LIBRARY SERVICE IN GERMAN TEACHER TRAINING INSTITUTIONS: CASE STUDIES OF ERLANGEN, FRG, AND ERFURT, GDR

The purpose of this study was to investigate the policies and procedures of selected education libraries in the two German states and to describe collection development, instruction in library use, and reference and information service in libraries serving German teacher training institutions.; The education libraries studied were the library of the teachers college in Erfurt, German Democratic Republic (GDR), the central library of the Friedrich-Alexander University in Erlangen, Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), and the education branch library in Nurnberg, FRG.; In the area of collection development, German education librarians decide how they will divide acquisitions funds for scholarly and practical school literature, for monographic titles and serial subscriptions, for German-language and foreign language materials, and for single copies of many titles or multiple copies of fewer titles. Neither the teachers college library in Erfurt nor the education branch library in Nurnberg has a written collection development policy. The central university library in Erlangen is the national subject specialty library for educational research materials and follows a detailed collection development plan which is a model for library networks.; Instruction in library use is mandated by a Ministry-level regulation in the GDR, and the objectives, content, and methods employed in Erfurt provide exemplars from which much can be learned Library education in Erlangen and Nurnberg is accorded a somewhat lower priority than in Erfurt but is regarded as a multi-faceted undertaking which involves the use of detailed library guides, elaborate sign systems, and library tours as well as formal classroom instruction.; Reference and information service in Erfurt is provided primarily by subject specialists, members of academic departments, whose work is coordinated and supervised by a professional librarian. In Erlangen and Nurnberg, reference and information service is the responsibility of professionally trained librarians. Computer literature searching as a component of reference service has commenced in the libraries in Erlangen and Nurnberg but not in the Erfurt library.