FIZ Karlsruhe – Leibniz Institute for Information Infrastructure

Following an open call for bids, in 2009 a joint federal and state working group (established as a forerunner to the DDB Expert Network awarded FIZ Karlsruhe a contract for the technical operation of the German Digital Library (DDB). As the technical operator of the DDB, FIZ Karlsruhe is responsible for the complete management of all key IT infrastructure.

Our Responsibilities as DDB Operator

Technology: As the technical operator, FIZ Karlsruhe is responsible for the complete IT infrastructure of the DDB. This includes not only the portal that is publicly visible, but also systems for editing and normalizing data and for establishing and managing a network of the partners. To guarantee highest standards of performance and availability, the DDB runs on two redundant systems in data centers at different locations. The cloud-like system architecture allows for dynamically adapting the system performance to the number of visitors of the portal.

Content: FIZ Karlsruhe is responsible for compiling the data provided by cooperating cultural and academic institutions. These data consist first and foremost of descriptions of the original items held in institutional collections, i.e. of paintings, documents, notes, films, photographs, and so on. The metadata delivered by participating institutions are professionally processed in cooperation with the partners in the DDB Expert Network. This assures that data pertaining to diverse collections are unified in structure, thus enhancing the searchability of the database.

Service: FIZ Karlsruhe is on call to provide assistance to all participating cultural and academic institutions regarding the registration process.

FIZ Karlsruhe – Leibniz Institute for Information Infrastructure is a non-profit limited liability company and one of the largest information infrastructure institutions without a university affiliation in Germany. FIZ Karlsruhe has a public mission to provide data and information as well as associated products and services to academics and researchers in both the public and private sectors. Our goal is to support scientific value creation across all disciplines by uniting cutting-edge technology, first-class content, and services into one information infrastructure.

FIZ Karlsruhe is a member of the Leibniz Association which consists of more than 80 institutions conducting knowledge-driven and applied basic research, maintaining scientific infrastructure and providing research-based services.

http://www.fiz-karlsruhe.de

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