The resources of the centre can be surveyed and analyzed on Institute monitor facilities. Borrowing is possible only in justifiably exceptional cases: for example, to prepare Institute courses, for students' final academic papers, or for research purposes. An Internet-linked resource-centre catalogue is currently in the testing stage.

The Multimedia Resource Centre comprises at present some 20,000 titles, which are for the most part recorded on video cassettes. In addition to an extensive collection of historically and aesthetically important film titles, the centre has a wide range of current and historical television programmes. The collection of digital media resources - interactive media art, for example - is being built up.

With the introduction of tiered courses of study (B.A., M.A.), the importance of audiovisual media and of interactive learning and teaching materials for the subjects and courses offered by the faculty of language and literature of the Ruhr University will continue to increase. It is planned to offer students of all faculties who are in the elective study phase modules (i.e. a combination of at least two inter-related courses) in the fields of visualization, multimedia presentation, and multimedia design, inter alia.

Preparations are underway to further develop and modernize the Multimedia Resource Centre, with the aim of improving the ways to utilize the currently available and the future media resources of the language and literature faculty. These endeavours centre on students' and teachers' working conditions, which are to be optimized by the digitalization of all essential resources.

By means of additional monitor facilities for small group work and after further development of the IT pool, media data and programmes of study, research, and teaching will be available at multimedia workstations. The extension of computer capacity will also be used to make the centre's resources (metadata) available on a Web server. The Institute for Media Studies will continue to be in charge of the development and management of the Multimedia Resource Centre.

The student body of the Institute for Media Studies runs an extra-curricular video club. By arrangement with all interested students, the club shows films that are outside the regular academic scope.

Students' own work and international video art projects are shown at the regular Bochum video festival. The productions are mostly by graduates of international film academies/colleges or by freelance video artists.

Information on the festival is available from
the cultural affairs section of the AStA (students' union) of the Ruhr University.
Tel: +49 (0)234 32-26902
www.videofestival.org
E-Mail: contact@videofestival.org

© 2002-2008 Netzwerk Mediatheken / Network of Multimedia Resource Centres