How to organise the digital library: reengineering and change management in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich
| Published date | 01 December 2004 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/07378830410570449 |
| Date | 01 December 2004 |
| Pages | 340-346 |
| Author | Hildegard Schäffler |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
How to organise the
digital library:
reengineering and
change management in
the Bayerische
Staatsbibliothek, Munich
Hildegard Scha
¨ffler
The author
Hildegard Scha
¨ffler is Head of Serials and Electronic Media,
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Mu
¨nchen, Germany.
Keywords
Digital libraries, Change management, Technical services,
Germany
Abstract
The introduction of digital resources has not only had
considerable impact on the role of libraries in the information
society, but it has also had a remarkable effect on back office
procedures, i.e. on the way the library is organised. This article
presents a case study of a reengineering process at the
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (Bavarian State Library) in Munich,
Germany, the central regional library of the State of Bavaria and
one of the largest academic research libraries in Europe with
local, regional and supraregional responsibilities. Due to the
multiple roles of this library, it was particularly important not
only to bridge the gap between traditional and new material, but
also to create a flexible organisational platform for the various
tasks at the different levels indicated.
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Introduction
The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (Bavarian State
Library) was founded in 1558 as a court library,
and is a special kind of academic library with local,
regional and supraregional responsibilities for
supplying literature as well as broader issues of
librarianship. Its extensive holdings comprise
nearly 8 million volumes, 40,000 current print
serials, 5,100 electronic journals, 87,000
manuscripts, 18,700 incunabula and millions of
units of other material. Its current acquisitions
policy focuses on the humanities, the social
sciences and, as far as the journals are concerned,
the life sciences, as well as on the enhancement of
its rare printed books and special collections.
Apart from being a public academic research
library for Munich, it is the central regional library
of Bavaria, and holds the legal deposit right as well
as serves an archival function. It also houses the
head office of the Bavarian Library Network and
acts as a consulting office for all matters of
librarianship in Bavaria. At a supraregional level,
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek participates in the
national literature supply scheme of the Deutsche
Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research
Council) for history, classical antiquity,
musicology as well as Eastern European history
and culture. It also functions as an international
research library because of its special collections,
renowned manuscripts and rare printed books.
Due to its extensive periodicals holdings, it also
plays a significant role as a document supply centre
(Jahn et al., 1997).
The introduction of digital resources has
affected our institution at a number of different
levels. Locally, the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
provides its own patrons with licensed electronic
media within the scope of its acquisition profile.
Regionally, it has been commissioned by the
Bavarian state university libraries to negotiate
consortium deals for electronic journals and
databases on their behalf, for which some central
government funding has been available since the
year 2000. The national literature supply scheme
implies negotiating supraregional access to
licensed digital resources in our areas of collection
responsibility. Apart from licensing electronic
media, our library set up a digitisation centre in
1997, funded by the Deutsche
Forschungsgemeinschaft, in order to gain
experience in creating its own digital products.
Future challenges include issues of long-term
preservation with the extension of our traditional
archival function into the digital world, the
Library Hi Tech
Volume 22 · Number 4 · 2004 · pp.340-346
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited · ISSN 0737-8831
DOI 10.1108/07378830410570449
Received: 20 March 2004
Revised: 18 May 2004
Accepted: 11 July 2004
340
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