Library Stamps

Stadtbibliothek Werder (Havel), (Germany)

Situated in one of the growing cities around Berlin (Germany) (the so called “speckgürtel”, exurbs), Werder (at the Havel) is place to now 25.000 people and a public library, which moved to a floor in a new building right around the city center. The stamp consists of the whole adress, including the telefon-number (but not the homepage). I really like the call number which is written way more…

Temagami is a settlement with less than 1000 inhabitants in the middle of Ontario, Canada, surrounded by lakes and woods. But still with post office, local stores and a – not so small – public library. The stamp of this library is rather simple, just the name in a simple font, all caps. At least until some years, the library used date due slips (printed not in Canada, but the US).

Schulbibliothekarische Arbeitsstelle Frankfurt am Main [1] (Frankfurt, Germany)

This is amazing: The “Schulbibliothekarische Arbeitsstelle Frankfurt am Main” (school-librarian department Frankfurt am Main) in Germany is a departement, situated in the public library of the city, charged with the task to support every school library in the city (more than 200 schools, not all with a library). On thing the department does is purchasing the books the schools have selected, then…

This (older) stamp by the university library of Basel, Switzerland, uses an traditional style for library stamps, the circle with the name of the library as corona, but with noticeable graphic elements. The center of the stamp is taken by the logo of the city and canton of Basel (as well as the canton of Baselland), an stylized crosier of a bishop. The institutional name (university library) is…

Art Gallery of Ontario, Reference Library (Toronto, Canada)

The Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, Canada, maintains a reference library (including an artists archive) as well, which is open to the public. The library uses this simple stamp, quite often with an ink (as here) which does not fit well with the special paper used in art publications.   The stamp itself is a circle, highlighting not the name of the Gallery (which is used as corona), but of the…

Ullstein GmbH Archiv u Bibliothek (Berlin, Germany)

Ullstein is one of the most important publishing houses in german history. Founded in 1877 it played an important role in the newspaper-market in the early 20th century, and as a modern publishing house of fiction for the mass market. (The house still exists today, but not with the same relevance.) There was also an “archive and library” (Archiv u. Bibliothek), were this book stood ones,…

Bibliothèques Publiques Annecy (Annecy, France)

Annecy is a small (50.000 inhabitants) village in the far east of France, near Switzerland and Italy; it’s public library is placed in a distinctively 70/80s-french socialdemocratic-urbanisation scheme building, with serveral floors and quite a lot of space, which is used very extensive by the inhabitants. The library stamp, however, points to a very restrained and lucid style. It’s just the name…

Kantonsbibliothek Baselland, Liestal (Switzerland)

The “Kantonsbibliothek Baselland” – state library of the canton of Basel-Country (which is not the city of Basel, but a canton in its own right) – uses the official emblem of it’s canton. However, in this stamp the emblem isn’t the center, but seems to be surrounded by the margin. This margin looks like a ring, that encloses the emblem itself. The name of the library seems more important than the…

Zürcher Hochschule Winterthur, 1905 (Switzerland)

The “Zürcher Hochschule Winterthur” existed as University of Applied Sciences only from 1998 until 2007, when it was merged with three other institutions into the “Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandete Wissenschaften”, i.e. the combined University of Applied Sciences of the swiss canton of Zürich. This canton includes more cities and villiages than the city of Zurich alone, first of all the city of…

Vadianische Bibliothek, St. Gallen (Switzerland)

Vadian (Joachim Vadian or Joachim von Watt) was a historic figure from the late 15. and early 16. century who acted as a doctor, scholar and major of the city of St. Gall. He also led the conversation of the city from Catholicism to Protestantism (in the interpretation of Zwingli). Besides that, he is claimed as the founder of the library in St. Gall, which is now the cantonal library (under the…

Université Louis-Pasteur, Service Commun de Documentation (France)

Until it merged with the second universities in Strasbourg (being Marc Bloch University and Robert Schuhman University) into one University of Strasbourg in 2009, the ULP (Université Louis Pasteur) was the first Univeristy in the city, tracing itself back to the german speaking univeristy of the city, founded in 1538. This is a library stamp – today books with the stamp can be found in the…

Bibliothèque Nationale et Universitaire Strasbourg (France)

The Bibliothèque Nationale et Universitaire Strasbourg is at the same time state library for the alsace region (and the second biggest library in the country) and library of the university of Strasbourg itself. The library is housed in different building – one in late 19 century fashion, representing the (then ruling) german state and its culture, one in the 1970s building of the former Robert…