Newsletter 15.2021
1. Strong approval for changes in the library: results of the brief survey on self-service and opening hours
The university library’s brief online survey ran from October 11th until November 30th. We’re happy that 203 participants followed the invitation in our newsletter and on our website, our info screen, the message boards as well as the university’s Instagram and would like to thank everyone for weighing in.
Both our new self-service technology and our expanded opening hours were unambigously evaluated as predominantly positive. The new self-service policy was rated very good by 72.5% of participants, and the expanded opening hours received the same rating from an impressive 80.9%.
In evaluating the survey, the free comment field played a special part. We would like to thank you very much for the high amount of positive feedback on our service and our dedication. In the same way we would like to thank everyone for the critical feedback, which was often expressed along with very helpful and constructive suggestions for improvement. We now intend, over time, to explore options for better adapting our services to your needs, e.g. by further adjusting the opening hours, optimizing the self-checkout process especially regarding the password entry system, which was frequently named as complicated, or introducing a booking system to enable you to book study rooms outside of service hours. We will, of course, keep you posted on any news.
2. University library receives rare film booklets from before 1945
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Good news for Bauhaus-University Weimar, as the university library has recently taken possession of a collection of over 1,000 »Illustrierter Filmkurier« booklets from between 1926 and 1945 to expand its collection on film studies. Cult movies such as »Berlin Alexanderplatz«, »Der blaue Engel« or »Max Schmelings Sieg« send film scholars‘ hearts aflutter. The items from both the Berlin and the Vienna series originate from the estate of an enthusiast from Zwickau who, in years of collecting, meticulously gathered rare materials from different genres of film, preserving them for later generations. As he felt a special connection to Weimar, it was his dear wish to hand his collection over – partly as a donation - to the city of Bauhaus after his passing. The renowned film and communication scholar Prof. Dr. Patrick Rössler (Erfurt University) had a key role in the handover of the collected materials. Please refer to our press release for more information.
3. The particular memory of Jewish museums: a new title in the »Neue Bauhaus-Vorträge« series
Bauhaus-Universität Weimar continues its online series »Neue Bauhaus-Vorträge« with Mirjam Wenzel’s lecture »Das partikulare Gedächtnis jüdischer Museen« (The particular memory of Jewish museums). Based on current international debates around the definition of museums and the role they play in contemporary society, Mirjam Wenzel recounts the history of Jewish museums. Mirjam Wenzel has been the director of the Jewish museum in Frankfurt (Main) since 2016; since 2019 she has also been a honorary professor at Goethe-Unversität in Frankfurt. She was a Bauhaus guest lecturer at our university in the winter semester 2020/21.
Since its inception in 2017, this series, edited by Hans-Rudolf Meier, Frank Simon-Ritz und Winfried Speitkamp, makes special lectures available to a greater public. So far, lectures by Aleida Assmann, Horst Bredekamp and Joseph Vogl, among others, have been published.
Please refer to our press release for more information on the series and the new volume.
4. Opening hours over Christmas and New Year’s Eve
On Thursday, December 23rd 2021, the university library will close at 6pm and remain closed until Saturday, January 1st 2022. From Monday, January 3rd 2022, the library will reopen with the current opening hours (Monday-Friday 9pm-10pm, Saturday 10am-6pm).
For the remaining days until Christmas we’d like to once again draw your attention to our Advent calendar featuring staff recommendations for library materials and services, available on the info screen by the entrance and now also online.
Thus ends another year marked by the coronavirus pandemic, during the course of which we have had to place changes and restrictions to our services in your path, subject to current developments and often on short notice. We’d like to thank you deeply for your patience. Only with your cooperation were we able to keep the library running smoothly and additionally introduce new services this year, despite circumstances.
The university library team would like to wish you happy and relaxing holidays and a good start to the new year. We’re looking forward to your visits in 2022!
Stefanie Röhl
Sachgebietsleiterin
Informationsdienstleistungen