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A position paper on the topic of freedom of expression and the right to access political, ideological, and religious literature in libraries is presented.

The article discusses a November 2008 further education conference at the Carl von Ossietzky Provincial and University Library in Hamburg, Germany on the theme "So That Paper Persists... Experiences With Mass Deacidification." The rationale, methodology, scope, and evaluated results of paper deacidification projects in various German libraries were reviewed.

The article announces that a position paper on library legislation was developed during the membership meeting of the Borromäusverein e.V. on September 13, 2007. In particular, the paper addresses issues pertaining to library standards and legislation. Additionally, the topic of church and library work in Germany is addressed in the paper.

From 2012 at the latest, the Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Medizin (ZB MED, German central library for medicine) has been under massive pressure to change from a rather classic specialist library to a legally independent institution engaged much more in research. The goals are to fit its service offers to the new information needs and to distinguish itself by university co-operations and research and development in order to remain a competitive supplier of specialist information. In this paper, the project 'Strategic and re-organizational process ZB MED' ensuing from the above is described, experiences are discussed and commonly useful 'lessons learned' regarding change processes in libraries are obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the application of copyright and licensing law to electronic books in Germany and its implications for German libraries. Differences in the German legal code surrounding the lending of books published on paper or CD-ROM with electronic books are compared by members of the Deutscher Bibliotheksverband library association of Germany and the influence of book publishers on libraries' lending practices is criticized.

400 lectures and company presentations as well as 150 exhibitors formed the technical framework for the 101st German Librarians’ Day in Hamburg in May 2012. Whether e-books, Discovery Services, Patron Driven Acquisition, or the latest offers of service partner, the rich palette of topics offered something for each of the more than 4,500 information professionals. This paper provides a summary of the professional part and let some of the participants report on what personal benefits they draw from “Librarians’ Day”. Due to the technical orientation, a summary of the rich entertainment program was intentionally left out here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on ".hist2011 - Geschichte im digitalen Wandel," a conference that focused on the use of digital media in historical studies that took place in Berlin, Germany from September 14-15, 2011. Papers presented at the conference discussed topics such as digital libraries with historical sources on World War I, how German libraries are using bibliographic data for shared cataloging, and why certain standards need to be created for historical research data.

The article discusses a paper entitled "Creative Content in a European Digital Single Market" that proposes a number of solutions toward a unified European policy on copyrights and digital reproduction rights for libraries. The German Library Association e.V., however, expressed regret on the report's strong focus on the economic interests of several market participants rather than on the consuming public readership.

The German Bundestag set up a Study Commission on „Culture in Germany", which presented its final results by December 2007. The areas on which the Commission focused include the tasks and the financing of public libraries. The paper discusses the implementation of the recommendations of the Commission from a political point of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting from the changing role of the user in information systems in the Web 2.0 this paper critically questions the concept of information literacy. Five theses on information literacy 2.0 as well as suggestions for further reading offer the possibility to change the perspective of the view on information literacy predominating in German libraries in the direction of a more holistic view of information and learning processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports selected results of an empirical study where library executives from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, as well as from Great Britain and the USA, were consulted with respect to the future of the library system. The latter two countries were selected since they are frequently considered in international comparisons because of their model fonction. Apart from the evaluation of the current country-specific situation, the judgment of alternative future scenarios regarding their probability of occurrence constituted the main focus of this questioning. The concurrences and differences resulting from the individual estimates can be helpful when carrying out strategic planning in the German library system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This report informs about the activities of the consortium of regional libraries (AG Regionalbibliotheken) within section 4 of the German Library Association (dbv) in the years 2013 and 2014. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A call for papers is presented for the 6th Congress of the Berufsverbands Information Bibliothek commission to be held in Leipzig, Germany from March 14-17, 2016.

The article focuses on a conference held by the working group "BID AG Bibliothek 2012" on October 5, 2007 in Bremen, Germany in which the social and political role of libraries was discussed. Additionally, standards and laws for libraries in Germany were considered. The working group resolved to draft a strategy paper that will focus on "Bibliothek 2007."