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

[Andrea Scharnhorst]

Dear Stefanie,
This is a nightmare! Duesseldorf has always been special by bridging between ‘traditional' information science (in Germany the Information Documentation Community), information professionals and new areas in the information sciences, such as altmetrics and semantic web. I have sign the petition, and will send a letter tomorrow.

Dear colleagues,
I realise that this call for support comes on very short notice. But, I would like to join Stefanie’s call. In the ASIST sigmetrics group, alumni of this university are continuously very active. Many ASIST members will know Wolfgang Stock and might still remember his and Isabella’s presentation about German information science at the ASIST history workshop! Please make time and give your support! The closing of this department not only effects Duesseldorf, or Germany – it effects us all.

Greetings
Andrea Scharnhorst
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences

From: SIGMETRICS on behalf of Stefanie Haustein
Date: Saturday 23 January 2016 at 15:20
To: "SIGMETRICS at mail.asis.org<mailto:SIGMETRICS at mail.asis.org>"
Subject: [Sigmetrics] Online petition and support letters to prevent closure of Department of Information Science at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

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<http://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<mailto:stefanie.haustein at umontreal.ca>
web: http://crc.ebsi.umontreal.ca
Twitter: @stefhaustein

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