TIB Leibniz Information Centre for Science and Technology German National Library of Science and Technology Technische Informationsbibliothek

Overview

The German National Library of Science and Technology (Technische Informationsbibliothek; TIB), also known as TIB – Leibniz Information Centre for Science and Technology and University Library, is Germany's national library for all fields of engineering, technology, and the natural sciences, including architecture, chemistry, computer science, mathematics, and physics. It also serves as the university library for Leibniz Universität Hannover. TIB is a public-law foundation of the State of Lower Saxony and a member of the Leibniz Association, jointly funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the 16 German states.

History and Founding

The precursor of today's TIB can be traced to the library of the Höhere Gewerbeschule zu Hannover (Higher Technical School), founded in 1831. The Technische Informationsbibliothek was formally established in 1959 as a central specialist library for technology and the natural sciences. A dedicated library building was constructed in 1965. The TIB was continuously expanded through the following decades. In 2005 it became the world's first Digital Object Identifier (DOI) registration agency for research datasets in technology, natural sciences, and medicine. Since 1 January 2016, TIB has operated as an independent public-law foundation of the State of Lower Saxony, merging with the University Library of Leibniz Universität Hannover.

Collections and Holdings

With approximately 10 million media units (as of 2022), TIB is the world's largest technology and natural science library. It holds an extensive collection of grey literature—reports, standards, norms, patents, conference proceedings, dissertations, and government research papers—as well as a large collection of scientific audiovisual materials previously held by IWF Knowledge and Media. Special collections include the Albrecht Haupt Collection of architectural drawings and regional focus on technical literature from East Asia and Eastern Europe. TIB operates the Open Research Knowledge Graph (ORKG), supported by an ERC Consolidator Grant. It is part of the Goportis consortium with ZBW and ZB MED.

Access and Usage

Services are available at www.tib.eu. Physical reading rooms and workstations are located at the main building at Welfengarten 1 B, Hannover. TIB participates in the German interlibrary loan system and provides document delivery services.