CV

 

15.09.1950 Born in Rain/Lech (Donau-Ries County), Germany

1956/57-1960/61 Elementary School in Murnau and Neuburg a.d. Donau/Upper Bavaria

1961/62-1967/68 High School Neuburg a.d. Donau

1970-1973 High School Augsburg

1973-1979 Mineralogical and chemical studies at the Technical University Munich and Munich University

March 1979 Masters Degree in Mineralogy at Munich University

September 1982 Dr. of Science at Munich University

1981-1983 Postgraduate Course in Librarianship at Munich Technical University and the Office of Bavarian State Libraries

1968-1970 2-year training course in the Bavarian Civil Service

1979-1981 Assistant lecturer at the Institute of Mineralogy and Petrography at Munich University

1983-1987 Director Central Library of Boehringer Ingelheim KG, Ingelheim am Rhein, Germany (an international pharmaceutical company)

1987-1996 Director Central Library at Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany (the biggest government-funded (non-academic) research institution in Germany

Since 1996 Director ETH Libraries, Swiss Federal Institute of Technlogy (ETH) Zurich, Switzerland

 

Responsibilities and special activities in librarianship:

  • Management of ETH Libraries, the major part of the overall library and information system of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich)
    ETH Libraries consist of a Central Library, several bigger Departement libraries and some associated smaller institutions.
  • The number of holdings is about 6.,4 million volumes (2004). The number of running journals lies about 8.000.
    Besides these main figures there is an extensive stock of rare books, photographs, maps and other special materials.
    The main focus of the collection is science and technology (no medicine).
  • Besides their tasks as a university library, ETH Libraries function as the national centre for scientific and technical information.
  • ETH Libraries run the library system Aleph 500 in the context of the nationwide library network NEBIS. This system is running as a union catalogue with about 60 single libraries. Online ordering of books, a nationwide postal service within 48 hours and a document delivery system for articles are integrated as routine processes.
  • The strategic management and the running business of the National Consortium of Swiss university libraries is also part of my responsibility
  • Conceptual work and development of an information and document delivery centre for customers outside the university. The focus of all efforts are customers in industry and commerce
  • Planning and realizing a university archive in contact with the Swiss National Archives.
  • Planning and building an infrastructure for digital library projects (digitizing of fulltexts, pictures, maps, archive materials, and other materials)
  • Step-by-step realizing of the new library concept MyLibrary, a personalized gateway for scientists and students.
  • Intensive activities in national and international societies in the field of librarianship and information work.

 

In this context some special professional activities should be mentioned. Since the year 1993 I was deeply involved in five projects concerning the evaluation of the organizational structure and the customer-related level of services of science libraries and information centres:

1. Organizational concept for an information and documentation centre of the Deutsche
Bundespost (German Post Office), Bonn, Germany (1993; together with P. Bochardt and U.
Wimmer)

2. Organizational survey for the central special library of the Federal Bureau of the Environment,
Berlin, Germany (1995)
3. New organization of the Bibliotheca Herziana (Max-Planck-Institut für Kunstgeschichte),
Rome, Italy (1997, together with E. Morgenstern)

4. Evaluation of the organizational structure and the user-oriented services of the library
system of the University of Applied Sciences Zurich, Winterthur (2002, together with A.
Keller)

5. Evaluation of the organizational and IT structure as well as the level of user-oriented services
of the Central Library Lucian Blaga, Cluj-Napoca (2003, together with A. Keller)

 

Other professional activities:

  • Project leader of the Consortium of Swiss University Libraries since 1999
  • Project leader of the national project "E-archiving"
  • Project leader of the SCOPUS project RomDoc (in co-operation with Romanian Partners)
  • Project leader of the forthcoming national project "E-lib.ch", the "Electronic Library Switzerland" (a national funded infrastructure project)
  • Member of the "Management Commission" of the German Library Council (DBV)
  • President of the IDS (Information Network German-speaking Switzerland)