[Sigmetrics] Online petition and support letters to prevent closure of Department of Information Science at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

[Stefanie Haustein]

Dear colleagues,

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 and visiting lecturer 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 600 signatures:
change.org/saveIWS

My colleagues Dirk Lewandowski, Isabella Peters, Jasmin Schmitz, Violeta
Trkulja and Katrin Weller 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 Montreal,

Stefanie Haustein


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

My open letter to the dean and faculty council:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0mR4evCwd4KOG5KMVlEUXl5M2M/view?usp=sharing

____________________________________________________________________
________________
Dr. Stefanie Haustein

Postdoctoral Researcher
Canada Research Chair on the Transformations of Scholarly Communication
École de bibliothéconomie et des sciences de l’information (EBSI)
Université de Montréal

e-mail: stefanie.haustein at umontreal.ca
web: http://crc.ebsi.umontreal.ca
Twitter: @stefhaustein
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