Navigation and service

Go to:

Constanze Schumann

Constanze Schumann will be heading the Collections Domain starting 1 December 2025. The new domain will be responsible for all tasks related to growing, managing and safeguarding the German National Library’s analogue and digital collections. Following her studies in library science and modern and contemporary history at the Humboldt University in Berlin, Constanze Schumann worked at the Walter de Gruyter publishing house. She has been a staff member of the German National Library since 2010. She is currently the Head of the Collection Development and Descriptive Cataloguing Department of the German National Library.

Ulrike Junger

The head of the new Metadata Domain, starting 1 December 2025, is going to be Ulrike Junger. This domain will be in charge of intellectual and automated cataloguing of digital and analogous media, as well as standardisation issues, the Integrated Authority File, data services and the portal. She is currently the Head of the Acquisitions and Cataloguing Department of the German National Library. Before joining the German National Library in 2009, her professional activities included positions at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz and the Head Office of the GBV Common Library Network in Göttingen.

Susanne Theile

Susanne Theile will be heading the Access and Engagement Domain starting 1 December 2025. The new domain aims to make the offerings and services of the German National Library accessible and tangible for researchers, producers of knowledge, other institutions and the general public in a target-group oriented manner. She has been in charge of the library’s User Services and Collection Management Department since July 2024. In addition to being a qualified librarian, she holds an engineering degree in architecture and used to be the Director of the “Georgius Agricola” university library of TU Bergakademie Freiberg.

Kathrin Brannemann

Kathrin Brannemann has been appointed Director of the German National Library in Frankfurt. The Administrative Council of the German National Library appointed Ms Brannemann based on the selection committee’s recommendation.
Kathrin Brannemann is currently the Library Director of the Göttingen State and University Library (SUB Göttingen). In February 2026, she will succeed Ute Schwens who will retire after more than 25 successful years in this position.

Wolfgang Stille

On 1 July 2025, Wolfgang Stille took up the newly created post of Chief Information Officer (CIO) at the German National Library, thus assuming a significant part of the responsibility for the strategic further development of digitisation and information technology at the German National Library.
Wolfgang Stille brings extensive experience in the field of information technology and digitisation to his new role. He previously held the position of Chief Technology Officer at hessian.AI, where he played a key part in developing the centre's digital infrastructures and services. With his expertise in the fields of data management, high-performance computing and artificial intelligence, he is exceptionally well prepared to meet the challenges faced by the German National Library.

In memoriam

Reinhold Heuvelmann (1964-2024)

Reinhold Heuvelmann was born in Düsseldorf on 14 January 1964. After completing an internship preparing him for a career in the higher civil service in the state of Hesse, he began working in the descriptive cataloguing department of the Deutsche Bibliothek – as it was then known – in Frankfurt am Main on 1 October 1992.
In September 1995, he was assigned to what is now subject area IT.1.1, Basic Services, where he remained. From the very beginning, he focused first and foremost on the documentation, maintenance and further development of machine-based exchange formats for libraries and library networks. He familiarised himself with the previously unfamiliar world of bibliographic data formats at breathtaking speed, as if it was meant for him and had been waiting for him. His development from a technical employee and assistant in the corresponding IT staff unit to an outright expert in the German National Library's metadata exchange formats MAB and MARC 21 was therefore only logical as well as being a great stroke of good fortune – and not just for the DNB. Reinhold Heuvelmann's deep involvement in IT ensured that he always kept his feet firmly on the ground, which – as he said himself – was an important and indispensable requirement for his work. His presentations on a wide variety of metadata topics were noted for their enthusiasm and creativity; he made his point with a surprising choice of images and was able to captivate his listeners even when the topic was actually quite dry. He treated every audience with respect and had the gift of making even complex material easy to understand. He would use impressive LEGO models to explain the different layers of metadata.
Both the German National Library and the national and international working groups and committees he worked with have lost a widely respected and competent colleague together with the expertise he brought to the table. He was the acknowledged MARC 21 expert in the German-speaking countries. However, as the leader of the data format expert group established by the Committee for Library Standards, he was particularly keen to follow and contribute to the further development of exchange formats. He was for example involved in the international BIBFRAME initiative for the development of linked data structures that will replace MARC 21 in the long term. Reinhold Heuvelmann's participation in the American library community's conferences, his involvement with the the American Library Association (ALA) and the fact that he was the only German-speaking member of the MARC Advisory Committee and MARC Steering Group all testify to his high standing in the library world; he saw these roles as both a great honour and a great responsibility. Along with his work at the DNB, he drew the greatest strength and support from his family. Regular rituals such as his annual get-together with his brothers were extremely important to him and helped him replenish his energy.
Reinhold Heuvelmann was a sincere and reliable colleague with a wonderful sense of humour. His systematic, conscientious, careful nature and his ability to delve deep into detail were invaluable assets, particularly in his line of work. He navigated the world of national and international committee work and its at times conflicting interests with remarkable assurance and unflappable aplomb. His self-critical, self-reflective attitude enabled him to keep on working on himself and developing throughout his life. His appreciation of his colleagues will never be forgotten.
Reinhold Heuvelmann will be greatly missed!
Reinhold Heuvelmann's funeral will take place in the funeral hall of the main cemetery in Frankfurt on 11 November 2024 at 12:45.

Last changes: 02.07.2025

to the top