The Dr. Friedrich Teßmann Library was founded by the provincial law No. 5 of 16 February 1982 and bears the name of the South Tyrolean jurist and politician Friedrich Teßmann (* 15 February 1884 on Castle “Schloss Korb” in Eppan; † 23 June 1958).
In 1957, Dr. Friedrich Teßmann donated his private collection consisting above all of Tyrolean literature (about 12.000 volumes and over 1000 images), to the Austrian Academy of Sciences. The condition was that the collection must be made accessible to the public in Bozen and expanded constantly with relevant new publications.
The Austrian Academy of Sciences assigned the administration and the maintenance of the Teßmann collection to the South Tyrolean cultural institute “Südtiroler Kulturinstitut” that already held a small study library.

When the Dr. Friedrich Teßmann Library was built in 1982, the Südtiroler Kulturinstitut released its study library to the Teßmann Library.
The Academy gave the constantly growing Teßmann collection to the Teßmann Library as a permanent loan.

Today, the Dr. Friedrich Teßmann Library is South Tyrol’s biggest scientific general library. Both library collections are presented to the user as one unity.



Collection emphasis

The Dr. Friedrich Teßmann Library mainly collects German-language literature concerning different domains (except juvenile literature).

Tyrolean literature
The Dr. Friedrich Teßmann Library aims at exhaustively collecting literature that has been written by South Tyrolean authors, literature concerning South Tyrol and literature that has been published in South Tyrol. We also give a special importance to publications from the historic area of Tyrol.



Statistical data:

Library users (as of 31/12/2011): 35,290 registered readers (2,192 new registrations).
Circulation over the district libraries (as of 31/12/2011): 8,641 media.

History:

1957	Donation of Dr. Friedrich Teßmann’s private library; administered together with the study library of the Südtiroler Kulturinstitut (inauguration in 1958)
1982	Institution of the Dr. Friedrich Teßmann Library
1985	Moving in to the new building in A.-Diazstraße 8 (actual location)
1989	Circulation over the district libraries
1992	Start of computerized administration
1999	Web Opac and presence of the collection in the Austrian union catalogue “Verbundkatalog der Österreichischen Landesbibliotheken” www.landesbibliotheken.at
2002	20 anniversary of the Dr. Friedrich Teßmann Library
2003	Presence of our library’s collection in the union catalogue of Karlsruhe “Karlsruher Verbundkatalog” www.ubka.uni-karlsruhe.de/kvk.html
2007	Digital Newspaper Archive in the library’s intranet; User account (make reservations and renew the loan period online); 25 anniversary of the Dr. Friedrich Teßmann Library
2008	Accessions dispalyed on the homepage; Digital Newspaper Archive online; renovation of the reading room and the foyer; anniversary: 50 years "Teßmann library"
2009	Opening of the reading court; the district library San Durich participates in the loans with the Dr. Friedrich Teßmann Library; “Fit für die Facharbeit” (“Fit for your final project”): introduction in information literacy for school classes; portal 1809 (http://1809.tessmann.it)
2010	„Hör-Bar“: the Dr. Friedrich Teßmann Library participated in the annual book exposition in the „Waltherhaus“ at Bolzano and presented audiobooks; series of lectures about topics related to the language „Zur Wirklichkeit der Sprache“, further free talks and lectures; Biblio 24: the South Tyrol Online Library – presented by the Dr. Friedrich Teßmann Library and the trust Stiftung Südtiroler Sparkasse
2011	Development and rearrangement of the South Tyrolean interlibrary loan. In addition to eight district libraries, the Provincial Library delivers its media to the following libraries: Lana, Leifers (Library Don Bosco), Mals, Neumarkt (Library Endidae), Sand in Taufers and Toblach