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gitisation of damaged media, the migration of audio CDs and the
planning of further preventive stock preservation measures. During
the centenary year of the German National Library many were
reminded that the library has an astonishingly consistent history
of collecting, cataloguing, archiving publications and documents
and making them accessible to the public throughout all the major
political events and upheavals. The mandate and therefore also the
objectives of the German National Library have of course changed
repeatedly but these were adjustments of an evolutionary nature to
new – above all technical – realities and also expansions such as
the addition of sound recordings in the 1970s and online publi-
cations in 2006. The priority throughout has been on continuity
and consistency.
Although there can be no doubt that this tradition will continue in
the coming years and that the mandate given to the library upon
its founding remains as relevant as ever today, a revolutionary
new element has recently emerged. It is becoming increasingly evi-
dent that the scope of the works we collect needs to be analysed and
reconsidered, allowing informed decisions to be made on whether
new types of media should be incorporated or not. Many types of
publication are now being issued which are not analogous to any
known existing media forms and the comparability of which is
not evident at frst – or even second glance. The digital revolution
is giving rise to more than just electronic books, journals, news-
papers, digital sheet music and music fles. The Internet is a dynamic
medium and it increasingly contains elements which are oriented
towards interacting or transacting with a designated community.
In the future, the services which encourage their users to interact
with them will enjoy the greatest success.
In the foreseeable future we will know how to handle digital media
which are issued as equivalents in some form to printed media or
other carriers. This will allow us to concentrate on the new and
complex tasks which also form part of our collection mandate. If
we wish to continue being able to fulfl this task successfully, we
will have to keep pace with a publication market which is mov-
ing towards transaction- and interaction-driven media products.
Naturally we must not – and have no desire to – regard these new
aspects from an ivory tower, rather we must approach them in col-
laboration with the publishers, providers and distributors of such
publications and also with other institutions sharing a similar brief
to ours. The new challenges require not only vigilance, intellectual
rigour, creativity and technical innovation, but also a reassessment
of the priorities involved in processing the media which we have
already been handling for 100 years now. In order to handle such
additional tasks, in the best case scenario with no decrease in stafng
resources, we will need to carefully balance all the diferent work
areas. A dedicated strategy process was drawn up in 2012. Collec-
tion, cataloguing, user services and stock preservation are the core
areas of the library and its related specialist departments. Our inten-
tion is to formulate strategic priorities for these areas, while ensuring
that the focus lies on the employees as the ffth core area. They are the
most important factor which decides the success or otherwise of our
work. In addition, the Information Technology and Central Admin-
istration service departments, the cultural education work in the
German Museum of Books and Writing and in the German Exile
Archive, as well as all areas of PR, communication and marketing
need to be taken into consideration in the planning.
In 2013 the German National Library is presenting a strategic
plan containing the objectives and implementation plans for the
2013 to 2016 period. Each of the four core library task areas has
to cope with the traditional challenge of bulk processing, but they
are now also having to face dealing with the pressing new topics.
In each task area it will therefore be crucial to set priorities between
bulk and routine business on the one hand, and development and
change management and innovation on the other hand, and to have
these priorities monitored by the service departments. At the time of
publication of the present annual report, the fnal plans were being
drawn up and initial targets agreed. Subsequent annual reports will
report on the implementation of our strategic priorities.
The present annual report, however, already announces the arri-
val of further issues which will need to be addressed in the com-
ing years: the newly founded „Arts in Exile“ network and the
digitisation campaign – both initiatives of Federal Government
Commissioner for Culture and the Media Bernd Neumann; the re-
structuring of our exhibition space in Frankfurt, the changeover of
the libraries in the German-speaking countries to the new Resource
Description and Access (RDA) cataloguing code and much more.
We will be using all existing, and also some new, channels to report
on this: printed publications such as our Dialog mit Bibliotheken,
exhibition catalogues, the new Newsletter or Facebook and Twitter,
talks at conferences or our new virtual exhibitions, at trade fairs
and other events. Stay in touch and help us to remain on course in
these fast-moving and exciting times and to pursue goals which are
relevant for the knowledge society.
Tradition continues,
but revolutionary
elements emerge.
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