The political and societal benefits libraries have to offer are underestimated in Germany. Libraries have rarely been brought up in the educational debates that have ensued following the PISA study, although they make a major contribution to improving the quality of Germany’s educational system. Immediate reform is required; otherwise, the German library system may well lose its ability to keep pace with national and international developments.

In the Bibliothek 2007 (Library 2007) project, both partners, the Federal Union of German Library and Information Associations (BID) and the Bertelsmann Stiftung, have begun to develop a recommendation for the future of library science in Germany. They hope to stimulate professional and political discussion about ways to optimize libraries’ structures and initiate a general strategy process at the federal, state, and local level.

The Bibliothek 2007 strategy was presented in March 2004, and it has since been under discussion with policymakers at the federal, state, and local level.

In 2005 the project was handed over to BID, which is pressing ahead with the initiative as its most important task. The Bertelsmann Stiftung is a member of BID.

Project duration: June 1, 2002, to December 31, 2004