Lounge for sound and film archive in Saxony's state library

With a modern lounge, the Saxon State and University Library (SLUB) is now making its audiovisual holdings more accessible to everyone - both analog and digital. "Where long rows of audio media and small monitors used to dominate, there is now a structured space," said head of department André Eckardt at the opening on Tuesday.

The presentation is broken up with a curated selection from the rich CD and DVD collection, there are spacious places to listen and watch and "vinyl fans will also get their money's worth", said the head of department.

The SLUB preserves more than 200,000 audiovisual media in its collections, including "significant cultural heritage with great relevance for research", said Director General Karin Stump. This "treasure" has been made usable in a modern form, and with the new media library, the SLUB is consistently developing further "into a lively experience space with a high quality of stay" - for research, students and the general public.

In the GDR, it was a state collection site for music

One of the novelties is a digitization bar where records, VHS tapes and other media carriers can be digitized free of charge for private use - from wedding recordings of your own grandparents to historical city parades. There is a silent grand piano with headphones and selected sheet music. There is also free access to the Berlin Philharmonic's Digital Concert Hall, the Naxos Music Library and the SLUB's digitized historical sound and film recordings.

The first sound collection at the institution dates back to the 1930s; in the GDR it was a state collection site for music and from 1983 a phonotheque with its own location in a garrison church. Since 2003, this and the later film and video collection have been housed at the SLUB site.

The oldest recording in the media library dates from 1896, the most recent additions are unique tape recordings from the estates of Saxon composers as well as artistic and private film reels from the 1920s onwards. Its holdings document the musical history of Dresden, Saxony, Germany and the world - from the phonogram reel to the shellac record, the self-cut record, the vinyl record, the tape, the CD and DVD to the audio/video file.