Topic 1 – 175 Years The Administrative Library
Founding History
The Administrative Library was officially opened on January 14, 1850. The initiative to establish a library for the public administration originated with Count Franz Stadion, then Minister of the Interior in Prince Schwarzenberg's cabinet.
On April 18, 1849, Emperor Franz Joseph I personally signed a resolution approving "the establishment and maintenance of an administrative library at the Ministry of the Interior."
He appointed Constantin Wurzbach as librarian, assigning him an annual salary of 1,800 gulden (approximately € 41,750), along with a quarterly allowance of 300 gulden (approximately € 6,960 per year). The library was also granted an annual budget of 400 gulden (approximately € 9,280).
Constantin Wurzbach – the First Librarian
Constantin Wurzbach Ritter von Tannenberg was born in Ljubljana on April 11, 1818. After completing his education at the academic grammar school in Ljubljana, he went on to study law at the University of Graz. Upon graduating in 1837, he chose a military path, joining a Galician infantry regiment, while also beginning studies in philosophy.
In 1843, Wurzbach earned a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Lviv and accepted a position as a research assistant at the university library. It was in Lviv that he met Count Franz Stadion, the Governor of Galicia at the time.
In 1848, during the political upheaval of the March Revolution, Count Stadion dispatched Wurzbach to Vienna to report on the unfolding events. Stadion himself returned to Vienna in June of that year and was appointed Minister of the Interior and Education in the cabinet of Prince Felix of Schwarzenberg in October 1848.
In December, Stadion entrusted Wurzbach with a critical task:
"…to search for a"…to search for and collect materials required for legislation in earlier Austrian law and, where necessary, in foreign legislation as well (…) and to compile legislative negotiations into a systematically organized repository."
Wurzbach's Life's Work
As head librarian, Constantin Wurzbach authored the Instruction for the Library Service, a foundational document addressing personnel, structural, and organizational matters related to library administration. Beyond his contributions to librarianship, Wurzbach was also an accomplished writer and biographer.
His publication Bibliographisch-statistische Übersicht der Literatur des österreichischen Kaiserstaates (Bibliographical-Statistical Overview of the Literature of the Austrian Imperial State) laid the groundwork for literary statistics in Austria and received recognition at several international statistical congresses.
Wurzbach's most renowned achievement is the Biographical Dictionary of the Austrian Empire. Over the course of 35 years, he published 60 volumes containing a total of 24,254 biographies and 347 genealogical tables. This monumental work was supported by the Imperial Academy of Sciences, which subsidized the project with approximately 17,850 gulden – equivalent to roughly 170,000 Euro today.
In recognition of his literary accomplishments, Wurzbach was knighted in 1874. He passed away in 1893 at the age of 75.
Duties and Responsibilities of the Library
The Administrative Library is a specialized institution that primarily serves employees of the Austrian public administration. Its integration into the administrative framework ensures that its information resources and services can be seamlessly incorporated into everyday governmental workflows.
Since its inception, the library's central responsibility has been the collection of legislative documents. In line with an imperial directive, it gathered all books, pamphlets, newspapers, and other printed materials published during the revolutionary events of 1848 and 1849.
Organization of the Library – the Wurzbach Catalogue
The Administrative Library was originally structured into 2 departments: the book collection and the newspaper collection. Both were organized according to a system of subject-based shelf marks. Each book, journal, or newspaper was assigned a fixed location, indicated by a vignette bearing its designated shelf mark.
Cataloguing was conducted in 2 parallel systems: alphabetically and by subject. The cataloguing rules defined not only the content to appear on each catalogue card but also the precise sequence in which this information was presented. These handwritten cards were not bound but stored in individual cardboard boxes – known as "capsules" – arranged alphabetically by the author's surname. This method allowed for the straightforward insertion of new entries in correct alphabetical order.
Subject indexing was carried out via a dedicated subject catalogue. Books were assigned index terms based on their content, which were then entered on catalogue cards and sorted alphabetically for user access. The Wurzbach Keyword Catalogue, dating back to 1850, is regarded as a bibliographic rarity due to its comprehensive and systematic subject indexing.
From Press Act to Media Act
Since 1852, the Administrative Library has received one copy of every publication produced or printed in the Austrian Crown Lands and intended for sale, in accordance with the legal deposit requirement established by the Press Act (PreßG 1852, § 4).
During the First Republic, press legislation was reformed, and state control over the press was gradually relaxed (PreßG 1922, Federal Law Gazette No. 218/1922). For the first time, the Administrative Library – rather than the Federal Ministry of the Interior – was officially designated as the recipient of legal deposit copies, as outlined in the implementing decree of the 1922 Press Act (Federal Law Gazette No. 716/1922).
With the enactment of the Media Act in 1981 (MedienG 1981, Federal Law Gazette No. 314/1981), state monitoring of the press was effectively abolished. However, the legal obligation to submit or offer copies of all publications produced in Austria to designated libraries remains in force. This enduring practice has proven to be a valuable instrument in preserving the nation's cultural and intellectual heritage.