Culture Minister Wolfram Weimer advocates opening public libraries on Sundays and holidays. He seeks to adjust labor laws to facilitate access to education regardless of working hours. He made this statement on Library Day.
On the occasion of Germany's nationwide Library Day, Culture Minister Wolfram Weimer (independent) called for creating the labor law foundations to open public libraries on Sundays and holidays. "I am committed to ensuring that the labor law foundations for opening public libraries on Sundays and holidays are established," Weimer stated. The aim is to provide many people with expanded access to education and information, independent of working hours and life realities.
In an era of increasing digitalization, libraries hold special importance according to Weimer. With their broad media offerings, they support "the freedom of information as a key foundation for democracy and diversity of opinion, against fake news and historical revisionism." The German Library Association, library representatives, and the German Association of Cities have long advocated for the right to Sunday openings. However, this is currently possible in almost no federal state. An exception is North Rhine-Westphalia, where the union ver.di sued against a state ordinance but lost at the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig.
A pilot project in Berlin offers extended opening hours at the Central Library of the Technical University and the University of the Arts. Operators report positive experiences; more than 6,000 visitors were counted on some days. The German National Library (DNB) plays a central role: As an archive library, it collects all media works published in Germany since 1913. At its locations in Frankfurt am Main and Leipzig, over 53 million objects are available, including books, newspapers, records, and digital archives. The Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media supports the DNB with around 57 million euros annually, plus 1.85 million euros for digital infrastructure this year.