Im neuen Chemical Information Bulletin, Vol. 62(1) Spring 2010, der ACS Division of Chemical Information (CINF) findet sich ein Interview (S. 24-26) mit René Deplanque, dem Managing Director des FIZ Chemie.

Deplanque plädiert darin für eine verstärkte Integration von Bibliothekaren in den „education process“ (S. 25-26):

There is quite a difference in the position of an American librarian and a German librarian. In Germany, the librarian has still a very traditional role. They are the ones to whom you go only to get information. Unfortunately, the librarian is seldom in the position of partner to the researcher. This is unfortunate because in most cases, the librarians have to have an academic degree in librarianship to work in a scientific library. Only very rarely do scientists decide to go into a career as a librarian. I think that one of the problems that we have to cope with is that universities depend on reputation, and reputation depends on research; librarians in Germany are not part of the research process. Therefore, the librarians do not have their true position within this framework. In recent years, this very traditional positioning of the librarian is weakening a bit, but it will still take many years before the librarian is accepted as a valued partner for the scientist. […]

The librarian in Germany is highly educated but only very seldom introduced into the education process, especially not in the sciences. Very few universities have courses on teaching the use of information systems that are actually led by a librarian. It is very sad that, within the educational system in Germany, the true value of the librarian is underestimated, and because of this librarians are not used to their full potential.

Ein Plädoyer für mehr Informationskompetenz-Aktivitäten durch Fachreferenten an Bibliotheken! An manchen Orten ist die Integration in die Lehre aber auch schon Realität, zum Beispiel in der Verfahrenstechnik an der TU Hamburg-Harburg! 😎 Am nächsten Montag ist für mich als Fachreferent für Verfahrenstechnik wieder die wichtigste Veranstaltung des Jahres, eine Präsentation zur "World of process engineering information" im Rahmen des Projektierungskurses Verfahrenstechnik. Mehr als 80 Studierende der Verfahrens- und Biotechnik der TUHH bearbeiten drei Wochen ein gemeinsames Projekt und bekommen am Anfang einen Überblick zur Fachinformation!