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The Library of the Medical Association (BÄV) celebrates its 200th anniversary this year. Founded as the library of Hamburg’s first club for doctors, it is now run under the auspices of the German Medical Council of Hamburg (ÄKHH). The library supports the reading needs of Hamburg‘s doctors, its students, researchers, and other readers, and provides a wide range of services, while also preserving an extensive and unique collection on medical history.
The »Doctors‘ Association of Hamburg« was founded on January 2, 1816, as the third such association in the German Empire – after Lübeck (1809) and Berlin (1810). The goals of these clubs, which arose in numerous cities of Germany at the beginning of the 19th century, consisted of facilitating exchanges through lectures and reports on medical ca- ses, the provision of specialist literature th- rough a library, the support of professional re- lationships, and the pursuit of charitable endeavors. The library was planned around the needs of the club‘s members and guests, but was also intended to raise the prestige of the club within the city and within the medical world abroad. In the first decades, half of the members‘ dues was devoted to the acquisition of the latest books and journals as well as the purchase of significant works of medical history. Hence, the library was a costly undertaking, but it was also »one of, if not, in fact, the central source of the club‘s identity«.
In subsequent years the library collection continued to grow as constantly as the numbers of members. The so-called reading-room was also a meeting-place for the members, who often brought along guests from outside Hamburg, where they could join in informal discussions or play a game of chess.