News from the library world

In 2013, libraries in Germany started running makerspaces for creative projects. Has the concept stood the test of time?

For Latvia, digitisation means more than just an economic opportunity. It also enables them to preserve the rich cultural heritage of this Baltic state and make it available to everyone online.

False reports on the Internet are having an ever greater effect on political attitudes and thus endangering democratic processes. In the battle against fake news it is libraries in particular that can play an important role.

Up to now, e-books could not be lent by libraries as are printed books because they do not fall under the lending right. This could change after the ruling of the European Court of Justice, says the librarian and jurist Gabriele Beger.

Data librarian, media manager and agent of integration: the remit of a librarian is more multifarious than ever. With such different demands, can the librarian still have a unified professional profile at all?

Any item published in Germany must be sent to the German National Library. Since 2006 this has also applied to publications on the internet. Yet this is still problematic, says jurist and librarian Eric Steinhauer.

 

Computer and online games are now available in a large number of German libraries. To what extent can they be used as a learning tool in the development of information literacy?

From the classic guided tour to the virtual paper chase – to arouse the interest of the users in their collections and provide a contemporary learning environment, more and more libraries are relying these days on digital tools.

We are running the risk of losing a part of our computer games heritage forever, because data storage devices and consoles are getting old. This is where libraries and museums can step in to relieve the situation.

Digitalization puts libraries, museums and archives before new challenges. In order to preserve our cultural heritage, we need new strategies, says the jurist Paul Klimpel.

Publication fees are climbing and the changeover of scientific and scholarly articles to Open Access is still proceeding slowly. Angela Holzer of the German Research Foundation (DFG) explains why Open Access is nevertheless worth the effort.  

Six German libraries set up a dedicated database that would allow them to combine research into looted cultural assets in their collections. Tracking down the previous owners requires some serious detective work.

The licensing of electronic media still confronts academic libraries with major challenges. These are easier to cope with when the libraries are organized in an alliance, yet a satisfactory solution is still not in sight.

Events, social media services and makerspaces: Claudia Büchel, Director of the Hilden City Library, explains in an interview how even smaller libraries can implement targeted marketing.

The digitalisation has changed our approach to research and publishing. However, this often conflicts with licensing and copyright restrictions. Academic libraries such as the Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften have to do something about this, but how?

With eight thousand libraries, ranging from small local branches right up to the country’s national library, the German library system is impressive for its diversity. All the same, tight budgets and a lack of national structures are making their presence felt.

The advance of digitalisation has changed our approach to research and publishing. However, this often conflicts with licensing and copyright restrictions. Academic libraries such as the ZBW (German Library of Economics) have to do something about this.

At the Game Science Centre in Berlin, visitors can take a look at the future and try out what will be shaping our everyday lives in the years to come – for example, virtual reality. The new technologies are also interesting for libraries.

In the picturesque Blutenburg Castle in Munich resides the world’s largest library for international children’s and youth literature. But it is anything but a dreamy castle of books.

Navigation systems for enclosed spaces are becoming increasingly common. Visitors to libraries and museums can use them to find their way round and to access location-based information.

In March 2016 a new Open Access Initiative was launched, to ensure that scientific literature is available online free of charge. Frank Sander, Head of the Max Planck Digital Library, explains the objectives of OA 2020 in this interview.

Nothing has made a bigger difference in writer Hatice Akyün’s life than the Duisburg Book Bus. Now she has met its inventor. By Hatice Akyün

Libraries have enormous collections of data storage media. The aim of the EMiL project is to ensure that they can still be accessed even after decades of technical progress. Tobias Steinke and Nathalie Lubetzki, both working at the German National Library, explain how this will be achieved.

It is not only in digital libraries that the treasures which await their users often lie hidden. Professor Marian Dörk explains how visualizations can help make holdings more visible.

In this interview Dirk Wissen talks about how the services and products available at libraries can be presented more effectively as part of a city's educational and cultural scene.

The Technical University of Applied Sciences in Hamburg has carried out a study on the promotion of reading in libraries. An interview about reading motivation and reading performance.

Hackathons and Makerspaces are the products of a new participation culture on the library scene.

Coworking spaces are said to be pioneering new ways of transferring knowledge and collaborative working. To what extent, however, can libraries benefit from this approach?

In libraries knowledge and things have been exchanged from time immemorial. They are part of the share economy, even if many are unaware of this. But the “sharing” trend places libraries before a new challenge.

Since 2006 the Zentral- und Landesbibliothek Berlin has been organising a series of readings in sign language. It is the only library event of its kind in the whole of Germany.

More and more libraries are coming to rely on radio chips to manage their holdings and to improve service to readers. How much potential really lies in this technology?

How can digital media be researched and accessed in libraries? An interview with Harald Reiterer from the University of Constance.

Freely accessible teaching materials are considered to be one of today’s most important trends in the field of educational policy. It is also a trend in which research libraries could play a key role.

Three library associations are working at the moment on a project to develop a new cataloguing environment. Thorsten Koch of the Zuse Institute Berlin (ZIB) sheds some light here on the challenges.

Above all the research libraries themselves are becoming more and more active in the field of publishing. The way has been paved for this by the ongoing process of digitalisation that has opened up new vistas for the publishers.

“JournalTouch”, the display of electronic journals, transfers an analogue library service to the digital world. This is how the digital content presents itself “tangibly” in the reading room.

Can libraries be used outside normal opening hours? With the “Open Library” concept it is possible. In Germany a pilot project has been in operation in Hamburg since December 2014. The model may serve as inspiration for similar projects across the country.

Libraries are places where people can seek advice and meet others. The digital services are also intended to reach out to children and young people who would otherwise be unlikely to visit a library.

Library collections in big cities rotate freely from one branch to another. Hamburg’s Bücherhallen are trialling the “floating collections”, the first library in Germany to do so.

Arriving in a new country with a different culture and language confronts all refugees with a challenge. To make their arrival easier, libraries in Germany offer many different services and so contribute to a culture of welcoming.

Apps for mobile phones not  only open up the  stocks of libraries. For quite some time now the apps available offer much more than a mere presentation of the books they have on their shelves.

How can you get the maximum out of a minimum of space? An interview with Jana Binder, the head of the Goethe-Institut in Bratislava, about the modernisation of the library at her institute.

Since 2013 the special library ZBW has been advertising its online service with an innovative campaign. An interview with its Head of Marketing and Public Relations, Doreen Siegfried.

Goethe.de talked to Kirsten Marschall, in charge of quality assurance at Bücherhallen Hamburg (Hamburg’s central library), about the latest trends and future developments in libraries.

As a cultural asset, computer games have found their way into libraries. Increasingly, libraries are presenting themselves as play places. Does the future lie in the “gamification” of library use?

Electronic information technology is changing the way knowledge is accessed, and indeed is changing knowledge itself. Internet expert Dr Hans G. Zeger explains the role libraries can play here.

Digitalisation is drastically changing communication in research and publishing processes. How scientific libraries are supporting this development is explained here by Lambert Heller.

The experiences have all been very positive and show that libraries and the Do-it-yourself Movement indeed go together very well.

At its World Congress 2014, the IFLA adopted the “Lyon Declaration”. Goethe.de spoke with Barbara Lison about the goals, background and opportunities of the initiative.

All over the world impressive library buildings are having an invigorating effect on urban areas. In many places they have been used as an anchor point for the urban development of districts.

Memory organizations must preserve a growing number and wide range of digital objects. This puts libraries, archives and museums before considerable challenges.

The German library community is impressively represented at this year’s 80th IFLA World Library and Information Congress in Lyon. And there are good reasons for this.

Libraries of course are all about books and other media. There is, however, more to them than that. In some European countries the focus is more on the user and his interests and needs.

Summer time, holiday season, time for reading. The good weather, however, lures few people into libraries. So some libraries have come up with special offers for readers in summer.

In the form of social reading, the reading circle of yesteryear is enjoying a renaissance on the Web. This development has also consequences for the work of libraries.

“Germany needs a national digitalization strategy”, urges the German Library Association. Its chairman, Frank Simon-Ritz, explains why this is so.

The Saxon Regional Library-State and University Library in Dresden has developed a novel and convenient catalogue search. Achim Bonte explains the advantages of SLUBsemantics.

Due to the ongoing process of digitalisation public libraries are being faced with new challenges. They are now reacting to the ever-changing needs of information-seekers with various ranges of e-learning programs.

The ongoing virtualization of library holdings calls for new forms of presentation and communication.

One in five Europeans has problems understanding the world of words around them. The European Literacy Policy Network now intends to devise models to promote successful reading and writing in all age groups.

In our interview, Adrian Pohl outlines the opportunities which arise when bibliographic data are made openly and freely available. At the central university library of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

The new programme of the German Research Foundation supports the development of modern information services. Christoph Kümmel explains the development plan.

Onleihe (i.e., online + on loan), the leading digital platform of libraries in Germany, is facing a multitude of challenges. Jörg Meyer explains the biggest ones.

For many years now libraries have focused on the needs and wishes of their users. Web 2.0 is now providing users with a fast and simple opportunity to have a say and take part in decision making.

How secure are the data of library users? In the professional scene a critical discussion continues on the cooperation between libraries and IT companies.

A project for the century has become visible: after a one-and-a-half year pilot phase, the first expansion stage of the German Digital Library will go online in 2014.

400,000 objects from European national libraries and archives now form part of the virtual collection in one of Europeana’s thematic portals.

Culture and knowledge without borders: the portal Europeana.eu enables free access to digitalized objects from Europe’s libraries, archives and museums.

Architecturally speaking, Stuttgart’s new city library is a real eye-catcher. More importantly it is a striking endorsement in an era of digitization of the physical – as opposed to the virtual – library.

Starting 2012, the German Digital Library is to be filled with content. This is one of the reasons why Germany needs a digitization strategy, explains Ute Schwens.

Because libraries are increasingly seen as centres of lifelong learning, the importance of library pedagogy is also growing. An interview with Kerstin Keller-Loibl.

As guardians of freedom of information, libraries generate transparency and in doing so support the battle against corruption, explains Hermann Rösch.

Hamburg’s University of Applied Sciences has conducted a “milieu study” of Bremen City Library users. It provides a valid basis for gearing the services and products the library offers more precisely.

By 2010 at the latest, librarians had developed a huge appetite for new formats: both in the area of continuing education and, more generally, for professional events.

Around 11,000 libraries in Germany, all with their own specialist areas and target groups, ensure that access to information and knowledge is as barrier-free as possible.

How do libraries handle cases of plagiarism, and what contribution can they make to preventing the practice? An interview with Dr Arne Upmeier.

Five libraries and four schools in Oldenburg are taking systematic steps to improve reading skills and information literacy among pupils – accompanying them throughout their school careers.

No-cost access to digital media any time, anywhere – that’s the idea behind online lending. More than 300 libraries in Germany are already offering this Internet-based service. The way forward, or a bit of technical tomfoolery?

The German Digital Library, the project of the century that is to make Germany’s cultural heritage freely accessible to everyone, is gradually taking concrete shape.

On 16 and 17 March 2012, around 200 librarians and knowledge managers from Germany, Austria and Switzerland met in Cologne to attend the 5th BibCamp, a symposium with lively discussion.

Since 1991, Stiftung Lesen has awarded its “AusLese” prize in recognition of outstanding initiatives that promote reading. “AusLese 2011” prize-winners exhibit an enticing blend of wit and commitment.

Since 2010, libraries, archives and museums in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern have been involved in a joint pilot project, laying the foundations for a digital library.

A lot of libraries in Germany are run by one librarian. Jürgen Plieninger of the German Association of Information and Library Professionals reports on the difficulties and opportunities that this entails.

Buchkinder Leipzig (i.e. Leipzig book children) is an island for unheard stories – a concept which has now been adapted all over Germany.

A new coordination office coordinates Germany-wide activities aimed at preserving written cultural heritage and prepares a national concept for its protection.

School libraries play a central role in teaching information literacy, yet are attributed hardly any importance in German educational policy. Goethe.de talked to Julia Rittel.

Library and information science is far from being an established discipline at German universities – but appears to have good chances of success in the field of interdisciplinary research.

Active citizenship is becoming increasingly important in our ageing society. Libraries are also offering senior citizens a wide variety of opportunities to undertake voluntary work.

More than 100 buses and lorries can be seen chugging around suburbs and rural areas throughout Germany, bringing library services to people living far away from the nearest city or local library.

WorldCat is the world’s largest library catalogue. This central database contains information about printed and digital publications in more than 470 languages. A portrait of an extraordinary research and cataloguing tool.

B3Kat, the union catalogue of the Bavarian Library Network and the Cooperative Library Network Berlin-Brandenburg, contains descriptions of more than 23 million media and is available in the form of linked open data.

Library users increasingly expect online library services also to be optimized for mobile access. This requires a considerable investment which, however, provides opportunities.

The library of Wildau Technical University of Applied Sciences is developing technologies of the future for its users. It has now received the “Library of the Year 2012” award for its innovative spirit.

The copyright legislation is making it increasingly difficult for libraries to fulfil their mandates. Arne Upmeier believes in clear applicable regulations.

Even in today’s digital age, libraries are losing none of their appeal, finding themselves in more demand than ever as pleasant, inspiring and communicative places in which to learn and research.

It is good for children when they read a lot and actually enjoy it. But how can we get them to read? What influence can parents have? Find out in this evaluation of the situation.

Publishers may refuse licenses to libraries for e-books. A Europe-wide campaign is making people aware of this deplorable state of affairs.

Museums and archives are rethinking their handling of the cultural heritage in the digital age.

Given the rapid pace of technological change, the long-term preservation of digital objects requires constant attention. The nestor network is gathering the requisite expertise all over Germany.

In 2007, the first German libraries launched the “Onleihe” lending system. Today, it is almost impossible to imagine any big city library not offering the service nowadays.

Lernwelten Hamburg, a portal run by the city’s school library centre, provides a clear overview of the wide range of educational and learning services at Hamburg’s Bücherhallen libraries.

Libraries in Germany are lending out more e-books than ever before – Goethe.de talked about this development to Frank Simon-Ritz.

In 2012, the share of total sales of German publishers accounted for by eBooks reached 9.5 percent. Steffen Meier explains the developments on the eBook market.

Steffen Wawra, chairman of the Bavarian Library Network’s Virtual Library Commission explains how libraries are preparing themselves for the future.

Like other academic libraries, Mannheim University Library has since 2010 been trialling a form of acquisition in which the user plays a key role. Dr Annette Klein explains the opportunities.

The print culture is being increasingly abandoned in some branches of academia. Stefan Gradmann outlines the future of academic publishing.

An international symposium behind bars: librarians from six countries came to Münster prison to discuss the limitations and future prospects of prison library work.

Five experts offer an answer to the question of what libraries will look like in future and what roles and challenges lie ahead for them.

Works whose right holders cannot be contacted pose serious obstacles when setting up digital libraries. An interview with Dr Arne Upmeier of the German Library Association.