Tentative agenda - Spring 1999 meeting
We will first meet on Sunday at 3 pm. at the new university library. It will be a good idea if we met about 20 minutes beforehand at the entrance of the Werner Schule, and we can walk over to the library together. The library is normally closed at this time, but someone will be there to let us in. As with most university libraries in Germany, the Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen is a number of academic libraries under one administration (though the university also possesses a number of larger departmental libraries that are not under university library administration). In addition to being the main academic library of the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, it is also the state library of Lower Saxony.
The striking new library was built in the 1980s, and the modern exterior is predominantly of glass. Representing the primary user library of the university, the building includes administration and most user services, the Göttinger Digitalisierungszentrum (GDZ), as well as the administration of the Gemeinsame Bibliotheksverbund (GBV). Sunday afternoon will be devoted to touring the library, as well as a walking tour of the historical center of the city, which is rich in academic history. After the walking tour we will meet in a local restaurant, where we will eat and informally discuss the upcoming meetings with German participants.
Monday morning will be devoted to working visits of the original library in the city center, which is now devoted to special collections and rare research materials. We will then walk over to the SUB and visit the GDZ, where we will discuss digital library developments both in Germany and in the GDZ, one of two primary digitization centers in the country (the other is in Münich).
After a working lunch the meeting participants will break up into the three working groups focusing on the familiar topics of document delivery, digital libraries, and collection development/bibliographic control. In addition to those attending last summer's meeting at the Library of Congress, Dr. Mittler has invited librarians from a number of participating subito libraries. Because of differing administrative and organizational structures, it is not always easy for German librarians to break free from their work to attend meetings (for more information on German librarianship, see the Website for the Verein Deutscher Bibliothekare). At the 'break-out' meetings the German Resources Project working group leaders will present the agendas that they have worked out with their corresponding working groups over the past several weeks. These agendas will then be discussed among the participants and
Monday evening will be taken up by a formal dinner, which will include all invited participants. On Tuesday morning the day will begin with a plenary session that will include a visit and a few words of greeting by the president of the university, Horst Kern. Presentations will be followed with summary presentations by the working group leaders on the meetings of the previous day. Time will be provided for further discussion of these meetings, and plenary group will agree on a list of action items to follow up over the coming months.
