Through the kind support of the Ambassador of the Republic of Austria to Malta, Her Excellency Erika Bernhard, the Department of German has received two book donations with the aim of establishing an ‘Austrian Library’ (Österreich-Bibliothek) as part of the German Language Resource Centre.
‘Austrian Libraries’ are a project funded by the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs currently consisting of 65 libraries in 28 countries. More information on the ‘Österreich-Bibliotheken’ can be found .
In this context, another book donation has also reached the Department from the Ministry for Social Affairs and Culture in Liechtenstein. This will constitute a ‘Liechtenstein shelf’ as part of the Austrian Library.
The official opening of the Austrian Library Malta was held on Thursday, 7 March with the participation of the Austrian Ambassador as well as the Rector, Prof. Alfred J. Vella, the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Prof. Dominic Fenech, the Director of Library ¸£ÀûÔÚÏßÃâ·Ñ, Mr Kevin Ellul and the Deputy Director of the International Office, Ms Victoria Gauci.
The book collection of the Austrian Library, including the Liechtenstein shelf, offers resources on a diverse spectrum of cultural, historical and regional topics with reference to Austria and Liechtenstein. It includes selected literary works in the original as well as research literature in the fields of literary and cultural studies.
Planned activities of the Austrian Library include:
- the organisation of readings in the context of the Malta Book Festival (past readings: Marie Gamillscheg in 2022, Barbi Marković in 2023) as well as
- the ongoing cultural and academic exchange between the countries, for example as part of the participation in an ERASMUS+ funded 'Blended Intensive Programme’ (BIP) at the University of Ljubljana on Austrian-Slovenian Places of remembrance (2024).
