The academic “Specialised Information Service Art, Photography, Design” is being funded again by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The financial support is designated for expanding the web-based infrastructure of arthistoricum.net. Besides the collection of specialist literature, the integrated information service on European art and art history comprises digital resources and publication capacities with open access. It is operated by Heidelberg University Library and the Saxon State and University Library Dresden. In this fifth project phase from 2024 to 2027, the DFG is allocating approximately two million euros for the activities carried out in Heidelberg.
The “Specialised Information Service” (FID) connects the collections, documentation and access to digital services with as direct a retrieval of literature and sources as possible. Furthermore, the FID promotes digital research and publication practice through providing customised service specifically for the areas of art and art history research. Here the specialist information service is in close consultation with academia and linked to further services, for example, the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) and the Competence Centre for Licensing. “We are very pleased that the DFG is continuing to fund arthistoricum.net,” says Dr Maria Effinger, FID director at Heidelberg University Library. “The finance will help us to expand the Specialised Information Service Art, Photography, Design, making it an even more valuable instrument for art history research.”
The fifth funding phase is to concentrate particularly on consolidating and optimising the services set up in the preceding sections of the project. This involves operating the specialist portal, making relevant media available at the transregional level, offering innovative publishing services for open-access publications, as well as promoting networking and knowledge transfer. “The focus is on the needs of researchers. We coordinate all our services with the specialist academic community and also take account of development trends in the different disciplines,” says Dr Effinger.
The specialist portal arthistoricum.net is a joint project of Heidelberg University Library and the Saxon State and University Library Dresden, which have been running the portal since 2012. One emphasis in the activity of Heidelberg University Library is electronic publishing. With its funding programme “Specialised Information Services”, the German Research Foundation supports the founding and build-up of transregional, efficient and demand-oriented information infrastructures. As a support for research, they supply primarily digital and location-independent information attuned to the special requirements of scholarly subjects.