Guest post by Martin Hermann
The German-language open access journal Perspektive Bibliothek (The Library in Perspective) was launched in July 2012. It covers the entire spectrum of library and information science. The articles in Perspektive Bibliothek are based on papers which trainee academic librarians write as part of their theoretical training at the Bavarian Library Academy. The journal makes it possible for the German library community to profit from the trainees’ work and their fresh, unprejudiced view on their new field of work. At the same time, Perspektive Bibliothek provides prospective professional newcomers with the opportunity to present themselves to potential employers in the form of journal publications. Furthermore, the publication of examined papers increases the visibility and underlines the high quality of the Bavarian Library Academy’s training.
Perspektive Bibliothek founders and editors Martin Hermann and Jochen Apel
In founding and editing Perspektive Bibliothek, Jochen Apel (@Duhem) and Martin Hermann (@Mhopac) also want to make a small contribution to breaking up the German library community’s traditional structures of professional communication. This is because the community’s demand for more open access in scholarly communication across disciplines is unfortunately not adequately mirrored in open access publications in the library sphere. Libreas, medizin-bibliothek-information and 027.7 are the only three genuine German-language open access journals in the field. All of Perspektive Bibliothek’s articles are published under a Creative Commons License that allows sharing, remixing and commercial use, making Perspektive Bibliothek not only free but also libre open access.
Considering the number of downloads from the first three issues alone, the establishment of Perspektive Bibliothek can be reliably termed a success story. These issues, which comprise three editorials and 22 articles altogether, generated more than 15,000 downloads in less than 15 months. Therefore, each article – excluding editorials – has been downloaded and potentially read 670 times on average. In addition, articles have been cited in online portals, on conferences, and will soon be quoted in a high-profile print textbook on library management. After just over one year, Perspektive Bibliothek has gained the respect of the library community in Germany and has become one of the places to go for essential information on topics regarding library and information science.
Such an undertaking needs the support of a number of partners: the Bavarian Library Academy’s lecturers (peer review), the Bavarian Library Academy itself (communication) and the Heidelberg University Library (hosting). The most important partners, however, are the potential authors – the Academy’s trainees. The journal exists and thrives on their content.
The next issue of Perspektive Bibliothek will be published in October 2013.
Perspektive Bibliothek: www.perspektive-bibliothek.uni-hd.de
Follow Perspektive Bibliothek on Facebook or Twitter.
Contact
Dr. Jochen Apel, University Library Heidelberg: apel[at]ub.uni-heidelberg.de
Martin Hermann, Bavarian State Library Munich: martin.hermann[at]bsb-muenchen.de
Book History and Print Culture Network 