ZB MED Information Centre for Life Sciences German National Library of Medicine Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Medizin

Overview

ZB MED – Information Centre for Life Sciences (Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Medizin) is Germany's national central library for medicine, health, nutrition, environmental sciences, and agricultural sciences. It is the world's largest specialist library in its five subject areas and the largest medical library in Europe. Operating from two locations in Cologne and Bonn, ZB MED is jointly financed by the Federal Ministry of Health and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, and has been a foundation under public law since 2014.

History and Founding

ZB MED's roots trace to two predecessor institutions: a hospital library established at the Academy of Practical Medicine in Cologne in 1908, and an agricultural library at the Royal Agricultural Academy in Bonn, founded in 1847. The Cologne library became a department of the University and City Library of Cologne in 1920, surviving World War II intact, and was granted nationwide responsibility for medical literature by the German Research Foundation (DFG) in 1948. The independent ZB MED was formally established in 1973 through the merger of Cologne's medical library with elements of the broader specialist library system. Its name was changed to Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Medizin in 1994. In 1999 the ZB MED moved to a dedicated building on the University Hospital of Cologne campus. The Bonn agricultural library (renamed Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Landbauwissenschaften in 1995) was incorporated into ZB MED in 2001–2003. In January 2014, ZB MED became an independent foundation under public law under the name ZB MED – Informationszentrum Lebenswissenschaften.

Collections and Holdings

ZB MED holds over 1.6 million volumes, with shelving spanning more than 38 kilometres, and subscribes to journals in all languages. It specialises in acquiring grey literature. Digital services include the LIVIVO search portal (over 59 million records from 45+ data sources), the PUBLISSO open-access publishing platform, and the German Medical Science (GMS) peer-reviewed open access platform co-founded in 2003. ZB MED is a DOI registration agency as a member of DataCite, in cooperation with TIB Hannover.

Access and Usage

Physical access is free of charge at the Cologne site (medicine and health) and the Bonn site on the Poppelsdorf campus (nutrition, environmental, and agricultural sciences). Remote access to electronic resources is available for registered users. More information at www.zbmed.de.