Library Profile
As a consequence of the amalgamation of the universities in Duisburg and in Essen, the Duisburg-Essen University Library emerged in 2003 by integrating the libraries of the preceding institutions.
The library as a central facility of the UDE
Along with the Zentrum für Informations- und Mediendienste (ZIM) the library performs central services in the fields of information, communication and media. With their rendition of services the library both supports the areas research, teachings and academic studies, and also looks at future tasks within their own area of responsibility.
Core functions of the library
- Acquiring, cataloguing and presenting of scientific print media and audio-visual documents.
- Lending media and providing desks to do academic work.
- Delivering media that is not available in the library by interlibrary loan or document delivery service.
- Providing the infrastructure for scientific publishing.
- Offering advice and means of qualification.
The library has turned into a "hybrid" library with a range of both print media and electronic media. Given the rising need for carrels and reading rooms within the library, the way of developing and archiving the library’s collection has been thought over, so that literature being in great demand can be presented more efficiently and that the number of reading desks has been increased.
Due to the university’s several sites the library provides a range of services (for example, the electronic availability of important reference stock or the campus delivery service).
The library supports an integrated research process, starting with the search for information up to the acquisition and administration of media. This includes, among other things, the active promotion of open access publishing and its different versions, and the support of the university’s bibliography, in which the extent of research is presented.
Another major task of the library is to qualify lecturers and students in terms of information literacy.
The library supports the continuing education of its staff to meet the growing and constantly changing demands in their areas of work.
Media selection and stock
The basis for the media selection is a profile that is geared to the assigments of teaching and studying and to the university’s research priorities.
The library holds 2.3 million of monographs, subscribes about 1230 print journals and offers online access to about 36.000 electronic journals. Furthermore, there is a wide range of databases and an ever-growing supply of electronic books.