Laureates

Students Ioanna Danai Katsougiannopoulou and Ha-Thao-Suong Vu from the Department of Information Sciences at Potsdam University of Applied Sciences have been honoured with the prestigious b.i.t. online innovation award for their outstanding project "Queer Treasury - specialist database for academic literature on the topic of queer". The award ceremony took place on 25/06/2025 as part of the 9th Library Congress in Bremen.

"Queer Treasury" aims to create a central information infrastructure on queer topics that will benefit academics, educational and social workers, queer organisations and interested parties in particular. An existing information gap is to be closed by systematically recording and providing both scientific publications and grey literature. The project impressed the jury with its relevance in terms of content, its high methodological quality and its significant contribution to society.

A special feature of the project is the development of a controlled vocabulary on the topic of queer, which enables a differentiated and systematic search and is currently lacking in German-speaking countries. "Queer Treasury" thus not only supports academic work, but also contributes to the visibility and acceptance of queer realities.

Professor Dr Veit Köppen praised the project as an impressive example of how information science knowledge and social commitment can be effectively combined and emphasised the innovative power of the students. The b.i.t. online innovation prize is awarded annually by the Berufsverband Information Bibliothek e. V. (BIB) in co-operation with the trade journal b.i.t. online and is endowed with 500 euros. The award recognises outstanding student work in the field of libraries, information and documentation.

After all three innovation prizes awarded by the library journal b.i.t.online at last year's German Librarians' Day went to final theses from Potsdam, a graduate from Potsdam is being honoured again this year. Janet Wagner completed her bachelor's degree last year after completing the part-time "distance learning" programme at the Department of Information Sciences, which prepared her for her studies, with a thesis on the topic: "Movement promotes learning - new offers at the library as a place of learning, illustrated using the example of the Philological Library".

Her research focussed on what libraries can offer to support users' learning and concentration. Movement-promoting offers can be used before, during or after intensive learning phases to increase concentration and create a stimulating learning environment.

Learning, reading and studying normally take place in a seated position. Lately, the library as a place of learning is no longer just a quiet, immobile room monitored by a strict librarian. Increasingly, libraries are responding to the fact that this place should be attractive, stimulating and conducive to creativity. And as Goethe the stroller already knew, movement promotes the mind and learning.

The work "Movement promotes learning", supervised by Prof. Dr Stephan Büttner (FHP) and Sabine Wolf (Schillerbibliothek, Berlin), examines the question of which movement-promoting equipment is possible for the place of learning and which possible uses result from this. Whether a new library building or a remodelling of the learning space without structural changes: various devices for movement and/or simultaneous study can stimulate learning and increase concentration. With these utilisation options, libraries can actively contribute to combating the "sedentary society" and, in the best case, achieve a unique selling point for their institution. Practical examples from the Anglo-American region convince with studies and opinion polls that movement-promoting equipment is appreciated and permanently used at the place of learning.

Using the concrete example of a four-week test installation of a power-generating bike in the reading room of the Philological Library of the Free University of Berlin, the necessary preliminary considerations were made in order to be able to realise this usage offer (see picture). While cycling at the bike desk, the mobile device being used can be charged at the same time. In addition to the exercise, the sustainable generation of electricity is a bonus that leads to a positive personal experience and thus demonstrably promotes learning in the library.

More information: the project as a contribution to the 2030 Agenda "Sustainable Development Goals": the Bikedesk in action: www.biblio2030.de/bewegung-foerdert-lernen-philologische-bibliothek-fu-berlin/

This year, for the first time in its 21-year history, the b.i.t.online Innovation Award was presented to three graduates from the same university. In January 2019, the jury announced that Ms Carmen Krause, Ms Sophia Paplowski and Ms Denise Rudolph from the Potsdam University of Applied Sciences would receive the coveted award for their respective bachelor's theses in Library Management.

Carmen Krause
Carmen Krause is one of the three winners of the b.i.t.online Innovation Award 2019. She impressed the jury of the Berufsverband Bibliothek Information e. V. (Professional Library Information Association) with her outstanding bachelor's thesis entitled "Internet of Things: Potential for Libraries".
In this thesis, whose presentation won Ms Krause the Best Presentation Award at the 9th Student Workshop for Information Science Research, a very topical issue - the practical relevance and future potential of IoT (Internet of Things) in libraries - is addressed in an exemplary scientific manner. The result is relevant both for information science researchers, who have a comprehensive literature overview on the topic of IoT in libraries as of 2018, and for practitioners in libraries who may be faced with a strategic investment decision in favour of or against IoT infrastructures. The work can be unreservedly recommended to these groups of people as an empirically robust basis.
First reviewer: Prof. Dr Günther Neher (FH Potsdam),
Second reviewer: Prof. Dr Hans-Christoph Hobohm (FH Potsdam)

Sophia Paplowski
The research question that Ms Paplowski asked herself in her thesis "Beacons in libraries: An overview of the practical application possibilities of indoor navigation in libraries and the response of users" was whether beacon technology is a practical solution for indoor navigation in libraries or whether it has further application options. Using qualitative expert interviews, Ms Paplowski also evaluated factors such as building size and staffing issues. Further development options and future fields of application in libraries were given a great deal of attention. Ms Paplowski thus looked far beyond her research question. Ms Paplowski concludes that beacons should not be used solely for navigation purposes and that their use is worthwhile for both WBs and public libraries.
First reviewer: Prof. Dr Stephan Büttner (FH Potsdam),
Second reviewer: Dipl.-Bibl. Sabine Wolf (Head of Training at the City Library Centre, VÖBB)

Denise Rudolph
Denise Rudolph completed her Bachelor's thesis in the 2017/2018 winter semester on the topic of "Coding events in children's and youth libraries. Recommendations for action for public libraries in Germany" in the Library Management degree programme at Potsdam University of Applied Sciences. The aim of the thesis was to develop a recommendation for the implementation of coding events with children and young people. Denise Rudolph's bachelor's thesis, which was very carefully prepared in terms of methodology and form, deals with an innovative topic for the further development of library services. By presenting the possibilities for cooperation between science and practice in the introduction of "Open Roberta", by analysing the conditions for success and barriers to the introduction of coding events on the basis of expert interviews and by developing recommendations for action, it makes an important contribution to the implementation of coding events in the range of services offered by public libraries.
First reviewer: Prof. Dr Antje Michel (FH Potsdam),
Second reviewer: Danilo Vetter, M. A. (Head of Pankow City Library, VÖBB)

Eva May, a graduate of the Bachelor's degree programme in Library Management, won over the prize committee of the "Berufsverband Bibliothek Information e.V.", which awards the b.i.t.online Innovation Prize annually at the Bibliothekartag. In 2017, this took place in Frankfurt am Main. Ms May received the award together with two other papers from our partner institute at the Humboldt University of Berlin.

In her work "Academic Libraries and Urban Development", supervised by Prof. Dr Hans-Christoph Hobohm, she demonstrates the central role that university and research libraries can also play in the urban world. Examples from Copenhagen, Barcelona, Utrecht and also Wildau demonstrate that the function of libraries to promote society through networking and the broadening of knowledge applies not only to the more accessible city libraries, but also to the information infrastructure facilities of "high" science. For the first time, Mrs May succeeds in both translating approaches from Danish library science into German and expanding them in terms of subject matter.

Steffi Derenz (M. A. Information Science) was honoured by Brandenburg's Minister of Science Martina Münch on 23 /11/2017 as the best student of the year on the Master's degree programme in Information Science as part of the MWFK's PostDoc Award.

Her Master's thesis was supervised by Prof Dr Hans-Christoph Hobohm and Prof Dr Rolf Däßler and is entitled "Data Science aus Sicht informationswissenschaftlicher Forschung. A Systematic Review".