ZB MED – Information Centre for Life Sciences
The German National Library of Medicine ZB MED – Information Centre for Life Sciences is a cornerstone of German and European information infrastructure and a key partner to the life sciences sector, covering the full range of disciplines from medicine and biodiversity to environmental protection. Originally formed from the Medical Department of the University and City Library of Cologne, ZB MED’s mission is to support researchers in acquiring new information and insights. It does this by providing access to its collections, new acquisitions, databases and research data, both at its sites in Cologne and Bonn and on a nationwide basis. ZB MED offers digital, value-added services through the semantic-based search portal LIVIVO and the open access publishing portal PUBLISSO. A key part of its mission is to help foster and promote information and data literacy. ZB MED carries out its own applied research in the life sciences using data science methods. Its goal is to acquire new insights and develop new offerings for research in the life sciences arena. By aggregating, utilising and linking heterogeneous data, information and literature, researchers at ZB MED pave the way for new approaches to research. Their primary focus lies on semantic-based methods, automated processes and text and data mining. One of ZB MED’s top priorities is to promote open research in all its different facets, from FAIR and open data to open access and open source.
ZB MED demonstrates its commitment to the principles of open access by providing comprehensive support wherever it can. PUBLISSO is ZB MED’s open access publishing portal for the life sciences. It is aimed at all researchers in life sciences disciplines who would like to make the content of their work freely accessible.
PUBLISSO also offers free advice and workshops on all issues relating to open access, digital publishing and research data management. ZB MED fosters a continuous exchange of knowledge with all the life sciences communities. Its goal is to achieve the right combination of expertise to develop products that meet users' real-life needs by drawing on the latest technical developments.
Competencies and priorities in the field of digital preservation
ZB MED is working in the field of digital preservation in order to preserve the digital heritage of the life sciences for the long term. Its goal is to ensure that digital objects of the life sciences remain interpretable and retrievable above and beyond the lifespan of specific hardware and software. ZB MED’s institutional guidelines on digital preservation are outlined in its Preservation Policy .
ZB MED's digital preservation team includes experts with core competencies in the fields of library systems, information science and IT. ZB MED holds a heterogeneous collection of data consisting of many different types of objects, including text-based publications, research data, multimedia resources and websites. The team develops a range of different solutions to digitally preserve documents. These solutions are tailored to the different types of information involved in each specific case.
Together with its partners TIB and ZBW, ZB MED uses the Rosetta digital preservation system as the technical infrastructure for the solutions it develops. It also plays an active part in relevant communities such as the German Rosetta User Group (DRAG) and the Rosetta User Group (RUG).
See the following web page for more information: https://www.publisso.de/en/digital-preservation/dp-at-zb-med/
Activities in nestor
Coordination group
nestor working group on format recognition
nestor working group on research data
nestor working group on the specification of SIPs
ZB MED regularly participates in nestor events with contributions of its own.
Contact
Dr. Katharina Markus
(Head of Digital Preservation Department)
ZB MED - Information Centre for Life Sciences
Gleueler Strasse 60
50931 Cologne, Germany
E-mail: markus@zbmed.de
Prof. Dr. Ursula Arning
(Head of the “Open Access – Digital Preservation – Research Data Management” group)
ZB MED - Information Centre for Life Sciences
Gleueler Strasse 60
50931 Cologne, Germany
E-mail: arning@zbmed.de
Phone +49 (0)221 478-5603
