Bavarian budget model and collection development in the universities of the new German Federal States

Abstract

The collections of the university libraries of the German Democratic Republic in 1989 were approximately idential to those of the Federal Republic of Germany: in average 3 million volumes of each. However, their compositon was different, because in the GDR acquisition policy had been directed toward purchasting books published mostly in the GDR and other socialist countries; these books made about 80 percent of the library holdings, and the rest was of western origin. After Germany's reunification, the modernization of library collections became necessary within the frame of the comprehensive transformation of the university system. A working group was set up in the year of reunification which defined the current and retrospective development needs of library holdings and the desirable extent of their growth, based on the Bavarian budget model adopted in 1989. After this transformation a substantial development of university libraries of the new Federal States has been succeeded to accomplish, characterized by a budget for new acqusitions of DM 6 million in 1994.