Nachhaltige Infrastruktur für die Literatur- und Informationsversorgung: im digitalen Zeitalter ein überholtes Paradigma - oder so wichtig wie noch nie? : Schwerpunkt Informationsinfrastruktur für die Forschung. Vom Sondersammelgebiet zum Fachinformationsdienst

The information power of search engine providers is commercializing knowledge more and more. But informational sovereignty has also political impact since the antiquity. The German system of national special collection libraries guarantees access to specialised research literature. The German Research Society (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) has begun the redesign of the existing system to adapt it to the digital revolution. Subject information services will now provide the information for special research communities. However, guidelines like the reduction of the collections to the material of immediate interest and the closing of special collections during the process of evaluation endanger the information infrastructure; thousands of journals have to be cancelled and thousands of specialized titles will no longer be purchased. Planning on a broader horizon and a financial cooperation of the federal government and state governments are both essential in developing an information infrastructure for the future that can match the success of the traditional system.