Organization and staff

Within the Bundestag Administration, the Library is part of the Documentation Directorate, which, in turn, is part of the Reference and Research Services Directorate-General.

In addition to the management, the Library is divided into four sections: Collection Development I, Collection Development II, Indexing and Documentation, and the Information and Reference Service.

Collection Development I is responsible for the collections which the Library of the German Bundestag receives by legal deposit, on the basis of an exchange of publications or as a deposit library.

Collection Development II deals with publications which the Library purchases, acquires as donations, or receives on the basis of an exchange.

The Indexing and Documentation Section is responsible for indexing monographs and literature which is not published as bibliographically independent works. A substantial amount of work is also involved in maintaining the thesaurus and the authority files, such as the authority file for corporate names and the authority file for persons. The staff of this section in the higher career range are also responsible for subject cataloguing the publications. The section is also responsible for compiling major subject-related bibliographies, for example on areas dealt with by study commissions, and on all current political issues. It is increasingly involved in indexing Internet texts and building up the electronic library.

The Information and Reference Service is responsible for assisting users with information and literature searches and answering specific enquiries. This often takes place through an in-depth discussion with the user. The provision of information also extends to compiling bibliographies or dossiers of material on the specified subject areas. In addition, information on suggested reading on current issues is posted on the Intranet.

The Bundestag Library currently has 84.5 permanent positions. These positions are occupied by staff from four career ranges. The 13.5 members of the higher service have a university education, while the 30.5 members of the higher intermediate service have polytechnic qualifications. The 30,5 staff of the intermediate service include librarians in the intermediate career range but also non-librarians such as the master bookbinder, who is the head of the Bundestag's bookbinding service, and the head of stacks. The 10 members of the ordinary service are skilled craftsmen and stack assistants.

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