Klaus Tochtermann studied Computer Science and earned his diploma degree in 1991 from Dortmund University. He wrote his doctoral thesis in the field of formal models for hypermedia and Internet-based services and passed his doctor's degree in 1995. In 2002 he passed his post-doctoral thesis (habilitation) entitled "Personalisation in the Context of Digital Libraries and Knowledge Management".

From 1991 to 1996 Klaus Tochtermann worked as a scientist at the Chair of Informatics 1 at Dortmund University. In 1996 he received a scholarship of the Max-Kade Foundation, Inc. USA and spent his post-doc at the Center for the Studies of Digital Libraries at the A&M University in Texas (USA). During this time he conducted studies in the field of digital libraries and Internet-based applications and services for digital libraries. From 1997 to 2000 he was deputy department head and department head for Environmental Information Systems at the FAW Ulm (Germany). Since October 2000 he has been the director of Austria's first industry-based research institute on knowledge management Know-Center (www.know-center.at). The work of the Know-Center includes projects on knowledge management, knowledge relationship discovery, semantic technologies, workplace-integrated learning, and Web 2.0. In 2004 he was appointed as professor for knowledge management at Graz University of Technology.

Since 2010 Klaus Tochtermann has been director of the German National Library for Economics (ZBW) and professor for media informatics at Kiel University. His current research includes Web 2.0 and Social Media, Semantic Technologies, Knowledge Management, Future Internet.