Informationsinfrastrukturen im Wandel. Changing ... - DINI

264 Andreas Degkwitz
Integrating Services at the BTU Cottbus Information,
Communications and Media Centre (ICMC)
1. Abstract
Andreas Degkwitz
Desktop computers and the Internet, laptops and wireless connections,
e-mails and WAP mobile phones have considerably changed the conditions
for research, teaching and studying. These developments call for a new
approach to the way we provide information and media at universities. New
services require new forms of organisation and co-operation. Integrated
services necessitate close co-ordination and co-operation with service providers.
At the Brandenburgische Technnische Universität, Cottbus (Brandenburg
Technical University of Cottbus – BTU Cottbus), a new central
institution, the Information, Communications and Media Centre (ICMC),
was established at the beginning of 2004 to unite the then separate library,
multimedia centre, computing centre and administration database under a
single Chief Information Officer (CIO). Consequently, the challenge now
lies in taking decisions and setting targets to optimise the information structure
and make organisational procedures more flexible. By doing this, we
can respond to the university‟s requirements by taking the appropriate
measures.
2. A brief description of the university
When the BTU Cottbus was founded in 1991, it was the only technical
university in the Land of Brandenburg. Nowadays, it has 5,000 students,
130 chairs distributed among four faculties and 24 study courses, which are
organised primarily on a modular basis. Approximately 25 per cent of its
students are foreign (coming from seventy-eight nations). The faculties
cover the following disciplines and fields: faculty 1: natural sciences,
mathematics and computer science; faculty 2: architecture, construction