Meet Elisabeth Niggemann, elected Chairman of Europeana Foundation
We are delighted to announce that Elisabeth Niggemann, Director General of Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, was elected as the new Chair of the Europeana Foundation on 28 September 2017, taking over from Jan Müller.
- Title:
- Photo of Elisabeth Niggemann - CC-BY-Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, Stephan Jockel
- Creator:
- Stephan Jockel
- Institution:
- Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
- Copyright:
- CC BY
Elisabeth was the first chair of the Europeana Foundation between 2007 and 2011, launching and consolidating Europeana. Her election comes at a significant moment in the development of Europeana towards procurement, its new funding mechanism under the current European Commission’s multiannual financial framework. She will lead the Board of the Foundation towards fulfilling the great promise of all-embracing access to cultural heritage, with determination and, in her own words, vision for a sustainable Europeana which ‘shares our rich and diverse common heritage, preserves this heritage for future generations, protects the interests of European creators, nurtures creativity, contributes to education and spurs innovation and entrepreneurship.’ Elisabeth is a co-author of The New Renaissance a report of the ‘Comité des Sages’ on Bringing Europe's Cultural Heritage Online. We are excited to welcome her back and work together with her for wider access to culture and knowledge.
Elisabeth has led the German National Library as Director General since 1999. The German National Library is one of the main pillars to the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek (DDB) and host to the service desk and the project coordination. Being an important national contribution to realise the shared vision of free access to cultural heritage, the DDB is an important partner to Europeana. Both already co-operate in many fields. In 2010 Elisabeth was a member of the Comité des Sages. She is currently a member of the Conference of European National Librarians which she chaired between 2005 and 2011. She was a member of the OCLC Board of Trustees from 2005 to 2012. She is also an editor of the Zeitschrift für Bibliothekswesen und Bibliographie.
Elisabeth succeeds Jan Müller, former CEO of Beeld en Geluid and former President of FIAT/IFTA, who is now leading the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia. Jan’s contributions to Europeana have been remarkable. We thank him for being a leader in our mission. Jan will remain an ambassador for Europeana and will support and promote Europeana from afar.