The University and State Library Darmstadt ( (ULB)) supplies literature and information for members of the Technische Universität Darmstadt and the population of Darmstadt and southern Hesse. Its purposes include education, research, and teaching. , the library has a stock of 4,756,277 publications with an annual circulation of 302,200; ULB has 220,000 visitors and employs a staff of 103.66 FTE. The ULB offers learning rooms and spaces for over 1000 people at three locations. Director is Thomas Stäcker. ULB Darmstadt is member of the (hebis).
The library's basis was the book collection of George I, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1567, the year the landgrave moved to Darmstadt. In 1595, the collection comprised 750 works. The was located in the Residential Palace Darmstadt (). Louis VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt acquired the library of the Hanau Privy Councilor Johann Michael Moscherosch (1601âÂÂ1669) with 2300 books, which was placed in the (bell building), part of the . The first librarian took office in 1692. Louis I, Grand Duke of Hesse (1753âÂÂ1830), with his passion for collecting, promoted the library (1789: 16,000 volumes). During secularization in 1803, libraries of the Benedictines in Seligenstadt, the Dominicans in Wimpfen, the Capuchins in Bensheim and Dieburg and the Carmelites in Hirschhorn were brought to Darmstadt. A substantial addition in 1805 was the collection of Cologne's Baron von Hüpsch (1750âÂÂ1805). In 1834, under Louis II, Grand Duke of Hesse, the library moved to the new Baroque part (De-la-Fosse-Bau) of the . It was the ninth largest library of the German empire in 1902, grown to 564,000 volumes in 1914 and named in 1920. In the During the fire night (Brandnacht) on 11 to 12 September 1944 the library in the was partly destroyed and the majority of the books were burned. In 1948, the institution was merged with the former library to the .
After its integration into the Technische Universität Darmstadt in 2000, it received its new name in 2004. In 2012, ULB Darmstadt moved to a new building.
The building, designed by the architecture firm Bär, Stadelmann, Stöcker Architekten BDA, opened on 12 November 2012.
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