The Staatsbibliothek Bamberg is the regional library for the district of Upper Franconia and, with holdings exceeding half a million volumes, one of the large heritage institutions in Bavaria. Founded as a result of the Bavarian secularisation in 1803, the library combines the book collections of the dissolved monasteries and collegiate churches in the bishopric of Bamberg and of the older university of Bamberg. The collections grow continuously, as the library holds the copyright for the region of Upper Franconia and acquires current publications particularly in the humanities. Access for the general public for purposes of study, research, work and education is free.
The international importance of the collection of c. 1000 mediaeval manuscripts has been underlined by the inclusion of three codices in UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme. They form part of a group of 165 manuscripts in the Staatsbibliothek which came to Bamberg when emperor Henry II (died 1024) founded the bishopric. The manuscripts, the c. 3.500 incunabula and the substantial holdings of prints and drawings are successively being catalogued in depth and digitised. Many of them have already been made accessible online via www.bamberger-schaetze.de.