Case Study: Bibliographisches Institut & F.A. Brockhaus AG achieves a centralized, searchable collective memory and faster editorial workflows with DocuWare

Collective Memory for Knowledge Experts

Bibliographisches Institut & F.A. Brockhaus AG (BIFAB), a traditional German publisher of encyclopedias, dictionaries and reference works, faced fragmented knowledge stored in individual card indexes, a paper contract archive and hard-to-search historical bibliographies and readers’ queries. Editors and external contributors in Mannheim and Leipzig needed faster, full‑text access from workstations and remote sites to eliminate information islands and speed up research and customer responses.

BIFAB implemented DocuWare to create a central, web‑accessible document pool with four archives (documentation, historical bibliographies, readers’ queries and contracts), scanned and indexed (around 58,000 pages, including ~15,000 contracts) and available via full‑text search. The system cut search times, protected rare volumes, improved customer service and teleworking flexibility, reduced storage costs and improved staff productivity and job satisfaction.

Bibliographisches Institut & F.A.

Sascha Hoening

Project Manager