[Asis-l] Fwd: [Eurchap] Online petition and support letters to prevent closure of Department of Information Science at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

[Michel Menou]

-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: 	[Eurchap] Online petition and support letters to prevent 
closure of Department of Information Science at Heinrich Heine 
University Düsseldorf
Date: 	Sun, 24 Jan 2016 08:40:20 +0100
From: 	isabella.peters at freenet.de
To: 	eurchap at asis.org



Dear colleagues,


this time I am writing because of a rather personal concern - but which 
also reflects a known symptom for the underevaluation of the Information 
Science discipline in Europe. Hence, it is a matter of EUChap, too.


We were informed this week that the dean of the Philosophical Faculty of 
the University of Düsseldorf intends to *close the Department of 
Information Science in the next faculty council meeting on Tuesday, 26 
January*.


The reason for closure is the need to economize and to cut a professor's 
position at the level of the Philosophical Faculty (12 institutes, 
10,000 students). However, unlike at other institutes, the cut of a 
professor in information science would entail the *closure of the whole 
department, affecting four degree programs, more than 10 university 
lecturers and almost 1,000 students*, as Prof. Stock is the only full 
information science professor in Düsseldorf.


The imminent closure represents a *great loss not only for the greater 
field of information science but also for bibliometrics research and 
education*. Bibliometrics and scientometrics are inherent parts of the 
curriculum in Düsseldorf. Alumni, doctoral students as well as BA and MA 
students frequently present their research at international conferences 
such as ISSI, STI and the ASIS&T SIG/MET workshop. Information science 
students from Düsseldorf also play a role in bibliometric analyses for 
research funders and universities, as the research center in Jülich 
involves them in bibliometric contract work.


I consider the planned closure short-sighted, ill-conceived and 
disastrous for information science and bibliometric education and 
research in Germany and Europe.


As an alumna  I strongly oppose the dean's decision to cut Prof. Stock's 
position and close the department and kindly *ask for your support*:


The student body has started an *online petition* to protest against the 
closure, which has already gathered more than 700 signatures: 
change.org/saveIWS <http://change.org/saveIWS>


My colleagues Dirk Lewandowski, Jasmin Schmitz, Violeta Trkulja, Katrin 
Wellerand I have issued a *request for support letters from the 
community *to the university president and the dean to convince them to 
stop the intended closure.


An English translation of their open letter can be found here: 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/19Mm1Fli724z05miSdsh2n6q910SlqvhxsJXCUoB2520/edit?usp=sharing


*Please help us to protest against the closure of the Department of 
Information Science by signing the petition, writing a letter and 
sharing this information with your colleagues.*

*
*

Kind regards from Kiel,

Isabella Peters


PS: Further information in German can be found here:

https://www.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/studium/fachschaften/informationswissenschaft/news/newsdetails/offener-brief-bzgl-der-einstellung-der-informationswissenschaftlichen-studiengaenge-3825/

http://libreas.tumblr.com/

http://www.infobroker.de/blog/informationswissenschaften-in-duesseldorf-vor-dem-aus/

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OvqCP3SHFC-cEXOQ5WJAzLfFvAoEvBfEZ2AVQ6Ao5jI/edit?usp=sharing



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