Administration, Documentation
Study Field Outline
Library administration
The study of library administration deals with academic and scientific libraries (primarily university libraries, national and regional state libraries, special librar- ies in business and industry, research and administration) plus public libraries (above all local libraries). Librarians work- ing in higher civil service administrative positions must hold a university degree. Their work involves executive manage- ment and supervision as well responsibil- ity for library stock development and for its scientific cataloguing.
Holders of a Diplom degree in library administration (Diplom-Bibliothekar/in) are sought for executive civil service positions in academic, scientific and public libraries. Training for these positions is primarily provided by the university of applied sciences sector. In some federal states (Länder), applicants must hold the “Abitur” school-leaving qualification or equivalent to qualify for admission to higher education in this field. Graduate librarians are responsi- ble for the procurement, presentation, cataloguing and user services. See also scientific libraries and documentation centres. The administrative-own training for executive civil service positions at sci- entific libraries is only required in Bavaria (Munich) today.
Documentation
Documentation is understood as the proc- ess of procuring and cataloguing, organis- ing and storing documents on specific topics (hand or machine written, printed or drawn or embossed, stored on tape or other electromagnetic storage media) as well as procedures for providing informa- tion from or on the prepared documents, including use of relevant equipment. Documentation officers (Diplom-Doku- mentar/in) are trained at universities of applied sciences.
Archive administration
Archives collect certain written, image, sound and film documents, maps, plans and other information media that are no longer required in the everyday opera- tions of public and church authorities, businesses and companies, radio and TV stations or individuals, but which must be preserved for legal or historical rea- sons. This archive information must be organised and inventoried in such a way that it remains accessible at any time for administrative or research purposes or to the general public (e.g. exhibitions). The advancing digitisation increasingly calls for skills and competencies in the fields of data migration, databases and internet publications.
Studies at Universities and Universities of Applied Sciences
Practical experience/internships: 4 to 13 months.
Library administration
Studies and specialist training: Publica- tion studies, structure and divisions of libraries, media and the media market,
library management, library buildings and technology, user advice and information systems and services, bibliography, cata- loguing and classification theory, infor- mation systems and IT, library services, media and information cataloguing, infor- mation retrieval, library history, statistics, specialist career fields for librarians.
Information management, information studies
Novel information technologies, ever more specific customer wishes, as well as the transition to a globalised informa- tion and knowledge society place greater requirements on the acquisition, selec- tion, processing, transmission and pres- entation of information from all fields of human knowledge. And so, for example, information managers and IT special- ists design Internet-based customer- friendly database applications, develop information systems, conceive electronic marketplaces, online shops and other e-Commerce solutions and work on the management of information and knowl- edge within companies and organisations. An interdisciplinary perspective plays a central role in this respect through the integration of IT, legal and economic methods, theories and tools.
Digital databases are important tools for recording, classifying, administrating and cataloguing documents and information. Hence, a confident knowledge in the use
of library software and specific computer- aided processes is important.
A library career in the higher service can be achieved via all programmes leading to the following degrees: Staatsexamen, Magister, Diplom. Although a doctorate is not required, with the exception of the Rhineland-Palatinate, it is often desired. The training for higher service positions is currently being reformed. Only in Bavaria is the traditional training via professional practical training / internships together with two-years of specialist library train- ing still offered. The other federal states send employed trainees to Munich for their specialist theoretical training, or the applicants are employed as “academic volunteers” who take a career-integrated distance studies programme at the Hum- boldt University Berlin. Furthermore, a postgraduate course in “Library and Infor- mation Science” is offered at the Cologne University of Applied Science that ends with a Master‘s degree and prepares graduates for positions in libraries and information management institutions at home and abroad.
Documentation
Studies: Business administration and management, media and information pro- curement, database development, knowl- edge engineering, information retrieval and specialist information, project and knowledge management, digital publica- tions. In the field of medical documenta- tion, techniques of data structuring, data processes and statistical data analysis along with specialist knowledge of biology and medicine represent further core train- ing areas.
Archive administration
Studies: The University of Applied Sci- ences Potsdam is currently the only higher education institution in Germany to offer a degree programme leading to a Diplomarchivar/in (FH) degree outside the otherwise administration-own internal training system for archivists. It includes, among other aspects, archive science, archive management, archive typology, acquisition with assessment theory, records management with electronic records and database-aided cataloguing methods, plus basic historical sciences and palaeography, legal and business aspects, historical education work, PR work, English. Choice of a complementary subject area.
Information management, information studies
Studies: Business administration/man- agement, computer science and informa- tion systems, mathematics, knowledge management, operational research, infor- mation systems/information reception, law, information ethics, communication and media, information design, social and psychological functions of communica- tion, information linguistics, information networks/information databases, specialist information, public information services, information management, marketing and quality management.
Programmes in this field
Berlin FHTW • Berlin HU • Darmstadt HS (Dieburg) • Düsseldorf U • Erlangen- Nürnberg U (Erlangen) • Hamburg HAW • Hannover FH • Karlsruhe U • Köln FH • Leipzig HTWK • Oldenburg U • Potsdam FH • Regensburg U • Stuttgart HdM • Ulm HS