Elisabeth Niggemann
German librarian (born 1954)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Elisabeth Niggemann (born April 2, 1954) is a German librarian specializing in the digitization of cultural heritage resources. From 1999 to 2019, she served as the director general of the German National Library.
(1999-2019)
Elisabeth Niggemann | |
|---|---|
| |
| Born | 2 April 1954 |
| Education | Ruhr University Bochum |
| Occupations | Director General of the German National Library (1999-2019) |
Education and career
Elisabeth Niggemann was born in Dortmund on April 2, 1954.[1] In college she studied biology and English, receiving a Ph.D. in biology from Ruhr University Bochum.[1][2]
Niggemann started her career in libraries in 1987 at the German National Library of Medicine as head of the acquisitions department.[3] In 1989, she became head of cataloguing and subject indexing at the University and State Library at the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf; in 1994, she became director of that library.[3] From 1990 to 1995 she also lectured in library and information science at Heinrich Heine University.[2]
Niggemann became the director general of the German National Library in 1999.[4] In 2019, she announced her retirement, with Frank Scholze taking her place as director general as of January 1, 2020.[5]
Library leadership
In 2010, Niggemann was a member of the Comité des Sages, the European Union's high-level reflection group, examining the digitization of Europe's cultural heritage.[6][7] She chaired the Conference of European National Librarians, a network of Europe’s national libraries, between 2005 and 2011.[6]
She was the first chair of the Europeana Foundation, from 2007 to 2011, helping to launch and consolidate the digital platform for cultural heritage.[6] She was reelected as chair in September 2017, leading the board of the foundation to maintain the sustainability of Europeana.[6]
Niggemann is one of the editors of Zeitschrift für Bibliothekswesen und Bibliographie.[8] She has also written or co-written a number of reports on cultural heritage strategies, including The New Renaissance (2011) and Fachinformationsdienste statt Sondersammelgebiete (2014).[9]
In March 2018, Niggeman was awarded Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government.[10]