Looking out for your future – working on behalf of our business partners, the community and the environment

It is our stated aim to maintain our strong market position as a successful company – that’s something we are working on round the clock, seven days a week. And here at Libri we have a tradition of taking our social responsibility very seriously too, as reflected by our action in three core areas: professional training and development, encouraging children to read, and the environment.

Professional training and development

We decided to mark our 75th anniversary in 2003 by setting up the "Kolleg75" training initiative for retail booksellers who run their own shops. The aim of the event was to share concepts, encouragement and ideas that will inject innovation as those in our industry shape the market. More than 650 booksellers took up our invitation. This popular project, now in its fourth year and named "LibriCampus", is held in conjunction with the BuchmarktFORUM series of conferences.  Issues and challenges relevant to the industry are discussed in seminars and workshops involving experts from the book trade as well as creative minds from other sectors. The event takes place every summer at our Logistics Centre in Bad Hersfeld. Both admission and the supporting programme are free of charge – Libri is happy to invest in long-term partnerships and in the future viability of its customers.

Encouraging reading

Helping safeguard the future of the book trade by encouraging children and young people to read is a big priority for Libri. We are currently supporting the "LeseZeit" ("Time for Reading") project run by BürgerStiftung Hamburg, a community foundation: voluntary readers visit venues such as children’s day-care facilities and youth centres, so that the children who spend their afternoons there can have the world of books opened up to them through reading, storytelling and play.

The concept of "Harry & Pooh", which arose from a business partnership of long standing between Libri and the Leanders Leseladen store in Heidelberg, has gone down very well in the book trade since its introduction a number of years ago. This scheme to encourage young readers has three main components: a trade catalogue listing favourite titles, entitled "Harry & Pooh – Leanders Lieblinge at Libri", Libri’s seminars for booksellers, and the "Heidelberger Leander" book award, presented annually by bookseller Gabriele Hoffmann to outstanding authors for children and young people.

Environmentally conscious logistics

Libri does not shirk its responsibility to protect the environment: this issue is factored in when it comes to making corporate decisions. One example is our reusable plastic container for storage and shipping, introduced as long ago as 1993. At a stroke this does away with the need for disposal and the associated logistical requirements: some 1.5 tonnes of packaging waste are saved daily, cutting costs and reducing the environmental burden. The Libri container has become established as the industry standard.