The foreign languages collection building in public libraries : the German example

The foreign languages collection building - topical question at the time of the construction of Europe - comes up against a certain number of problems, such as selection and document processing. The German libraries give a good learning experience in that field. Since the beginning of the 70s, public German libraries have got in their collections foreign languages and literature. Initially turned towards expelled minorities, the social plan marks time now, but the foreign languages collection building goes on in classical languages, such as English and French. Two kinds of answers have been worked out : centralisation of bibliographic information, thanks to readers specialized in foreign languages, and cooperation. Bilateral cooperation - with foreign Institutes for example - is not inconsiderable, but more institutionalized exchanges could be usefully considered.
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