Print version Recommend this page Press release
10/ 2009
Bonn, 19.03.2009
Top marks for BIBB's Berufliche Bildung vocational training literature database
It's hard to imagine doing vocational training research without the Berufliche Bildung vocational training literature database (LDBB) of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB). The vast majority (88%) of the respondents in an Internet-basedBIBB survey of LDBB users say the database is "useful" or "very useful" for their work. Some two-thirds said the LDBB is "good" or even "perfect". More than three-quarters of the respondents give the search results very good notes for accuracy and pertinence.
The literature documentation search service and the selected bibliographies on vocational education and training topics are also very popular. Fifteen bibliographies have been published since 2005. Topics include "Transitions: Youths at the first and second threshold", "Permeability in the education system" and "Demographic change and vocational education and training". The survey also revealed that most of the respondents used not only the LDBB but also the BIBB portal and BIBB's Kommunikations- und Informationssystem Berufliche Bildung (Communications and Information System for Vocational Training) system - http://www.kibb.de/ .
For Professor Dr Reinhold Weiß, head of research at BIBB, the findings underscore the LDBB's special standing in the expert information scene. "The LDBB is the only literature database that covers the entire spectrum of vocational education and training and vocational training research in Germany. It combines up-to-date bibliographic references with high-quality analysis and is consequently invaluable to researchers," Professor Weiß noted. He also pointed out that the good results from the survey are an incentive for BIBB to continue optimising the LDBB. Plans foresee improved navigation and greater user-friendliness. The number of access licenses is also to be increased due to the growing number of searches.
Since the early 1990s, the LDBB has systematically documented German-language specialist literature on vocational education and training and on vocational training research dating back to 1988. With its some 50,000 bibliographic references, the LDBB offers a comprehensive, structured survey of available knowledge. The LDBB began offering free online search capability in 2005. It has been accessed more than 80,000 times since then. This project is supported by the AG BFN vocational education and training research network which includes the Institute for Employment Research, the Vocational and Business Pedagogics division of the Germany Society for Education Science, state institutes and a number of other research bodies. Other collaborative partners are the German Education Portal and the Austrian Institute for Vocational Training Research (öibf).
For further information, please see http://www.ldbb.de/
Point of contact at BIBB: Markus Linten, Tel.: +49 (0) 228 107 2130
