For the very first time, the following article traces the founding motives, structures and developments
of the Austrian Association for Librarianship (Österreichischer Verein für Bibliothekswesen, ÖVB), from its founding in 1896 to its liquidation in May 1919. Through the establishment of what became the oldest library association in continental Europe, librarians tried to address library-policy matters and education-policy targets. At the same time, the association tried to include as many bibliophile-minded parties as possible for the whole Habsburg empire as well as to support the development and reassessment of librarianship overall. The association can be seen as the predecessor of the Association of Austrian Librarians (Vereinigung Österreichischer Bibliothekarinnen und Bibliothekare, VÖB), founded in 1946. The article is based on an analysis of archival materials, especially those in the association’s archive.