Check It Out: Berlin gets a new Library

Check it out! At Berlin's new library, Humboldt University's Jakob-und-Wilhelm-Grimm-Zentrum, you can do so  -- literally.

At last Berlin has a library that matches the standards of public and university libraries in most world cities. The average university library in Germany has tended to be faintly depressing: bicycle-cluttered entrances, dreary coin-operated lockers (mostly malfunctioning), disheveled lounge areas and grubby vending machines, cranky photocopiers, even crankier librarians, and uncomfortable, elbow-rubbing work spaces.

The Grimm Zentrum is an entirely new ball game.

Photo: Stefan Müller

Open for business at the start of the Winter Semester, the library throws open its doors to the public today for an Open Day. The new building replaces the old main library and twelve branch libraries of the Humboldt University, covering the humanities, economics, social and cultural sciences. Spiffy new technology allows you to check out and return books, and access all the information you need electronically.

If  the first few weeks are anything to go by, today should be a knockout success. The maximum capacity of 5000 visitors daily has already been reached. According to Olaf Eigenbrodt in administrative services, this is more than the number of visitors all the former branch libraries of Humboldt University combined received in a week!

Photo: Stefan Müller

Much of the Grimm Zentrum's success has to do with its architecture and interior design, conceived by the Swiss architect Max Dudler. It most unique feature is the main reading rooms, which Dudler has constructed as suspended galleries from each of the five floors above the central area. The combination of warm, dark cherry wood and cool, elegant glass creates an aesthetically pleasing atmosphere in which to work. From the reading rooms you look out over at the stacks on either side as through a wooden lattice work.

Every architectural and design detail has been carefully considered. The long rectangular shapes of the windows are repeated in the open wood panels on either side of the reading rooms as well as in the table tops (green linoleum, reminiscent of panes of frosted glass), and even in the rectangular shape of the lamps with their transparent shades. Very classy!

If, for a moment, your mind wanders from the book in front of you, you might catch sight of the S-Bahn swooshing silently by.


The Grimm Zentrum ls located in the S-Bahn viaduct right next to the S and U Friedrichstrasse station. Its holdings include 1. 5 million books in stacks, and a further 1 million books in storage. There are 1250 work spaces, many equipped with computers and Internet access. Currently open every weekday from 8 AM to 12 midnight, on weekends from 10 AM to 6 PM.