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On 23 September 2024, the Professional Conference of German Library Service Centres took place at the Görlitz Synagogue Cultural Forum.

Under the headline "Cooperation moves libraries", numerous best practice examples from libraries throughout Germany, Belgium and France were presented. We would like to thank all the speakers and the nearly 100 interested participants.

In the evening, the 110th anniversary of the Saxon State Library Service was celebrated with a ceremony. The State Library Service was founded in 1914 in Leipzig as the Reich's first ‘Central Office for Popular Librarianship’.

In his anniversary speech, former Federal President Joachim Gauck emphasised: "The commitment and work of the Saxon State Library Service is essential for our social coexistence. Libraries are much more than just places to borrow books. Our civil society needs institutions such as libraries. They are the memory of humanity and living places of the future. They are spaces for exchange and encounter, open to all, diverse and indispensable for freedom of thought."

Katrin Stump, Director General of SLUB Dresden, added: "The State Library Service makes an essential contribution to the future-oriented development of libraries as the most visited cultural institutions in the Free State. As SLUB, we will continue to support the State Library Service in its activities as best we can – whether with our expertise in digital information provision or with regard to modern spatial and technical equipment."

For us, the anniversary was also an opportunity to review our own history. In collaboration with historian Claudia Dietze, we produced the publication "Promoting and shaping? 110 years of State Library Service for public libraries in Saxony" (in German). The publication can be ordered free of charge from landesfachstelle@slub-dresden.de and is available in full text on the SLUB's Qucosa server.

Press release of the SLUB from 24.09.2024

Ceremonial address by Joachim Gauck

^{Images (except contribution Sachsen Fernsehen): © Paul Glaser}