Dear colleagues,

Please see below for details of the next two RLUK Digital Shift Forum meetings, which might be of interest to colleagues. These will explore the experiences of the UK and German library and information sectors, as well as the opportunities for collaboration between both communities.

These will be the final two seminars of the current RLUK DSF series. We would like to thank all of those colleagues who have attended and participated in this series since it began in October. We have been delighted by the popularity of these seminars and the discussions they have sparked.

A second series of Digital Shift Forum seminars will commence from the autumn and we look forward to welcoming colleagues to these.

If you have missed any of our previous speakers, catch up here: RLUK DSF on demand.

Digital Shift Forum - #RLUKDSF

RLUK’s Digital Shift Forum brings together colleagues from across the information, research, cultural and heritage communities to discuss the future of the digital shift in research library collections, services, and audiences.

16 July 2021, 09.00-10.30 (BST), 10.00-11.30 (CEST): register

Library spaces and openness post Covid-19: a DE-UK dialogue

Moderated by Ewald Brahms (University Hildesheim/VDB) and Torsten Reimer (British Library/RLUK)

As the experience of lockdown during the pandemic has shown, library spaces are a critical element for service delivery both for patrons and for staff. In this session, we will discuss ideas for integrating digital and physical elements of library spaces, ambitions for more openness in space design and, crucially, the experience and lessons learned from the pandemic.

Ed Fay is Director of Library Services and University Librarian at the University of Bristol, which has recently received planning approval to build a New University Library. It is designed to be at the heart of the university campus enabling the academic achievement and well-being of our students, innovative research partnerships, and civic engagement. Ed will talk about the New University Library design principles, learning from the pandemic, and short-medium term plans for learning environments supporting blended education.

Konstanze Söllner is Director of Library Services and University Librarian at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU). Konstanze will talk about FAU’s ambitious plans for renewing its library spaces for the humanities and social sciences. On its Erlangen site, FAU is looking to redevelop a large 1950s office complex (the so called “Himbeerpalast”, or “Raspberry Palace”), while starting a completely new development in Nuremberg.

23 July 2021, 09.00-10.30 (BST), 10.00-11.30 (CEST): register

Openness and open source in library systems: a DE-UK dialogue

Moderated by Ewald Brahms (University Hildesheim/VDB) and Torsten Reimer (British Library/RLUK)

In many markets, the digital shift has led to increasing market concentration, with only a smaller number of large corporates having the resource to compete (or to buy the competition). As digital services become more powerful, the complexity of their design and algorithms increase too. As libraries are built around principles of openness and trust, we depend on transparency and an understanding of how our services work, so we can guard against bias. This session will look at the two case studies of libraries using open source technologies, embedded in a discussion of the wider landscape of library systems.

Kirstin Kemner-Heek is Head of Local Library Systems Department at the Head Office of the Common Library Network GBV in Göttingen. She will discuss the potential of the open source FOLIO library management system, drawing from her experience as member of the FOLIO Community Council and past-chair of the FOLIO product council.

William Nixon is Assistant Director (Academic Engagement and Digital) at the University of Glasgow. He will reflect on the Glasgow experience in open source development for repositories and current research information systems.

With very best wishes,

Matt

Dr Matthew Greenhall

Deputy Executive Director

Research Libraries UK

Email: [log in to unmask]

Office: 020 7862 8643

Mobile: 07432 768566

Website: www.rluk.ac.uk

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