NEWS

Germany’s Common Bibliographic Data Zone Goes Live
with University of Mannheim as the First Member Institution

The Common Bibliographic Data Zone will enable members of three large German consortia to share library data and services

Ex Libris®, a ProQuest company, is pleased to announce that the University of Mannheim, a member of the Bibliotheksservice-Zentrum Baden-Württemberg (BSZ) consortium, has become the first university in Germany to be connected to the Common Bibliographic Data Zone (CBDZ). The CBDZ is a collaboration between BSZ and two other major German consortia—Verbundzentrale des Gemeinsamen Bibliotheksverbunds (VZG) and Hochschulbibliothekszentrum des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen (hbz). The Ex Libris Alma® resource management service, and particularly the advanced Alma Network Zone capabilities, serves as the CBDZ’s technology infrastructure.

The three consortia are working together to define, create, and maintain the Common Bibliographic Data Zone. They also provide the necessary technical and organizational infrastructure and have control over the data in the CBDZ. The databases of the three consortia will continue to act as the primary cataloging databases while also being synchronized with the CBDZ.

Member libraries can now access data in the CBDZ as well as contribute data to it. This arrangement saves the libraries time, keeps data consistent, and leverages Alma’s advanced workflows to increase the libraries’ operational efficiency.

Michaela Sieber, project manager of CDBZ, said, “The complex implementation required close collaboration and coordination between the staff of the three consortia, the University of Mannheim, and Ex Libris. Together we successfully delivered the first implementation and established a sound basis for future implementation projects.”

Dr. Ralf Goebel, the head of BSZ, commented, “The Alma Network Zone will provide universities that are connected to the Common Bibliographic Data Zone with outstanding support for sophisticated collaboration, management of electronic resources, and access to Alma’s open interfaces. With these features, the three collaborating consortia will have exciting opportunities for developing innovative best-of-breed services for our Alma member institutions.”

“This is an important milestone in the reorganization of the national information infrastructure in Germany and is aligned with the recommendations of the German Council of Science and Humanities and the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, or DFG),” explained Reiner Diedrichs, the head of GBV (VZG). “Now that the first implementation with BSZ consortium data has been concluded, we can roll out the Common Bibliographic Data Zone to other members.”

“This project demonstrates that the robust, open Alma platform supports diverse models of sharing,” commented Matti Shem Tov, president of Ex Libris. “With the Common Bibliographic Data Zone implementation, we have successfully realized our vision of helping consortial members transition to a truly cooperative environment where the community benefits from its collective expertise.”

http://www.bsz-bw.de
http://www.gbv.de
https://www.hbz-nrw.de/
www.exlibrisgroup.com