Don't worry! The alliterative "R" in the title of our 16th newsletter is not "rolling" – we won't bother you with any more unpleasant details and source findings about the band Rammstein. This newsletter, the last one for many of us before the summer holidays, should only contain positive news! And since we all need it so urgently in these times, let's start right away!
Firstly, there's the REVIVAL! We have prepared something great for you to reminisce about!
After more than 30 years of the ZZF's existence, it's easy to lose track of past and current project websites, and as these are not easy to find online or on our own homepage, we've simply entered them into DBIS, the database information system, together with the information (still) available to us, and linked them to the library website. These range from evergreens that are still highly frequented today, such as "Chronik der Mauer", the Public History Master's programme project on Mainzer Straße from 2015, the audio walk kudamm'31 from 2012, the virtual "Ortsbegehung Bogensee" [site inspection Bogensee] from 2021, to current web presences such as that of the project on the radical right.
And now we need your help! Do you know of any other databases, virtual exhibitions, websites etc. that have been created over the years with ZZF involvement and are in danger of being forgotten, even though they offer immediate added value for contemporary historical research? If so, please send us links (even without comment) and we will add them to the overview! Thank you in advance for your co-operation! And now we hope you have fun exploring or (for those of you who haven't been at the ZZF that long) rediscovering!
The second major topic of this newsletter is REPRODUCTION. Thanks to the collaboration between Department 3, the Publications Department, IT and the library, the first four volumes of the ZZF Wallstein series "Geschichte der Gegenwart" and "Medien und Gesellschaftswandel im 20. Jahrhundert" are now available in open access as electronic reproductions on the institute's publication server. The qualifying publications by (former) colleagues Brünger, Erdogan, Jehle and Kasper will soon be followed by the first anthology, Frank Bösch's "Wege in die digitale Gesellschaft". Have fun (re)reading!
And last but not least, we provide an insight into our day-to-day library business, which is currently characterised by REDUNDANCIES. Redundancies in the stock! Superfluous duplications in the truest sense of the word. What had happened? We had our holdings checked by our network centre for unwanted duplicates. The result was that, in addition to the desired duplicates - in-house publications, works in high demand, etc. - over the years and through institute and working libraries we had taken over, we had also accumulated almost 2500 unwanted ones. And we are now going through these step by step and, if necessary, cancelling them, so that it sometimes feels to us as if our collection is constantly shrinking despite all the new acquisitions. It's still a strange feeling. But deacquisition creates space! Space that we need ... Incidentally, the "Duden" dictionary uses the term "Dublette" [duplicate] to describe a "duplicate item (in a collection ! or similar)". However, there is no entry in German for a three-, four- or manyfold copy. If anyone has a term for this, we would be delighted!
The ZZF library team wishes you a pleasant summer
(26.06.2023)