On 19 May 2025, Prof. Dr. Eric Steinhauer (Hagen) gave a lecture on the topic “Strukturprobleme des digitalen kulturellen Gedächtnisses – am Beispiel des neuen niedersächsischen Pflichtexemplargesetzes” (“Structural problems of digital cultural memory – using the example of the new law on deposit copies in Lower Saxony”) (in German).

The lecture dealt with the question of how digital publications, and especially online publications, can be permanently archived and made accessible. Based on the recently passed law from Lower Saxony, the challenges for the digital collection obligation of libraries were highlighted. A particular focus was on copyright issues. It was also discussed how the existing legal framework affects digital cultural memory as a whole. In a broader sense, the focus was on the tensions between the cultural obligation to preserve, legal control and digital transience.

Prof. Dr. Eric Steinhauer is head of Hagen University Library and holds an honorary professorship at Humboldt University in Berlin. As a permanent fellow of the Centre for Advanced Study “Access to Cultural Goods in Digital Change”, he is particularly concerned with cultural heritage institutions and cultural memory in the digital transformation as well as with cultural, information and access rights.