“Great things always come from small beginnings” – A Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek Information Day in Saarbrücken

How can cultural institutions in the Saarland save their holdings and knowledge in a digital manner and make these accessible? This was the central question formulated by the Saarland Museum Association on the occasion of the Information Day of the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek (German Digital Library).
 
The Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek, together with the Saarländischer Museumsverband e.V. (Saarland Museums Association) and in cooperation with the Federal State Government of the Saarland had issued an invitation to the event in the Ministry of Education and Culture in Saarbrücken on 17th February 2017. A total of 80 participants, including over 40 employees of cultural institutions in all sectors, accepted the invitation, as did many representatives of the political parties.

Digital representations: not competition, but a complement

In his welcoming speech Ulrich Commerçon, the Saarland Minister of Education and Culture, warns against continually evoking the dangers of the internet. He states that the digitisation of cultural heritage on the web can make it possible to experience collections, expand the public clientele, facilitate documentation and protect the originals. Digital representations are thus “not in competition, but are a useful complement” to the cultural institutions’ work. But digitisation is also a “complex process requiring knowledge” and therefore this Information Day is important.

Dr. Ulli Meyer from the Saarland State Chancellery particularly emphasizes how important saving cultural assets is for cultural identity, especially for young people at national as well as European level.
 
Stefan Weszkalnys, Deputy President of the Museums Association, refers in his welcoming address to the Saarland’s motto “Great things always come from small beginnings” as well as to the detailed work of digitisation – in Saarland and elsewhere. 

Between standardisation and digital presentation of cultural heritage

Rainer Raber, Board Member of the Saarland Museums Association and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of  digiCULT, uses the example of museums to show how digital saving of cultural heritage in the Saarland has developed over time. In this he emphasizes that offerings such as those of the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek and digiCULT can be utilised by a great many cultural sectors – not only for museums. In addition they do not only make a digital platform available, but also provide detailed advice and assistance in realising data supply and cross-linking.
 
Frauke Rehder, Manager of digiCULT, points out that the standardisation of data in some museums is both a requirement and an achievement of digiCULT. Regardless of the sector, this standardisation is an important prerequisite for integrating the exhibits into the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek and the Europeana. But standardisation is also beneficial for internal work in cases of requests for loans or preparations for exhibitions.

Frank Frischmuth, Manager of Finances, Law, Communication at the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek, also emphasizes the relevance of standardisation. This generates a large amount of work, although this is not directly visible to the end users. Frank Frischmuth describes the task and the role of the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek to be the central German platform for culture and knowledge.
 
Astrid B. Müller, responsible for Communication, Press, Marketing at the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek, explains setting up the portal, the network and the daily work of the specialist departments “ to be a bridgehead for individual cultural sectors” and introduces the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek‘s live presentation by the staff members of its specialist departments. A selection of objects from all cultural sectors and media is shown as well as some of the functions which the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek offers.
 
Oliver Götze (Specialist Department Archives at the Federal State Archives of Baden-Wuerttemberg) refers to the Archivportal-D, which provides sector-specific access to the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek’s archival data. He stresses that the presentation of digital representations with the aid of the DFG viewer could be especially interesting for institutions which do not possess their own suitable digital infrastructure. Claudia Effenberger (Service Centre and Specialist Department Library at the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek – German National Library) presents well-known objects on Goethe’s Reinecke Fuchs (Reynard the Fox) and explains the personal pages on the portal.

Eleonore Emsbach (Specialist Department Media-Library Film at the Deutsches Filminstitut (German Film Institute) demonstrates, among other things, how search results can be filtered according to the media type video. Herdis Kley (Specialist Department Museum at the Institut für Museumsforschung der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin, Preußischer Kulturbesitz – Institute for Museum Research at the National Museums in Berlin, Prussian Cultural Heritage) shows an example of how interested persons can browse through the list of cultural institutions in the DDB and click through to a museum in the Saarland and its objects. Finally, Lisa Landes (Head of the Service Centre at the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek) gives an overview of how many different types of objects can be integrated into the DDB and presents the virtual exhibitions. 

Individual advice in the afternoon

After a break for lunch the public is able to get in touch directly with the colleagues from the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek, and the digitisation team from the Saarland Museums Association: staff members of the specialist departments Archives, Library, Museum and Media-Library Film and from the Service Centre are available for individual advice and detailed information.
 
The Information Day ends with the so-called Ehrenwein (wine of honour) – this is how the “vin d’honneur” of the Saarland’s French neighbours is unceremoniously translated.

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