althoffkonsortium

About us

Friedrich-Althoff-Konsortium e.V. is the regional consortium for Berlin and Brandenburg.
Scientific institutions of the federal states of Berlin and Brandenburg have joined together in Friedrich-Althoff-Konsortium e.V. as a registered non-profit association in order to provide scientific information from electronic publications to its users. For this purpose, the organizational infrastructure is built and the development of the technical infrastructure is advanced in cooperation with the regional network for cooperative library services (Kooperativer Bibliotheksverbund – KOBV).

Friedrich-Althoff-Konsortium e.V. aims to:

• strengthen the information supply in the region.
• improve its members’ market position.

A couple of federal institutions are associated members or represented in the consortium with guest status.

FAK is a member of the national and international working community of the following consortia:

• German, Austrian and Swiss Consortia Organization (GASCO)
• International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC).

The aim of the consortium is to:

• jointly acquire electronic publications (at first primarily electronic journals),
• archive them and make them permanently available for use in cooperation with other institutions, in particular with KOBV,
• index them and/or make them permanently searchable, either independently or in cooperation with other libraries or consortia,
• support Internet-based non-commercial projects for the preparation and distribution of electronic publications and include them in the overall service,
• create the organizational prerequisites for an uncomplicated and comprehensive access for authorized users as well as remove potential access barriers,
• maintain and extend the information offered in the region.

The consortium aims to facilitate access to electronic information for libraries in the region and to open up the opportunity for them to offer their own services as a virtual library according to their own service spectrum.

When choosing its name giver, Friedrich Theodor Althoff (1839-1908), Friedrich-Althoff-Konsortium e.V. has deliberately taken up the tradition of the greatest reformer of German librarianship. If you want to find out more about the life and work of Althoff, please refer to the corresponding Wikipedia entry.

Even if you are not a member of FAK, you may support its work or participate in the contracts of the Althoff Consortium. You may also become a member without being involved in contracts.

Currently about 100 universities and universities of applied sciences from other federal states as well as about 120 institutions of the Helmholtz- and Leibniz-Gemeinschaft, Fraunhofer- and Max-Planck-Gesellschaft as well as the Federal Government and other agencies participate in individual contracts.

Meetings of the Althoff Consortium are regularly attended by guests who get involved in the discussion. The meetings are open to representatives of the library profession (in the region).

For interested employees from institutions in the Berlin-Brandenburg region who would like to obtain information about the consortium and are not members of the Friedrich-Althoff-Konsortiums, there is also the possibility to be included in the FAK mailing list. Simply write us an e-mail to fak-office at zib dot de.

Members

A list of members of the registered non-profit association Friedrich-Althoff-Konsortium e.V. (FAK) can be found under Mitglieder.

Licensed Products

A list with our licensed products and detailed information can be found under Lizenzierte Produkte and Details.

Contacts

In tab Kontakte  you can find contact persons and contact information of our current board and the office of the Friedrich-Althoff-Konsortium.
The office of Friedrich-Althoff-Konsortiums e.V. (FAK) is in charge of the Executive Committee and supports it in determining the demand situation, market observation and fulfillment of contracts; it is associated to the head office of the Kooperativer Bibliotheksverbundes (KOBV). In addition, FAK cooperates with the KOBV-Zentrale in making available and enabling use of resources acquired by FAK.

News

In this section you can find information on FAK meeting schedules, upcoming events as well as further information about the work of the consortia.

Liability and Privacy

Although we carefully revise all texts we assume no liability for the contents of external links for which solely the external provider is responsible. In case our Internet offer provides the option to enter personal or business data (e.g. e-mail addresses, names, addresses), it is deemed to be agreed that the user expressly voluntarily reveals such data. You can find detailed information about data protection at FAK in the Datenschutzerklärung. If you have any questions or problems, please contact the responsible persons mentioned in the Impressum.