University Library

Our university library: The Commerzbibliothek

History:

The Commerzbibliothek is one of the oldest economics libraries in the world. It was founded on 26 January 1735 by the Commerzdeputation, a representative body elected from among Hamburg businessmen since 1665. When the Commerzdeputation was renamed Handelskammer’(Chamber of Commerce) on 1 January 1867, the library retained its original name. It was established with the aim of collecting and making available to the public the literature necessary for the training of wholesalers and overseas traders, thus expanding the knowledge of merchants and promoting trade. In addition, a collection of maps and nautical instruments, as well as domestic and foreign measurements and weights was started.
 
To prevent the books from being stolen, ex-libris were affixed as from 1748 and they indicate today the oldest volumes. As from 1765, the books were also stamped on the cover after many copies started disappearing. The first printed catalogue appeared in 1750 and listed 1158 volumes. By the Second World War, the Commerzbibliothek had grown to about 188,000 volumes. In the air raids on Hamburg in 1943, 92% of the books were lost in the flames: 4,000 general volumes, 120,000 legal, political and scientific volumes, 17,000 historical volumes and 33,000 geographical volumes. The only things saved were the approx. 14,000 volumes which had been evacuated, incunabula, 16th century works, rare titles in the fields of law and economics, works relating to Hamburg, periodicals, atlases and newspapers. After two moves and evacuations during the Second World War, the library was again istalled in the building of the Chamber of Commerce, the Hamburg Stock Exchange. In the catastrophic flood of 1962, the warehouse of the Commerzbibliothek was also under water and a number of books, especially the historical ones, suffered considerable damage. While the losses were compensated for with new purchases and the library was greatly extended, the historical stock remained reduced.

The Commerzbibliothek currently has 167,000 volumes, from the following areas: economics and social sciences; commercial, tax and economic law; arbitration, foreign law, all areas of the EU internal market; labour and social law; environmental questions; politics and history; training and further education; statistical overviews; company reports; corporate commemorative volumes; and subscriptions to 600 newspapers and magazines.
 

The Commerzbiblitohek as a library for the HSBA:

The Commerzbibliothek in the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce is the university library of the HSBA. It ensures that students have teaching material which is scientifically up-to-date and can be applied in the modern business world.

In the library reading room, students have access to approx. 8,000 volumes to which they can refer. As well as reference works, there are commentaries and collections of decisions, the most important daily and weekly newspapers and selected magazines. Furthermore, students can access in 10 to 15 minutes the complete stock of 167,000 volumes stored in the Commerzbibliothek – including the old historical books – since the warehouse is linked to the lending service of the library. In the area of electronic media, the university library offers 380 online magazines and more than 350 CDs/DVDs. There are subscriptions to 560 specialist journals.

Throughout the whole building of the HSBA students are able to access online the specialist literature of our university library via a WLAN connection. Access is guaranteed for all students around the clock via the online catalogue.