Hof public library under new management

The Hof public library will have a new director from 1 October 2025: Claudia Dostler has been working in the field of culture for over 30 years and can look back on a remarkable and interesting career.

Dostler completed her degree in media and psychology at the University of Stuttgart. After a brief period at the Goethe Institute in Rome and at a Berlin publishing house, she worked for the Bayreuth City Library from 1992, from 2001 onwards as deputy director. Among other things, she was responsible for programme work and was also part of the planning team for the conception of the RW21 Bayreuth City Library.

In 2018, Claudia Dostler took over as Head of Ravensburg City Library and was also appointed Deputy Head of the Cultural Department in 2019. Over the years, she has acquired in-depth expertise in the organisational development of libraries - in terms of ideas, concepts, personnel, strategy and operations.

As head of a steering group consisting of urban planners, architects and cultural professionals, she succeeded in 2022 in acquiring millions in funding for Ravensburg's municipal library from the federal funding programme "National Urban Development Projects": The aim is to reorient the library as a so-called third place, as an open house for an open society and as a place of culture and education that creates identity.

Claudia Dostler was also appointed to the Baden-Württemberg Examination Board, the selection jury of Zeppelin University Friedrichshafen and the Federal Building Commission of the German Library Association. As a long-standing reviewer for the Lektoratskooperation in the fields of medicine, psychology and sport, Dostler has helped public libraries in Germany to build up their collections.

But she is not one to rest on her laurels: Claudia Dostler is now looking forward to bringing her expertise and experience to Hof. "Libraries are changing very quickly due to the digital revolution, they are becoming more and more open educational and recreational spaces. In Claudia Dostler, we have gained an experienced manager for our municipal library who has already successfully accompanied these structural transformations in Bayreuth and Ravensburg. We are looking forward to working with her," says Fabian Riemen, Head of the Cultural Department.

On the one hand, it is a return to her home in Franconia, to family and friends, and on the other, an exciting new beginning in a city that emphasises cultural education, actively shapes social change and offers a diverse cultural life.