HAIL TO THE CODEX!

Here is bliss for the rapacious reader: over 45 libraries around the city keep their doors open until midnight tonight, Wednesday, June 8, for a range of cultural events and, of course, unfettered focus.

Most of us experience the library in a limited way and for a limited time: we’ve all known the anxiety and rush to make the final check-out time so we can spend more time with that essential text. But thanks to an orchestra of city officials and institutions, we can peruse, pursue, and delve into as many books as desired until the clock tolls 24. And if that weren’t enough, the perennial bookworm can tear him- or herself away for a variety of readings, exhibitions, film screenings, and musical and theater performances.

Libraries in every district of the city are participating, thus inviting the traditional nighttime traversal of Berlin that evokes the Lange Nacht ethos. However, this event offers the possibility of blissfully staying put in order to enjoy the best of what your local library has to offer. More than 35 million books, audio books and e-books circulate through the Berlin Public Library system each year. I challenge all of us to beat that number tomorrow night.

Click to view: Full Map

For more information about participating libraries and the schedule of events, please visit the official website of the Lange Nacht der Bibliotheken: www.lange-nacht-der-bibliotheken.de

The first Lange Nacht der Bibliotheken is arranged by the Deutsche Bibliotheksverband e.V, Landesverband Berlin (dbv) Verein Deutscher Bibliothekare e. V, Regionalverband Berlin-Brandenburg (VDB) Berufsverband Information Bibliothek e.V, die Landesgruppe Berlin (BIB), and the Mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit.