Newsletter 10.2024
1. New exhibition »AUSBLICKSPUNKTE. Bücher von und über Maurice Halbwachs«
The Bauhaus-Universität Weimar Audimax will be ceremonially renamed to »Maurice-Halbwachs-Auditorium« on December 4th to honor the life and work of the French sociologist and Philosopher, who was born in 1877 and died in 1945 in Buchenwald concentration camp from the conditions of his imprisonment. The dedication is accompanied by an exhibition in the university library that features books by and about Halbwachs in order to showcase his work and its reception and to introduce a broader audience to the intellectual pioneer and political activist. One of the most influential sociologists of the 20th century, Halbwachs is best known for his work on collective memory. He thoroughly examined the social mechanisms that create collective memories in societies and sustain them through rituals and other shared cultural practices.
The exhibition can be seen on the library basement floor (-1) during library opening hours until February 15th 2025. It was curated by library staff members Elisa Goldammer, Dr. Moritz Lampe und Dr. Katrin Richter. You can view a materials collection on the exhibition online, and you will find more information in Bauhaus.Journal Online.
2. Selected photos from »Reading the world« competition in exhibition in the library foyer until mid December
The photo competition winners have been selected! Tarek Rishmawi, Mira Luna Casties and Dolgorsuren Adiyabaatar are ranked first to third, while Daša Geiger and Florian Marenbach receive acknowledgements and Maximiliano Meneses Schulz wins the Audience Award. The awarded photos are marked in the exhibition in the library entrance area and are shown online in Bauhaus.Journal online gezeigt.
The competition motto was phrased broadly. »Reading the world« allows referencing the readability of cities, landscapes or situations. The competition was also looking for photos showing (favourite) places of knowledge, reading and learning abroad or in Weimar. The subjects shown were accordingly varied.
Some of the 80 selected works shown in the exhibition feature libraries as places where student life unfolds. One of them is the photo «Where time stops« by Yaswanth Kadiri (an Indian Bauhaus-Universität guest student), showing our university library. His explanation illustrates the meaning a library can have for students: »In this picture, I tried to capture the perpetual serene atmosphere of the Bauhaus Universitätsbibliothek, a stark contrast to the chaos of the world around it at night. As an international student in Weimar, this library has been a constant place of solace and a reliable source of knowledge amidst the ever-changing world around me. Whenever I need to rest after a bad day or simply enjoy a good one with a book, I find myself returning to this space, since I arrived, to feel time freeze - much like the person reading in the photo.«
3. DEAL Konsortium starts info campaign »Open Access means CC BY«
»Open Access means CC BY« translates to a recommendation by the DEAL Konsortium to use the Creative Commons license »CC BY« whenever it's available. The aim of the campaign is to reduce the prevalence of non-commercial licences (NC licences), which not only prevent re-use and distribution in line with the principles of Open Access, but also often allow publishers to secure exclusive commercial rights, for example to resell content to AI providers. In collaboration with the renowned law firm iRights.Law, the DEAL consortium has created an information page for academic authors.
As part of the campaign the DEAL Konsortium will hold a webinar with Prof. Gerard Meijer, DEAL spokesman and negotiation leader, on December 5th 2024 at 10am. The webinar will cover why CC BY is the best choice for research publication in most cases and why other license types carry restrictions. The webinar will be held on Zoom in English. Registration is required.
4. REFODAT – Thüringer Repositorium für Forschungsdaten
REFODAT is available to Thuringian researchers since November. This research data repository is a good alternative to other general repositories like Zenodo or B2Share. REFODAT's advantage is that larger data sets can be submitted and evaulated and curated according to FAIR principles. The availability of research results is ensured for at least 10 years. The project results from a cooperation between the Thüringer Kompetenznetzwerk Forschungsdatenmanagement (TKFDM), the Hochschul-IT-Zentrum (HS-ITZ) and the Thüringer Hochschulbibliotheken (ThHoBi) entstanden. You can find more information on the TKFDM website.
5. Library closed over Christmas and until the new year
Saturday, December 21st, will be the university library's last opening day this year. After that we'll be taking a short Christmas break, and the library will be closed altogether from December 23rd until January 1st 2025. We're looking forward to seeing you again on January 2nd 2025 and wish you a merry Christmas time!
An appeal for donations: Some library and university staff members' children are afflicted with rare diseases, which have not been well researched. One is NCL, also known as childhood dementia, the other is ME/CFS, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
These rare diseases have an enormous impact not only on those affected, but also on their families. Please consider supporting research on those diseases with your donation. You can find more information on how to donate on the websites of the CL-Stiftung and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für ME/CFS.
Stefanie Röhl
Sachgebietsleiterin
Informationsdienstleistungen