On 17 June 2026, the first regular meeting of NFDI4Culture with the Specialist Information Services (FID) Network (AG FID) took place as an online event from 10.30 am to 12.30 pm. With this newly established forum for exchange, NFDI4Culture aims to intensify regular networking with the Specialist Information Services (FID), make more targeted use of synergies, avoid duplication and sustainably strengthen the flow of information between the participating stakeholders.

Furthermore, the regular meeting aims, in particular, to involve regional specialist information services more closely, so that they can contribute their expertise and thematically relevant collections to the shared infrastructure.

The inaugural event met with great interest: a total of 43 people took part. Representatives from 21 specialist information services were present, along with other institutions, including the Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (ZBW).

Following the welcome and a round of introductions, moderated by Maria Effinger (NFDI4Culture / FID arthistoricum.net / Heidelberg University Library) and Franziska Voß (NFDI4Culture / FID Performing Arts / Johann Christian Senckenberg University Library), the programme focused on two key themes.

Anastasia Wawilow and Sven Peter presented the NFDI4Culture “Registry for Tools & Services” and discussed prospects for its further development with the participants. It became clear that regional specialist information services, in particular, hold collections and materials that are of great relevance to NFDI4Culture. Against this background, the Registry is to be opened up to these FIDs as well.

In the second presentation, Melanie Gruß, Arne Mrotzek, Ina Blümel and Kolja Bailly gave an introduction to the ‘Wikibase4Research’ service, using the Performing Arts Thesaurus (PAT) and the Performing Arts Database (PAD) as examples. In this joint project, suitable infrastructures are being implemented within NFDI4Culture to meet long-standing research needs in theatre and dance studies, in cooperation with the Institute for Theatre Studies at the University of Leipzig, the FID for the Performing Arts and the TIB Hannover. Specifically, the project involves modelling events (productions, performances), making these available via a database, and establishing a subject thesaurus intended to serve as a common anchor point within the performing arts domain for cataloguing in memory institutions and for research data management. During the discussion, it became clear that there is a desire to continue the exchange on Wikibase, particularly from the perspective of those FIDs that also work with domain-specific vocabularies.

The presentations met with great interest and prompted a great deal of feedback, as well as a lively and constructive discussion.

NFDI4Culture would like to thank all participants for their enthusiastic engagement and looks forward to continuing this new series of events.

The next meeting is planned for late 2026 / early 2027 and will be announced in good time on the NFDI4Culture website. Suggestions for presentations and topics for future regular meetings are very welcome.

The presentation slides from the first event are available here:

• The NFDI4Culture Registry: A registry for research tools and data services  
• From archives to databases – critical infrastructure projects at the intersection of open source and linked data cultures  
• An introduction to Wikibase using the Performing Arts Thesaurus (PAT) and the Performing Arts Database (PAD) as examples