International Youth Library Foundation

The International Youth Library Foundation is a public trust organization founded under civil law. It was registered in 1995 by publisher Christa Spangenberg (1928-2003).

The Foundation’s aim is to promote education and scholarship. Thus it supports individuals and institutions involved in circulating and working with children’s and youth literature, and helps to inspire parents and teachers and strengthen their appreciation for the value of children’s and young adult books. Within the purview of scholarship, it funds/facilitates research in the area of international youth literature.

The Foundation primarily puts its goals into practice through running the International Youth Library in Munich, whose operation it took over in 1996.

The International Youth Library fulfils its statutory tasks through the collection, cataloguing, and dissemination of children’s and youth literature from Germany and abroad as well as its commitment to the cultural education of young people and promotion of cross-cultural understanding.

An international board of trustees ensures that all operations are in line with the founder’s intentions. The foundation’s executive committee manages Foundation business and carries out the decisions of the board of trustees.