21 October 2021 press release

Today, the German National Library and Library and Archives Canada, the Canadian national library, will formalise a close collaboration. To this end, Leslie Weir, Librarian and Archivist of Canada, and Frank Scholze, Director General of the German National Library, will sign a memorandum of understanding. With this document, the two institutions agree to exchange information and specialist knowledge, and to jointly develop programmes and services. The agreement was preceded by a series of virtual conversations between the two libraries. The signing ceremony will take place as part of the final conversation in this series at 16:00 on 21 October.

“We are very pleased to renew and consolidate the long-standing relationship and collaboration between our two institutions”, Frank Scholze comments. “With the memorandum of understanding, we are laying strong foundations for future collaborations and the exchange of expertise. Given our experience to date, I am convinced that this will prove a highly fruitful and productive relationship for Library and Archives Canada and for the German National Library.”

Leslie Weir praises the agreement with the following words: "This memorandum of understanding with the German National Library is a valuable tool allowing our institution to continue to play a key role in international documentary heritage networks. This agreement will also allow us to build on the relationship established over a year ago through a joint discussion series about the effects of digitization on our respective national documentary heritage institutions and our current priorities—an important topic of interest, especially in this digital age."

In their virtual conversations, the German National Library and Library and Archives Canada have addressed the effects of digitisation on national memory institutions as well as their current priorities.

The series of conversations is part of a wider cultural programme organised by Canada and Germany to emphasise Canada’s role as an honorary guest at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2021.

Methods and priorities of digitisation in Germany and Canada, accessing the collection with new digital tools and services, and the opportunities and challenges of web archiving formed the subjects of these conversations held between October 2020 and October 2021 and broadcast on the video-hosting platform YouTube. The fourth conversation will concentrate on innovations and future collaborations between the two institutions, and will also feature the signing ceremony for the memorandum of understanding. The event can be viewed via the YouTube channel of Library and Archives Canada. Here you can also view the previous conversations.

Looking to the future: innovation and collaboration

Part 4 in the series of conversations with the German National Library and Library and Archives Canada
Thursday 21. October 2021, 16:00 to 16:30 Central European Summer Time
https://www.youtube.com/user/LibraryArchiveCanada (in English)

More information:

Cultural heritage and digitisation
A series of conversations with the German National Library and Library and Archives Canada
https://www.dnb.de/EN/Professionell/Fachveranstaltungen/kulturellesErbeDigitalisierungLAC.html

Background

For more than 100 years, the German National Library has been collecting, documenting and archiving all media works in text, image and sound format published in Germany since 1913 along with foreign publications about Germany or in the German language; these are then made available to the public. It offers a comprehensive range of services at its sites in Leipzig and Frankfurt am Main along with digital services that can be accessed all over the world insofar as this is permitted by copyright.

The German National Library also holds extensive special collections of inestimable value in the German Exile Archive 1933–1945 and the German Museum of Books and Writing. It regularly organises readings, exhibitions, presentations and concerts to draw attention to its treasures, and promotes a culture of books, reading and music with more than 42 million media units, around 220,000 visitors a year to its premises in Leipzig and Frankfurt am Main, and a varied programme of prestigious events.

The mandate of Library and Archives Canada is to preserve the documentary heritage of Canada for the benefit of present and future generations, and to be a source of enduring knowledge accessible to all, thereby contributing to the cultural, social and economic advancement of Canada. Library and Archives Canada also facilitates co-operation among communities involved in the acquisition, preservation and diffusion of knowledge, and serves as the continuing memory of the Government of Canada and its institutions.

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