7th International Bielefeld Conference 2004: “Thinking beyond digital libraries – designing the information strategy for the next decade”

Date01 December 2004
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/07378830410570458
Pages347-354
Published date01 December 2004
AuthorRegina Goldschmitt
Subject MatterInformation & knowledge management,Library & information science
7th International
Bielefeld Conference
2004: “Thinking beyond
digital libraries
designing the
information strategy for
the next decade”
Regina Goldschmitt
The author
Regina Goldschmitt is Head of Library, Max Planck Institute for
Research on Collective Goods, Bonn, Germany.
Keywords
Germany, Research libraries, Internet, Publishing
Abstract
From 3-5 February 2004, the Bielefeld University Library in
Germany was host to the 7th International Bielefeld Conference,
“Thinking beyond digital libraries – designing the information
strategy for the next decade”. Main themes to the conference
were the strategic positioning and future direction of research
libraries and their institutions that will lead to e-scholarship. The
agenda included: new challenges and services of academic
libraries: scholarly publishing and the implication on future
strategies for scholars, libraries and publishers; the potential of
search engine technology for digital libraries; and next
generation scholarly information portals. In the excellent talks
from experts from all around the world, stimulus was provided to
integrate the theories and information presented and discussed
into everyday practices and routine business.
Electronic access
The Emerald Research Register for this journal is
available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is
available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0737-8831.htm
Introduction
From 3-5 February 2004, Bielefeld University
Library in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, was
host to the 7th International Bielefeld Conference,
“Thinking beyond digital libraries – designing the
information strategy for the next decade”[1]. The
Conference was a continuation of the
well-known Bielefeld Colloquia, which has been
meeting every two years since 1992 with the aim of
discussing innovative technologies, products and
technical services for library, information and
communication sciences.
The 7th Bielefeld Conference, which was also
the first for the new Director of Bielefeld
University Library, Dr Norbert Lossau,
maintained the traditional technical focus of the
Colloquium, while placing more emphasis on
research libraries. The Program Committee was
fortunate to include Reg Carr (Oxford University
Libraries) and Hans Geleijnse (University of
Tilburg), who contributed greatly to the
international profile of the event. Prominent
speakers from Great Britain, the USA, Australia,
Norway, the Netherlands and Germany gave
mostly English-language talks about their
experiences both in academia and business, and
took part in open discussions with almost 500
delegates from over 30 countries.
Positioning research libraries strategically
There were several main themes to the conference.
Primarily it was concerned with the strategic
positioning and future direction of research
libraries and their dependant institutes of Higher
Education. Profiles are built by concentrating on
customers and new services something which is
closely connected to the electronic publication of
research papers, access to and networked use of
online resources, and the dissemination of
information technology skills. The presenters
threw light on the technical, social, economic and
political aspects of this during the conference.
The profile of an institution of higher education,
and its attraction for both students and academics,
depends greatly on the information services it is
able to offer in the area of research. Here libraries
can take on an active roll in creating excellence in
universities. The future importance of a library will
be measured by the benefits it can offer its users.
Traditional services such as the acquisition,
preparation and provision of information are
Library Hi Tech
Volume 22 · Number 4 · 2004 · pp.347-354
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited · ISSN 0737-8831
DOI 10.1108/07378830410570458
Received: 19 March 2004
Revised: 9 June 2004
Accepted: 10 June 2004
347

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