In 1793 he joined the
Benedictine monastery in
Weißenohe, where he was ordained in 1795. In 1800 he became the monastery's librarian. In 1802 shortly before the closing of the monastery he went to Munich where he worked for the Royal Library (now the
Bavarian State Library). He assumed the titles of curator (Kustos) in 1806 and in 1823 Under-librarian. In 1839, while still retaining his position as librarian, he was installed as a Canon at Munich's St. Kajetan.
Schrettinger is regarded as the founder of modern
library science and was the first person to use the term. He created a catalog of all the library's holdings divided into subjects and sub-subjects. He cross-referenced these through an alphabetic catalog of authors and a catalog of locations within a library where books were shelved. In 1819 he began a classified catalog (Realkatalog), which itself is sometimes consulted by modern librarians and remains unfinished.
Writings
Versuch eines vollständigen Lehrbuches der Bibliothek-Wissenschaft oder Anleitung zur vollkommenen Geschäftsführung eines Bibliothekärs. Volume 1 (Sections 1-3): 1808-1810; Volume 2 (Section 4): 1829.
Handbuch der Bibliothek-Wissenschaft. Vienna 1834. Reproduced by Weidmann, Hildesheim 2003.
ISBN3-615-00277-6
The
Bavarian State Library contains Schrettinger's journals from 1793–1850 and a handwritten autobiography.
Wilhelm Bäumker: Schrettinger, Martin. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, vol. 32. Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1891, p. 491 (
online).
Uwe Jochum: Bibliotheken und Bibliothekare 1800-1900. Königshausen und Neumann, Würzburg 1991.
ISBN3-88479-599-6
Annemarie Kaindl: Martin Schrettinger zu Bau und Organisation der königlichen Hof- und Centralbibliothek. In: Bibliotheksforum Bayern, Jg. 14, 2020, Heft 1, p. 25–29 (
online).
Stephan Kellner: Schrettinger, Martin. In: Neue Deutsche Biographie, vol. 23. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2007, p. 545 sq. (
online).
Manfred Knedlik: Martin Schrettinger, In: Literaturportal Bayern. (
online)
Manfred Knedlik: Wegbereiter eines modernen Bibliotheksmanagements. Martin Schrettinger (1772–1851). In: Bibliotheksmagazin, 2022, Heft 2, S. 9–13 (
online).
Alois Schmid: Martin Schrettinger aus Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz. In: Jahresbericht des Historischen Vereins für Neumarkt i.d. Opf. und Umgebung 22, 1999, p. 139–162.