Reading pleasure under the glass roof

Lectures are nothing unusual for professors at any university, they are routine - a home game. But when Ralf Brugbauer, Director of the University of Bayreuth’s library, recently invited seven professors and the Vice President for Research at the University of Bayreuth, Professor Thomas Scheibel, as part of the "Night of the Libraries" (motto: "Knowledge. Share. Discover" - initiated by the German Library Association) for a joint reading in the pop-up cultural centre in Opernstraße, there was a certain tension in the air. After all, the format: "The President and his seven faculties - a night of reading" was not a home game for all participants, but new territory. And what's more, it was a contribution that went along perfectly with the university's 50th anniversary, which is being celebrated this year with a host of different events.

It was Brugbauer himself who made this tension disappear within minutes. His witty and knowledgeable introduction, combined with a cold drink or two, the feel-good atmosphere of the beautifully decorated Kulturquartier and a wealth of inspiring literature and perhaps 70 or 80 good-humoured visitors, created a wonderful atmosphere.

And then it was the professors' turn. They sat on the stage, well-lit and easy to understand. All they had in front of them was water and a literary work that they had chosen themselves. Prof. Dr. Thomas Scheibel, who was standing in for the University President Prof. Stefan Leible that evening, kicked things off. He read from the wonderful and very freely invented travel guide "Molwanien - Land des schadhaften Lächelns" by Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner & Rob Sitch. The university's reading night was not only academically serious, it was also full of humour. Kai Purnhagen, Professor of Food Law, picked up the humorous thread when he read from "Doctor Murke's Collected Silence" by Heinrich Böll. He was followed by Volker Ulm, Professor of Mathematics and its Didactics. He read from the book "Rechenschwäche in der Sekundarstufe", which he wrote together with Annalisa Steinecke. In it, the two describe dyscalculia as a serious disability and use an interview to give an example of how a person with dyscalculia navigates everyday life. The last contribution before the break was made by Stefan Schuster, Professor of Animal Physiology. Through a short story from "The Voice of the Dolphins" by Leo Szilard, Stefan Schuster gave a voice to an outstanding (and little-known) scientist of the 20th century.