Hans Petschar, Ph.D., (Science focus) studied History and German Literature at the University of Salzburg. He has published in the fields of Visual History, Public History, Library History and Contemporary Austrian History and lectured at the Universities of Salzburg and Vienna. Since 2002 he is director of the Picture Archives and Graphics Department at the Austrian National Library. He is the representative of the Austrian National Library at the Board of Directors of European National Librarians. At the Austrian National Library Hans Petschar curated several annual exhibitions: “Alpha & Omega” (2000), “The Young Republic”.(2005), “Old-Austria. Peoples and Lands of the Habsburg Empire” (2011), “Night over Austria” (2013). Currently Hans Petschar is directing two research projects funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FW) on the history of the private library of the Austria-Hungary’s ruling dynasty Habsburg-Lothringen from 1780 – 1835 and from 1835 – 1821.
While the first project focuses on the origins of the Habsburg library the second project concentrates on the transition of the private library of the Habsburgs into a memory space for the Austrian Empire and its ruling dynasty with close relations to the major political, social and cultural events from the beginning of the Austrian Empire (1804) until the demise of Austria-Hungary at the end of the First World War.
(Library focus) Dr. Hans Petschar obtained in 1985 a master in History and German Literature at the University of Salzburg. During his studies he worked in research projects on semiotics and linguistics at the universities of Salzburg and Paris. From 1986 on he worked in several departments at the Austrian National Library and obtained a MAS on Library Science in 1992. At the Austrian National Library he led several research projects on digitisation of Cultural Heritage. In 2002 he became director of the Austrian Picture Archives and Graphics Department at the Austrian National Library. Dr. Petschar lectured at the Universities of Salzburg and Vienna and led several research projects of the Austrian Academy of Science and the Austrian Ministry of Culture, Education and Science and the Austrian Science Fund. He is the representative of the Austrian National Library at the Board of Directors of European National Librarians. He curated several annual exhibitions at the Austrian National Library, e.g. “Alpha & Omega” (2000), “The Young Republic”.(2005), “Old-Austria. Peoples and Lands of the Habsburg Empire” (2011), “Night over Austria” (2013).