The City Council met: Another appeal from Leipzig City Council not to block the construction of the new National Library + Video

In fact, Leipzig City Council had already sent a clear signal back in March against the plans of Wolfram Weimer, Germany’s State Secretary for Culture, to simply scrap the fifth extension to the German National Library in Leipzig. Even though it is urgently needed to house the books of the next 30 years. Weimer’s announcement sparked fierce protests even before the Leipzig Book Fair.

But the BSW parliamentary group felt that the issue could not be raised often enough on the agenda and tabled a motion: “Leipzig must remain the City of Books”.

Leipzig City Council has, of course, no influence over this. But if Leipzig and Dresden once again make it clear that scrapping the extension is simply counterproductive, this will also put pressure on the Bundestag and the governing parties, stressed BSW parliamentary group leader Eric Recke, who has also been a member of the State Parliament since January, having taken over from Sabine Zimmermann, and who is seeking support for a similar motion in the Saxon State Parliament.

Even if it is merely an appeal to a federal government that is currently taking a ‘lawnmower approach’ across all ministries, cutting projects that have been in the planning stage for years – such as the fifth extension to the German National Library in Leipzig. Seven million euros have already been spent on the planning. Construction was actually due to take place between 2027 and 2032.

But the State Secretary for Culture, who is clearly in over his depth, simply brushed aside the 100 million euros in investment costs required for the project. And caused consternation throughout the entire book world. Does this man simply want to bring the history of the German Library/German National Library in Leipzig to an end?

Frankfurt, the DNB’s other site, would not be able to accommodate the books for the next 30 years, according to Recke. But Weimer’s strange notion that the books could simply be collected digitally is just as ill-considered.

Leipzig is already taking action

But the whole affair is, in fact, already a matter of administrative action, as the Department of Culture noted in its statement.

“The new extension is crucial if Leipzig is to fulfil its role as a central hub for the long-term preservation of cultural heritage. The existing storage space will reach capacity by 2027/28 at the latest. Without the extension, there will be no room for new publications. A purely digital collection cannot fully represent the cultural heritage, as printed works continue to play a central role and make up the majority of the market. Furthermore, digitisation also requires considerable investment in technology, infrastructure and staff,” the statement reads.

“The implementation of the project is currently being debated in parliament at federal level as part of the ongoing budgetary process. The Lord Mayor and the Councillor for Culture will continue to advocate for its realisation and will also closely monitor the planned reform of the German National Library Act (DNBG) through the committees of the German Association of Cities.”

There was therefore no need for a further call from the City Council, as the BSW group had formulated in its motion: “The City Council calls on the Lord Mayor to urge the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, Wolfram Weimer, to ensure that the extension to the German National Library in Leipzig is implemented as planned and to actively advocate for its funding.”

Left Party city councillor Mandy Gehrt subsequently noted that this wording was more than unfortunate. This was because the BSW group had drafted a warning stating that “the law governing the German National Library should be curtailed in such a way that either only one printed copy of each publication – instead of the two previously stipulated by law – or only digital copies are collected.”

“Since when do we pass warnings?” Gehrt asked, quite rightly. A city councillor formulates demands. This was a point that Eric Recke subsequently accepted. The appeal was then reworded accordingly and adopted. By a majority. With the exception of one political group, which voted against it.