2009, April 1 - Reutlingen, Germany. With the new "Jacob-und-Wilhelm-Grimm-Zentrum", the library and the computer and media service of the Humboldt University in Berlin have collaborated to create a modern information and communication center for its location in the city's central district Mitte. As of October 2009, up to 2 million media will be available, making the center one of the biggest open-access collections in Germany. In the course of this year the collections of 12 branches and sub-sections in the fields of humanities, cultural sciences, social sciences and economics will be brought together at this new site.

At the Jacob-und-Wilhelm-Grimm-Zentrum, Bibliotheca RFID Library Systems Reutlingen will be installing an RFID hybrid system which is unique in terms of size and customer specifications. All other sites will not have hybrid systems but be fitted with RFID components only. In the course of 2009, the science branch in Adlershof, the Campus Nord branch in Mitte and the law branch will switch over. All other branches will follow by 2012. All in all, RFID labels will be applied to some five million media units at all of the library's sites. The plan is to integrate the entire network into the library system Aleph 500.

Even the entrance to the new Grimm Center is an exciting challenge in terms of media security, with a width of 7.40 meters. A specially created hybrid BiblioGate with eight antennae will be able to identify RFID and EM media at the same time. The six automatic check-out stations are also entirely new in terms of design and functional features. EM and RFID labels will be booked and released at the hybrid devices in a single operation. What is more, the barcode reader will be applied to the stations as movable arms, allowing convenient scanning of the barcodes on the enrollment certificates which serve as identification for university library users.

"The use of RFID is an essential element of the planned modernization alongside a contemporary service structure, so as to ensure information provision for an outstanding university in the 21st century. With RFID we are primarily aiming to achieve daily opening of the Grimm Center until midnight, as well as improved media security," comments Anke Berghaus-Sprengel, Head of the Branch Library Department and project coordinator.