Technical University of Applied Sciences Library

Application for the Library of the Year Award 2016

The staff of the library at the Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau, together with their partners from the iCampus Wildau team, would like to apply for the 'Library of the Year Award 2016. The iCampus Wildau team consists of students majoring in Telematics at the university and project employees led by Prof. Dr. Janett Mohnke, Department of Telematics. They are responsible for the development of web-based tools and information structures at the Technical University of Applied Sciences in Wildau.

Our library won the prestigious Library of the Year Award once before in 2012. Since then, the library has had substantial and continuous support. Considering the amount of time that has elapsed and today’s rapid pace of technological and social changes through the creation and development of new innovative services and solutions in all cultural areas, our team would like to enter the competition for a second time.

The German DINI-certification for open access repositories and publications was given to the Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau in April 2016. Among other things, this has motivated the library staff to apply for this award once again. Moreover, it is also an opportunity to present the library to the jury as well as on the internet in German and in English for our application for the Library of the Year Award 2016.

The concept of our application is about improvement and future development of library services. The team of the university library and iCampus compete with a concept, implemented on a daily basis, which is media-focused, a step from an old-school approach to the new challenges of the future. Both worlds, the brick and click library, form the common and strong base for confident professional ethics. This application is divided into a theoretical Roman triangle with three main sections: Movere, Docere and Delectare.

The library staff is confident that information facilities will still be of importance in the future because of their adaptability to future changes especially in the field of electronic media, social networks and more. They are able to seize new ideas and technologies from other fields of science and the economy and use them to a great extent. By doing so libraries can act as equal partners with the economy and the free market.

Below you will find these three topics, which outline our concept as well as our detailed references regarding our three main topics.

• Movere: development & technological improvement in the library
• Docere: teaching and helping users how to use the array of information services and structures
• Delectare: using the library for events such as exhibitions, concerts and readings

The extraordinarily motivated team of the university library was able to introduce new projects for the purpose of "movere", like the possibility of the location inside the library through Open Source systems and later iBeacons, a technology based on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). Indoor localization will be implemented in the university app Unidos Wildau that at first was planned only regarding the library but was constantly advanced. We thus have a working infrastructure with many helpful services regarding the university. Similar projects regarding our library include our thesaurus. The thesaurus helps to give a systematic overview of the many quantities of publications in the library, which is an important help for students, especially the freshmen. You can find our project-centered approach in many different projects in our library including the use of open source software, three dimensional modeling of business routines, knowledge management systems, development of a library/university app (iLibrary-App to UNIDOS) for both most popular operating systems, the fluid library through RFID technology and our intranet platforms for discussing and analyzing business routines and library topics. We also started initiatives for organizing regular meetings among innovative managers from other libraries as well as hosting the Weblog “library 20+”. Both the meeting and the Weblog serve as an exchange of experiences in our field of work.

Every day the staff of our library approaches new projects and is convinced that this is the best way to work in the library and to discover and integrate new inventions into the library routine. There is a good quote “learning by doing” that helps to find new ways to adapt to recent changes in our society and working life.
More information regarding movere…

The university course of library informatics is an example for our topic of ''docere'' (to teach). In this university course the library staff shares their knowledge and experiences with the community of future librarians. We also offer workshops for topics like statistics, informatics, makerspace, RFID and ethnological methods. This is also a reason for us to host the annual “Wildauer Library Symposium”, where information managers of libraries, mainly from Germany and other German speaking countries, give presentations which center mostly around digital and technological developments in libraries. Another key strategy of our library is youth development through activities like the children’s university, the education of professional staff for media and information services, the reception of interns from Germany as well as other countries and taking care of pupils from local Gymnasiums (German high or secondary schools) as part of the program to set up competences for scientific work.
More information regarding docere…

The third topic ''delectare'' (to delight) describes the possibility to use the library as a showroom or place for cultural events. This approach includes technological aspects like the equipment with touch screens, whiteboards, tablets (which can be borrowed here), audio technology for virtual tours in three languages regarding library services and references to architecture, exhibitions and much more. Secondly, it includes event formats which make use of the library rooms and offer them to the public. The library also often takes part in the organization of many events like concerts, readings, and the so-called “Schmökerabend” (sleepover), the outdoor event of reading “StadtLesen”, chess tournaments, speed reading competitions and the political format "mit Spitzenpolitikern im Gespräch". In this way, we also make contact with future, as well as already existing target groups and decision makers.
More information regarding delectare…

Compare: The old and the new usage of hall 10

Summary

We hope that we could demonstrate the concept, worked out by the library team at the Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau and the iCampus Wildau team in a proper way. Our seamless documentation, together with the variety of photographs, shows how our ideas and creative approaches from the last and successful application for the Library of the Year Award four years ago were converted into reality. We therefore think we could prove our innovative ability, enjoyment in new challenges, as well as to tinker with innovations, which we think helps to put the image of information facilities in a good light. Networking with different social areas, the sustainability and the effects on the general public are beneficial side effects of our projects. In our application, we would like to show that past and future always form a symbiosis. In conclusion, we think we are a worthy candidate for the award of the Library of the Year Award 2016 and therefore apply, fully motivated and full of spirit for a second time, to hopefully receive this premium award.