Thorsten Meyer elected to the Federal Board of the German Library Association
Kiel/Hamburg, 20 May 2025: The Chief Librarian of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, Thorsten Meyer, has been elected to the Federal Board of the German Library Association (dbv). As a representative of academic libraries, he wants to work to strengthen open science, digital participation and the strategic development of library services. His focus is on his vision of a networked, open and innovative library world.
Libraries today are caught between the poles of social transformation, digital change and growing political relevance. The German Library Association (dbv) unites over 8,000 public and academic libraries in Germany and represents their interests in politics and society. Thorsten Meyer, Chief Librarian and member of the three-member Board of Directors of the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, is a distinguished representative of the academic library landscape and joins the Federal Board of the German Library Association.
The new Federal Executive Board is made up of six elected members - three from public libraries and three from academic libraries. Antje Theise, Director of Rostock University Library, will chair the board. The board's term of office runs until 2028.
As part of his election, Thorsten Meyer emphasised the increasing importance of library institutions as interface players: "Libraries are more than ever required to make access to knowledge open, transparent and participatory. Open science, digital participation and the responsible use of AI tools are at the centre of my work. I want to contribute to the further development of libraries as shaping players in an open knowledge society - together and in the strong network of the dbv."
As Chief Librarian on the ZBW management team, Thorsten Meyer is responsible for all library matters as well as strategic issues such as personnel development and strategic personnel management. His work is strongly networked both nationally and internationally: he is a member of the Board of Directors of the Open Library Foundation and the Council of the European Business School Librarians' Group (EBSLG), of which he was President from 2011 to 2014 and has been Treasurer since 2018. He has also been involved in the LIBER network, particularly in the areas of digital skills and open science. Thorsten Meyer is also involved in library networks in Germany and is in favour of a cooperative, future-oriented understanding of scientific infrastructures.
About the German Library Association:
The central concern of the German Library Association (dbv) is to strengthen libraries so that they provide all citizens with free access to information. The association is committed to the development of innovative library services for science and society. As a political lobby group, the dbv supports libraries in particular in the fields of information literacy and media education, reading promotion and in enabling cultural and social participation for all citizens.
