Media boxes – the modern way to borrow media

The DNB has restructuring its service desk at both locations. Media boxes have been installed, allowing users to independently remove, store, and return ordered analog media. These media boxes are a real innovation!

Users can return borrowed media to their box themselves and access them again and again using their user card. People with walking disabilities are automatically assigned boxes at a medium height that they can easily reach. For large quantities of media that do not fit into a compartment, there are additional “cages” with book trolleys that work on the same principle as the compartments. Newspapers are placed in special newspaper compartments. And the facility is large – nowhere else, not even at the packing stations of shipping service providers, is there such a large number of compartments within a single facility.

The software for the boxes was developed specifically for the DNB in close cooperation between the two locations, subjected to extensive testing, and revised. User feedback was also taken into account: as part of a user experience measure, 10 users at each location tested the media box pilot systems. In addition, various internal information events were offered and employees from almost all organisational units received shoulder-looks or training. To ensure that the media boxes can be used optimally, the DNB has also produced an instruction video and set up information terminals at both locations that explain how the media boxes work.

Instruction video media boxes (subtitles available in English)

Renovation with monument protection

Photo: DNB, Annett Koschnick

The media boxes are not the only renovation measure in Leipzig. The humanities reading room has also been renovated: in addition to energy-efficient refurbishment of the windows and a new ventilation system with heat recovery, the wooden surfaces of the shelves, stairs, and paneling have been restored. The reading room tables and chairs have been refurbished. The historic reading workstations from 1916 are now equipped with power outlets, for example, to enable contemporary working. As this is a historic reading room, all work was carried out in consultation with the historic preservation authorities.

Dust protection or work of art?

Photo: DNB, Josephine Kreutzer

In Frankfurt, a large protective wall separated the construction site from the reading rooms. To make the construction phase more pleasant for users, it was decorated with a large graffiti mural by artist Moritz Florschütz from October 2024.

The fifth extension – who has the best design?

The DNB is not only becoming more modern, it is also growing, because every year, around 3.3 kilometres of new stock are added per location. It is therefore obvious that the stacks will also have to be expanded gradually. In Leipzig, the time has now come: the fifth extension can go ahead – a pure repository building designed to provide sufficient space for all new additions over the next 30 years.

The architecture competition is open!

Photo: DNB, Johanna Baschke

To decide which architectural firm will realise the construction, an international architecture competition was held between April and September 2024, in which 20 architectural firms participated. After the award ceremony on September 10, all designs were on display for around two weeks as part of an exhibition at the Leipzig site. A total of three prizes were awarded, as well as two commendations for remarkable partial achievements. First prize went to the Dresden-based architectural firm Code Unique, which was also awarded the contract for the construction in January 2025 following a tender process. Construction is expected to start at the end of 2026. The magazine building is scheduled for completion in 2030.

Why did this design win?

Illustration: CODE UNIQUE Architekten GmbH, Dresden

For three reasons, explains Director General Frank Scholze. Firstly, the design fits in particularly well with the overall ensemble, which is already architectural history – from the original building in 1916 to the last extension in 2011. Secondly, the design is very efficient in its use of space and, thirdly, it is climate-stable – aspects that are extremely important for a magazine building. The compact building will later be designed to maintain as constant a temperature and humidity as possible.