News Release

DFG supports 21 new specialised information services

A total of 21.2 million euros for expansion of literature and information provision at research libraries / completion of restructuring of former special subject collections

Grant and Award Announcement

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) will fund another 21 specialised information services at research libraries. At its December meeting, the DFG's Joint Committee approved a total of 21.2 million euros in funding for the expansion of specialised literature and information services. The aim is to enhance the service function of libraries with respect to the German research community.

The new specialised information services will serve a wide spectrum of subject areas (humanities and social sciences, geosciences) as well as specific research regions. In contrast to the former 'special subject collections' at German libraries, the aim of specialised information services is not to assemble and archive as complete a collection of publications as possible, but to take into account the different research needs of individual disciplines, which is where additional services come into play.

DFG President Professor Dr. Peter Strohschneider emphasised one particular strength of the funding programme: "A modern, high-performance information infrastructure has to meet very different needs in terms of different disciplines as well as in practical terms. The current offering is very heterogeneous. The new specialised information services will make a valuable contribution in this regard, helping to ensure that in Germany, regardless of university location, scientists and academics have access to the information resources they need for top-level research."

The main additional feature of the specialised information services is the availability of research-relevant materials that do not come within the standard scope of a library collection - for example through a new kind of licence agreement which allows nationwide access to digital resources. It will also be possible to develop additional subject-specific services in close partnership with the research community.

Services geared specifically towards the needs of researchers include for example the continuation and further technical development of a German Historical Bibliography in the Specialised Information Service for History at the Bavarian State Library in Munich, implemented in cooperation with the library of the Deutsches Museum in Munich. As another example, as part of the Specialised Information Service for Cartography, the Berlin State Library is developing a new service to provide 'basic geodata' for research projects in various subjects. Finally, an example of a regionally oriented service is the Specialised Information Service for African Studies at the University Library Johann Christian Senckenberg in Frankfurt am Main, where the systematic acquisition of hard-to-access publications from African countries will be continued. The library also supports African research in the form of consulting services for a range of university institutes, some of which are very small.

Over the next three years, support will be given to develop the following specialised information services:

  • Specialised Information Service for African Studies, University Library Johann Christian Senckenberg, Frankfurt am Main
  • Specialised Information Service for General and Comparative Literature, University Library Johann Christian Senckenberg, Frankfurt am Main
  • Specialised Information Service for Classical and Ancient Studies -- Propylaeum, Heidelberg University Library and Bavarian State Library in Munich
  • Specialised Information Service for Anglo-American Culture, Göttingen State and University Library and Library of the J. F. Kennedy Institute at the Free University of Berlin
  • Specialised Information Service for Benelux/Low Country Studies, Universitäts --und Landesbibliothek Münster
  • Specialised Information Service CrossAsia -- Asia, Berlin State Library -- Prussian Cultural Heritage and Heidelberg University Library
  • Specialised Information Service for Solid Earth Geosciences -- Open Information Infrastructure for Solid Earth Geosciences, Göttingen State and University Library and German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam
  • Specialised Information Service for History, Bavarian State Library in Munich and Library of the Deutsches Museum in Munich
  • Specialised Information Service for Jewish Studies, University Library Johann Christian Senckenberg, Frankfurt am Main, and Media University, Stuttgart (Prof. Dr. Kai Eckert)
  • Specialised Information Service for Cartography and Basic Geodata, Berlin State Library -- Prussian Cultural Heritage
  • Specialised Information Service for Latin America, Caribbean and Latino Studies, Library of the Ibero-American Institute Berlin -- Prussian Cultural Heritage
  • Specialised Information Service for Mountains, Mining and Metallurgy, University Library of Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg
  • Specialised Information Service for Middle Eastern, North African and Islamic Studies, Universität -- und Landesbibliothek Halle/Saale
  • Specialised Information Service for Northern Europe, Kiel University Library
  • Specialised Information Service for Eastern, Eastern Central and Southeastern Europe, Bavarian State Library in Munich
  • Specialised Information Service for Political Science, State and University Library Bremen and GESIS -- Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Cologne (Dr. Philipp Mayr)
  • Specialised Information Service for Religious Studies, Tübingen University Library
  • Specialised Information Service for Romance Studies, Bonn University Library and Hamburg State and University Library
  • Specialised Information Service for Slavonic Studies, Berlin State Library -- Prussian Cultural Heritage
  • Specialised Information Service for Social and Cultural Anthropology, University Library of Humboldt University of Berlin
  • Specialised Information Service for Sociology, University and City Library of Cologne and GESIS -- Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Mannheim (Prof. Dr. Christof Wolf)

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The funding decision by the Joint Committee completes the three-year restructuring of the DFG-funded special subject collections. More than two thirds of the special subject collections, which had been supported for many years, have already found a continuation in the framework of a specialised information service. As of January 2016, 31 specialised information services are being developed. The funding programme is available as of 2016 to all libraries and research information institutions seeking to serve additional subject areas.

Further Information

More details are available on the DFG website at: http://www.dfg.de/en/research_funding/programmes/infrastructure/lis/funding_opportunities/informationservice_science/index.html

Media contact:

Dr. Rembert Unterstell
49-228-885-2275
presse@dfg.de
DFG Press and Public Relations

DFG Head Office contact:

Dr. Christoph Kümmel
49-228-885-2857
Christoph.Kuemmel@dfg.de
Scientific Library Services and Information Systems


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