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The future of libraries: digital change and new exhibitions!
The University of Weimar provides information about increased publication costs and digital transformation in science as of March 9, 2025.
The future of libraries: digital change and new exhibitions!
The Weimar University Library has already used 16 percent of its media budget for publication costs in 2024. This is a significant development and indicates that the share of publication costs in the overall budget is likely to continue to rise in the future. This year, 55 percent of the budget went to digital media and 29 percent to analogue media. The ongoing transformation in the area of open access plays a central role here. Since 2019, numerous transformation contracts have been concluded with large scientific publishers, which enable university members to access specialist journals and promote the free publishing of scientific articles, such as uni-weimar.de reports.
These developments meant that 57 publications by members of the university were made freely accessible worldwide last year. The number of full advertisements for magazine articles rose by almost 60 percent to 109,193 in 2024. The use of digital individual documents remained stable at 46,938 compared to 2023.
Use of the library
Despite the challenges of declines in 2020 and 2021, use of the library as a physical space remains high. In 2023, the library had 135,437 visitors. This high presence was complemented by the establishment of a new co-working space in early summer 2024, which was well received. The exhibitions in the library also played a prominent role in 2024. Particularly noteworthy is the exhibition “A Year with the Star” by Elena Kaufmann, which took place from mid-September to mid-November.
The collaboration with the Weimar Art Festival included the exhibition “Art Creates Democracy” from August 22nd to September 8th. In addition, the “Weimar Silent Film Retrospective” took place for the sixth time as part of this art festival. On December 4th, the Audimax was renamed the “Maurice Halbwachs Auditorium,” accompanied by an exhibition dedicated to Halbwachs.
Insights from students
A special highlight of the 2024 exhibition year was the photo exhibition “Reading the World”, which closed the year. Students submitted photos of places of reading and working around the world. The Indian visiting student Yaswanth Kadiri described the university library as a “reliable source of knowledge” in his competition entry.
If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Frank Simon-Ritz, director of the university library, is available. Continuous adaptation to the needs of the scientific community and the advancement of open access initiatives demonstrate the library's commitment to a modern, accessible and inclusive knowledge landscape.