Text:
Frank den Hollander
Gretha Landman
(unless stated otherwise)

Photography:
Pieter Dol
(unless stated otherwise)

Design and technology:
Floris de Jonge, designer

Questions/comments:
communicatie-bibliotheek@rug.nl

These international students were as always very interested in what the library had to offer them.

Director Marjolein Nieboer told those present in the lobby once again exactly what these house rules are. During the week the users were given beer, sorry water, mats with a summary of the house rules on them in Dutch and English.

Cabinets had also been placed in the lobby containing all the things that had been left behind in the library since 1 January 2012: dozens of USB sticks, gloves, books – even glasses.

There was also a glass tank containing all the cigarette butts that were put out in one week on the rooftop terrace of the University Library – i.e. right next to the rubbish bins.

Sessions held in 2012

1. Retrodigitization Project (27 March 2012)
2. Data and account management (18 April 2012)
3. Google (15 May 2012)
4. Web-usability (25 September 2012)
5. METIS (31 October 2012)
6. Google-2 (18 December 2012)

The following topics will be considered in 2013: E-books, the new way of working and flexible workspace, Open Access, PhD regulations, Apps, making digital collections available.

Members of the workgroup:
Gretha Landman, Dorien van Rheenen, Jitka Vavra, Hilda Schram, Gert-Jan Bokdam

Alex Klugkist studied Theology and Semitic Languages at the University of Groningen. This was followed by a short academic career in Groningen and Göttingen. He was director of the Central Applications and Placement Office (Centraal Bureau voor Aanmelding en Plaatsing; CBAP) for prospective first-year students from 1973 to 1976. This office had the task of implementing the numerus fixus act. He then held the post of head of administration of the Faculty of Arts in Groningen from 1976 to 1982.

Klugkist was awarded his PhD in 1982 for his dissertation on the development of the Aramaic script, and in the same year became deputy librarian at the University of Groningen Library. He joined the library management at a time in which information was increasingly appearing in electronic format, but in which the printed collection also continued to grow by about 50,000 volumes per year.

Alex Klugkist succeeded librarian Wim Koops on 1 October 1990. As librarian he continued the process of the automation of various library processes. The pace of developments in the library world began to accelerate: digitization of magazines and reference works, the rise of e-books, and in parallel the development of personal websites upon which academics could place their publications. The library tried to support this by setting up repositories to which a registration system for academic publications was linked. These were all global developments that the University of Groningen Library could not simply ignore despite its modest human and financial resources.

Caring
Alex Klugkist was above all a sociable and caring person, both at work and in his private life. A good example of this was his work for the university library in Ouagadougou, the capital of poverty-stricken Burkina Faso, which he visited several times to follow progress. The years before his retirement were dominated by a large reorganization, and he was at the inception of a plan for a new integrated library organization. The corresponding staffing plan was realized by the end of December 2009. The completion of the reorganization was a good moment for him to retire early. He left the implementation of the new organizational structure to his successor Marjolein Nieboer, and retired as librarian in January 2010.

Unfortunately, Klugkist did not have much time to enjoy his retirement: he was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in 2011. After an operation the disease initially appeared to be in remission, but complications arose this spring, which eventually proved fatal.

In recent years Alex Klugkist and his former colleague Sybren Sybrandy wrote the book Van knekelhuis tot kloppend hard, Geschiedenis van de Bibliotheek van de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, 1615 – 2010, a history of the University of Groningen Library. Unfortunately, he was unable to witness the publication of this momentous book: it was published in November 2012.

Alex Klugkist worked for the University of Groningen Library for over 25 years. The management and staff of the Library have much respect and appreciation for everything that he meant for them personally as well as for the Library and University of Groningen.
Alex Klugkist was 67 years old.