12.3 Million Books as a Magazine
As an institution of the Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz, the Berlin State Library is a comprehensive repository of knowledge. As a historical institution with over 300 years of history, it collects literature from all scientific fields, languages and countries. So how do you design a book about 12.3 million books? Answer: You don’t. The content is so diverse that no format would be appropriate. But there are also books about the sun, outer space and artificial intelligence. ...so why not?
Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin
12.3 Million Books as a Magazine
2020
But only if you take the heaviness out of it. So, as with our work on the new concept for the annual report of the Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz, we have developed a journal together with the Stabi team. The publication is part of the overarching “Stabi 2030” strategy and is an agile communication tool for annual reporting.
“In short texts, interviews, images and some key figures, we accompany the gradual transformation of the library into an increasingly digitally oriented infrastructure institution supported by numerous people and skills, which consciously relies on broad participation and an entrepreneurial culture of doing,” writes Director General Prof. Dr. Achim Bonte in the foreword.
In keeping with the theme of AI, the editorial design is equipped with an AI-generated headline font. The origin of the font and technological progress in one. Just right for a magazine that is the blink of an eye compared to the 364-year history of the company and yet provides a deep insight into all of the library’s current developments:
Text recognition with artificial intelligence, AI-driven layout analysis,
automated recognition of historical manuscripts, colonial history and digital collections, the Stabi Kulturwerk with its exhibitions, interaction with the User Council, the acquisition of spectacular research collections, discussions with colleagues.
(c) Photo reading room: Gunnar Klack
