Retrospective completion and in-depth indexing of the library's holdings in fine and applied arts, visual and material culture

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Peter Schäfer
• Subject Area: Art History ; Religious Studies and Jewish Studies
• Term: from 2013 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 230208019

Literature dealing with the Jewish visual and applied arts, as well as visual and material culture, is of an interdisciplinary nature. As such, it has never been considered in its full breadth in the acquisition profiles of academic libraries. In Germany today, no central institution exists which specializes in this field of research.The Jewish Museum Berlin library therefore aims to systematically develope its existing Jewish art holdings with the financial support of the DFG. This distinctive focus will shape the library's profile and, in the long run, will establish it as a central research facility of national importance.A long term goal of the project is to create a continuum in the research tradition of Jewish art history in Germany, which was forcibly interrupted in 1933, reestablishing it as an integral part of the German academic landscape.Over the past eighteen months of the two funded years, the most severe gaps in the collections have been filled. However, there still prove to be significant holes in various areas of the Jewish art classification group. A second cycle of funding will contribute a further major step towards the retrospective, systematic completion of these holdings. A focal point of the collections' development strategy, aside from the further acquisition of secondary literature, will be the acquisition of grey literature (brochures without ISBN-Number). Another goal is the thorough indexing of both new accessions and those titles already in the library's holdings. The project will employ the subject-specific descriptors of the Jewish Museum Beriin's thesaurus, providing users with an accurate and scientific tool to research the library collections and facilitate access to the museum's collections.Furthermore, an outreach plan is being developed. It is hoped to introduce the project to universities and research facilities working in the field of Jewish art, within the timeframe of the funded period.

• DFG Programme: Acquisition and Provision (Scientific Library Services and Information Systems)