and in 1995, both were merged into a foundation to form the Zentral- und Landesbibliothek Berlin (ZLB) . Founding director Claudia Lux was in the audience on Tuesday evening. The ZLB was only officially united. It continues to consist of two buildings in the old eastern and western parts of the city, a quarter of an hour's bike ride or six bus stops apart. Both are too small for the number of users and the media holdings. Thirty years have passed, in figures: 30. Fansa recalls the solutions proposed, some even approved by the Senate: a new building on the edge of Tempelhofer Feld, on the lawn next to the AGB building, a move to the former Galeries Lafayette on Friedrichstrasse, and most recently, to Alex, into the Galeria department store building.

Why do you invite a politician? You want answers from them, clear statements. Cerstin Richter-Kotowski, however, gives the impression that she is still responsible for Steglitz. She is asked what the plans for Alexanderplatz are all about. She cannot say anything about that at the moment. "I know that you think my answer is very vague, very typical of politicians," she explains. "I would like to be able to say something different, but I certainly won't do that in a public meeting." Now, one could interpret this to mean that she perhaps does not want to blurt anything out prematurely. However, her words sound like little more than defensive. 36 years after Berlin's reunification, one would expect a bit of enthusiasm for the future of the city's most visited cultural venue.

A space for coincidences

But Jonas Fansa was apparently the only one responsible for the enthusiasm that evening. For example, he interpreted the concept of libraries: They are often considered so-called third places for people (after home and work, the first and second places). He preferred the interpretation of an Oslo professor who spoke of "low-intensity meeting places": people do very different things, pursue very different goals in a library, decisions about which they only decide for themselves. This is different, he said, from a movie theater or adult education center, for example. In the library, old and young people, with different levels of education and socialization, come together. At least Richter-Kotowski jumped in and said: "I think this voluntary nature is something that makes libraries special." She praised the generously equipped Steglitz district library on the third floor of the "Das Schloss" shopping center.

The presenter asks Fansa about his 2008 book "Library Flirting," and he mentions a thought from it that's still very important to him today: "Libraries are a space for coincidences," he says. With the shelves and all the things standing side by side, they hold unexpected discoveries. "And they facilitate chance encounters with people."

This is a promising antidote at a time when the isolation of the individual is increasingly being lamented. Incidentally, the Amerika-Gedenkbibliothek (American Memorial Library) has launched a comprehensive program of events until the end of December, offering workshops, discussions, readings, and music under the title "Living Together" – from "digital self-defense" for young people to "Grandmas for the Future." And after that, next year, a decision on the library's future will be made.