National Meteorological of Germany National Meteorological Library of Germany Published by

Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD) Frankfurter Strasse 135 63067 Offenbach am Main E-mail: [email protected] Tel. ++49 (0) 69 8062-4273

Idea and author Michael Goesch, with the assistance of Britta Bolzmann

Acknowledgement Deutscher Wetterdienst archive photos

Layout and print Atelier Maiberger, Stockstadt am Main

ISBN 978-3-88148-445-9 Self-published by the Deutscher Wetterdienst Published 2009, Offenbach am Main Introduction

The library wing of the new DWD headquarters in Offenbach

The DWD's move into its new headquarters the German Research Foundation's special building in 2008 also marked the 161st anniversary programme as early as 1949. The of the National Meteorological Library of reference library has since been responsible for Germany (Deutsche Meteorologische Bibliothek). collecting relevant international literature in the subject areas of meteorology/climatology and This removal to its own, newly designed facilities climate maps. was the library’s third major relocation after 1934 and 1957. The new library concept features a In addition to collecting specialist literature in greater use of its room for exhibitions and these areas, the library's tasks also include events and an attractively pleasant environment documenting, indexing and providing information in which to work and use state-of-the-art library on its holdings as well as issuing the DWD's own resources. scientific publications. Thanks to its vast meteorological stock, the National Meteorological Library was included in

5 History

The birth of the library dates back to 1847 when, services which were previously organised at the at the prompting of ALEXANDER VON Land level in order to create an efficient HUMBOLDT, a meteorological department - the aeronautical meteorological service) the Prussian Prussian Meteorological Institute - was set up in Meteorological Institute's library was the Royal Prussian Statistical Office, which was amalgamated with the aeronautical meteorological itself part of the Office of Commerce at that time. service's own library service. The library has The department collected and evaluated weather been entered in the Yearbook of the German and climate data and soon also began acquiring under the library identifier B23 since scientific literature. Only scarce resources were 1934 and still takes part in Germany's inter-library available for the purchase of , however. loan system under this code. The library began work on a subject catalogue in 1934 (see Subject The situation changed in 1886 when responsibility indexing). for the Prussian Meteorological Institute (Preussisches Meteorologisches Institut) was Towards the end of the Second World War the transferred to the Minister of Education and library again found itself in a precarious situation Culture. It was during this period that work began as intensified bombing of Berlin and the on the alphabetical catalogue and the systematic fast-approaching frontline forced the climate building up of a richly endowed scholarly library. department of the Meteorological Office of the The First World War, during which the exchange Reich (Reichsamt für Wetterdienst) to move of publications with other institutions was twice - first to Spreewald and later to Friedrichroda interrupted, and the turbulent and cash-strapped in Thuringia. Holdings were lost when the library post-war years also brought many setbacks for relocated to western Germany immediately after the library (see Library stock). the end of the war, including a large section of the subject catalogue begun in the 1930s and Ironically, the subsequent rise in the library's around one third of the library's stock of almost fortunes was the result of the preparations for 60,000 items. The new library, the building of war made during the Third Reich. With the which was supervised by its subsequent centralisation of meteorological services in the manager KARL KEIL, found a home in 1946 at German Reich (= the merger of meteorological the headquarters of the "Deutscher Wetterdienst

6 in the American Zone" in Bad Kissingen under its The DWD and the library began using computer new name of the "Library and Publications technology (IT) in the 1960s and ongoing Department". developments in the IT sector have made continual modernisations of the library's The library's unique collection of meteorological information processing systems inevitable ever literature led to its inclusion in the German since (see Technical developments). Research Foundation's special collection programme in 1949 as Germany's national library A punched tape cataloguing system was for meteorology, climatology and climate maps. introduced and bibliographic data began to be The institution has evolved from an internal library stored on magnetic tape in 1967. for the meteorological service to a library with a As early as 1990 the library's entire stock of data national collection mission - a development for the years 1966 to 1990 was available in the reflected in 2006 in its new name "National METLIS (METeorological Literature Information Meteorological Library of Germany". System) bibliographic database which had been In 1957, the library moved to Offenbach where it developed at the DWD. METLIS has been running was housed in the new headquarters building of with professionally developed library software the Deutscher Wetterdienst which had been since 1997. Currently, the library uses its Ale- founded in 1952. Since 1961 the library has phino integrated library management system continued to fulfil the multiple tasks of library, which provides IT support for all library processes. documentation centre and self-publisher. METLIS has been available for research purposes German reunification in 1990 resulted in the inte- to DWD staff members via the intranet and for gration of Germany's meteorological services. external users via the Internet since 2000 (see Comparisons of the stocks held in the Offenbach Subject indexing). and Potsdam libraries showed that very few items needed to be incorporated in the collection The rapid pace of development in the field of and the duplicates in the Potsdam collection electronic in recent years has also were consequently given to the German made its mark on the National Meteorological Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) in Library. The library's electronic services also Potsdam on permanent loan. provide access to licensed online journals and

7 other digital items which are available for use throughout DWD from the "digital library". "Open Access" makes scientific material freely available to readers and is destined to play an increasingly important role in the future. Concepts for the management of electronic contents and for the long-term archiving of corresponding data still need to be developed and implemented.

Given the sheer breadth of the services and materials available, as well as the stream of requirements confronting libraries, supra-regional working groups and co-operation projects are being set up, such as those of governmental research institutions or, at the international level, by the libraries of the National Meteorological Services in Europe (see also Co-operation).

8 Library stock

The National Meteorological Library of Germany Stock building began as early as in 1847, the holds a unique and continually growing stock of year in which the Prussian Meteorological Institute literature on meteorology. The library is was founded and started collecting literature. In constantly collecting and documenting the its early days the library was little more than a relevant meteorological literature worldwide, in minor collection of books. As the library's holdings whatever language it is written and as were limited by the modest 50 Talers (around comprehensively as possible. As well as €75) a year available for purchases it was almost monographs and journals the library's collection entirely dependent on gifts or exchanges. Forty also includes "grey literature" (conference years after the library was set up it still only had proceedings, institute reports, PhD dissertations, a stock of around 2,000 items. annual and other reports etc.). The library currently subscribes to 800 journals and serial The true flowering of the Prussian Meteorological publications. Institute began after it fell within the remit of the Minister of Education and Culture in 1886. It was The customary exchange of publications with also during this period that the library began other libraries and scientific institutions continues creating the alphabetical catalogue which is still to be an important source of new acquisitions. completely intact today. The systematic creation Items which cannot be obtained via these channels of a scientific library and the acquisition of new must be purchased. Particularly mention should items - some bought and others, as today, be made in this context of the "grey literature" exchanged with other institutions - began under which is not available from booksellers. the directorship of GUSTAV HELLMANN. As there was no longer any lack of funding it was Publications are exchanged with around 600 now possible to seek out specific books from partners all around the world (libraries, literary estates and antiquarian booksellers meteorological services, scientific institutes and including incunabula (material printed up to other institutions) and largely concern publications 1500, of which the library holds 20 items). The issued by the library itself; this self-published library's collection had grown to a stock of material plays an indispensable role in the 16,000 items at the turn of the century and development of the library's collection. 29,000 by the outbreak of the First World War.

9 The temporary suspension of inter-library exchange during the First World War and the scarcity of funding in the subsequent years of crisis brought stock development to something of a standstill. The continued existence of the library's holdings of serial publications was in particular jeopardy. However, these gaps were closed again in the following years with the help of funds Development of the library's holdings and METLIS data records from the Emergency Association of German Science began to reunite the dispersed collection. (Notgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft) Despite the very difficult conditions in which the and again in the 1950s with resources provided work was undertaken this endeavour succeeded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). thanks to the unswerving commitment of the few The holdings of the Prussian Meteorological employees. In fact it took them until 1964 to Institute library were amalgamated with determine how many items had ultimately been aeronautical meteorological library stocks and lost from the alphabetical catalogue. the collections of the meteorological university However, the library's fortunes began to improve institutes and transferred to the library of the again after it moved to Offenbach in 1957 and it Reich Meteorological Office in 1934, by which currently acquires between 1,500 and 2,000 new time the library's stock had grown to 50,000 items every year. items. Several relocations at the end of the war and the In 1958, the library succeeded in extending the chaotic post-war period resulted in the loss of international exchange of literature to eastern around one third of the library's 60,000 items. bloc countries, particularly the Soviet Union, After the "Deutscher Wetterdienst in the American German Democratic Republic and China. Zone" had been set up with its headquarters in The development of the library's holdings over Bad Kissingen in April 1946, the new institution its entire history is outlined in the diagram.

10 In 1972 (the library's 125th anniversary) the library weather observations made by seafarers and had already collected approximately 107,000 now provide an inexhaustible source of useful items; by its 150th anniversary in 1997 its stock data for climate researchers. Once this data has had risen to 155,000 and to 162,000 by the year been evaluated it will prove invaluable in climate 2000. By early 2009, the library held around change research (HISTOR Project). 177,000 media units. The lion's share of the library’s collection still The library's collection is categorised as follows: consists of printed media (books, journals, maps its historical collection comprises some 14,000 - teaching materials - and thematic maps, such th items. Of these, around 75% date from the 19 as climate maps, etc.). These are complemented century (around 10,500 items). The remaining by microfiche and roll microfilm (approximately th th 3,500 items are from the 16 to 18 centuries. 1,000 of which were recently digitalised). New th Approximately 250 items date from the 16 media has also become increasingly important th century, 1,250 from the 17 and around 2,000 in recent years in the National Meteorological th items from the 18 century. Library. Electronic publications on CD, DVD or in PDF file formats account for a growing share of While the library's old stock was dominated by the library's stock and this has already kicked off Old Latin texts - with German, French and a process of rethinking the library's procedures English texts playing a decidedly subordinate for the administration, long-term archiving and role - there is a growing tendency for provision of these documents. contemporary international scientific literature to be written in English. A small and diminishing share of new acquisitions is accounted for by other languages. The archive of the Maritime Meteorological Office (Seewetteramt) in Hamburg is the repository of some very special items: around 38,000 historical ships' logbooks covering a period of 180 years. These logbooks record the

11 Self-publishing Regular publications:

Deutsches Meteorologisches Jahrbuch (German Meteorological Yearbook) (first issue: 1888) The library is continually expanding the services it offers in this field and modifying its procedures, Klimastatusbericht particularly in terms of meeting users’ changing (Climate Status Report) (first issue: 1992) requirements for literature at their workplaces. The library also publishes material itself. This Promet (quarterly journal of meteorological includes regular publications, such as the education, first issue: 1972) German Meteorological Yearbook, the Climate Jahresbericht/Annual Report Status Report and the educational journal (first issue: 1957) Promet, as well as the publication of the scientific findings of individual employees or teams within Witterung in Übersee (monthly overseas the DWD and conference proceedings. These climate journal, first issue: 1953) activities were reflected in the library’s name as early as 1946 when it was still known as the Wetterlotse (2 monthly marine "Library and Publications Department". meteorological journal, first issue: 1949) In fact, the library began publishing DWD material way back in 1886. The budget resources expended on self-publishing activities are well The following occasional series: invested as DWD publications form the basis of the library's exchanges of literature with other Annalen der Meteorologie (Annals of Meteorology) institutions. (first issue: 1948, predecessor 1873) The library is also responsible for numerous and Berichte des Deutschen Wetterdienstes diverse publications which appear on a regular (DWD reports) (first issue: 1953) basis as well as monographs issued at intervals as part of occasional series. Die Geschichte der Meteorologie in Deutschland The following serial publications form the (The History of Meteorology in Germany) "backbone" of the library's self-publishing (first issue: 1993) activities:

12 The Prussian Meteorological Institute, Schinkelplatz Berlin, The Meteorological Office of the Third Reich, Berlin-Tempelhof from 1886 Airport, from 1938 Premises

It is very unlikely that the library would have constructed for the Meteorological Office of had its own rooms when it was still part of the the Reich at Berlin-Tempelhof Airport where meteorological department in the Prussian it could use a much larger reading room and Statistical Office. The library's financial standing stacks. The hasty retreats beaten by the improved considerably after the Prussian climate department (to which the library Meteorological Institute was transferred to the belonged), first to Spreewald and then to Minister of Education and Culture in Berlin. Friedrichroda in Thuringia, led to a disastrous However, the library soon faced new problems deterioration in the library's working finding space for its rapidly expanding collection, environment. The collection suffered even problems which continued to plague it at least further when, with the help of the US Army, throughout the period 1897 to 1933, and stocks were hastily relocated from particularly during the 1920s. Soviet-occupied Thuringia to West Germany. Some of the books were temporarily stored in The space problem was eased after 1934 when barns and stables, exposed to wind and rain, in the library became part of the Meteorological conditions which are unimaginable today. With Office of the Reich. The library moved into new the foundation in April 1946 of the and spacious premises in 1938 in the building "Deutscher Wetterdienst in the American Zone"

13 Headquarters of the Deutscher Wetterdienst in the American Zone from 1946; the climate department and library were housed at the Hotel Reichshof, Bad Kissingen

Friedrichroda (Thuringia), March 1945: Storage of the library Working in the library at the Reichshof stocks of the Meteorological Office of the Reich. Boxes full of offprints.

with its headquarters in Bad Kissingen, KARL headquarters building of the Deutscher KEIL managed the process of reuniting the Wetterdienst which was established by law in library’s dispersed collection; the library once 1952. again found itself struggling with space problems. It was only in 1957 that the tide finally turned The library now finally obtained the spacious with the relocation of the library to the new modern rooms it needed. In Offenbach, an entire

14 Library reading room at the Reichshof

stored in the German National Library's basement stack rooms in Frankfurt am Main. However, for various reasons, it was not possible to move these stocks with the rest of the DWD to the new premises in Frankfurter Strasse 135 in 2008, but only nine months later in 2009. The completed relocation finally allowed full use to be made of Shelving in the library's stack room at the Reichshof, 1947 the reading room again and brought an end to the regular to and fro between the DWD and the German National Library. wing of the building, consisting of a reading This was the third major move since 1934 and room, lecture theatre, office space and three- the library's second relocation since 1957 into its storey air-conditioned stack room, was made own, newly built facilities. available to the library. The new, fully air-conditioned and approximately When building began on the new DWD 900m² large stack room is located in the basement. headquarters in Offenbach in 2004 a temporary Everything is on the same level and equipped reading room was opened in Kaiserleistrasse with compact shelving providing enough space 29/35 while the library's holdings were temporarily for the library's holdings to expand. The stack

15 The DWD headquarters building in Offenbach a. M., with the library and stack wing (storage tower) (from 1957 to 2003)

room also contains lockable glass shelves for The public face of the library is its pleasant reading especially valuable items. Books are ordered room which, covering an area of 400m², is much systematically according to subject area, region larger than it was in the library's old building or according to publication series/journal titles. and is now equipped with modern workplaces, Deep and flat shelving is available for the careful many of which are fitted with PCs and Internet storage of large and over-sized books. access. The reading room has extensive open

16 Library reading room at the DWD headquarters in Offenbach The library reading room in the DWD headquarters in Offenbach from 1957 to 1990 after renovation in 1992

Building plan of the library's three-storey stack Aerial view of the shell construction for the stack room in Offenbach, 1956 room building (storage tower) in Offenbach, 1956

17 Shelving in the library's stack room at the DWD headquarters, 1957-2003

Shelving in the library's stack room in the basement of the new DWD headquarters building, 2008

18 Library reading room in the new DWD headquarters building, 2008

Glass shelves for outstanding, such as incunabula, in the DWD room, 2008

19 access holdings for its users: meteorological and standard works, geographical and thematic atlases, meteorological and general works of reference, encyclopaedic scientific and technical dictionaries, as well as DWD publications and current volumes of journals on every imaginable aspect of meteorology and related disciplines. The reading room is also stocked with meteorological yearbooks issued by the former meteorological services of the Länder as well as annual reports from various institutions.

The multifunctional reading room is equipped with state-of-the-art presentation technology and will also be used in the future for events and exhibitions organised by the library.

20 Subject indexing

The purpose of the library's content analysis, by the World Meteorological Organization or subject indexing, is to help users find (WMO) to use the Universal Decimal literature on specific topics according to content Classification (UDC) system for the subject criteria. This is particularly important in cases indexing of meteorological texts. in which the content of an article or publication is not immediately apparent from the title of The UDC notations stored in METLIS with every the relevant document. Subject indexing is catalogue record enable users to search for and based on key words (e.g. MGA) or a numerical find literature on specific subjects. The first notation (as with METLIS), whereby the programmes and search tools making use of this advantage of the latter technique is its language were written in the DWD in 1966 (see Technical independence. developments). The storage and search system gradually developed over time into a bought-in, With the foundation of the Meteorological professional literature database. Today, the Office of the Reich (Reichsamt für Wetterdienst) National Meteorological Library uses the Alephino in 1934 the library's literature began to be integrated library system. Alephino's OPAC documented in a systematic subject catalogue (Online Public Access Catalogue) user search based on the Universal Decimal Classification interface has enabled DWD internal searches via (UDC) system - a decimal, numerical notation intranet since 1997 and external Internet-driven system used for subject indexing. The system is searches in METLIS since 2000. based on the universal library classification system developed by Melvil Dewey in the 19th Since 2004 DWD employees have also been able century for the and which to search the biggest geoscientific database in was subsequently elaborated by the Fédération the world, the MGA (Meteorological & Internationale de la Documentation (FID) in Geoastrophysical Abstracts). The MGA database Brussels. From 1929 the library's former manager, scans selected peer-reviewed, meteorological KARL KEIL, worked on the classification system and geophysical journals from around the globe for the meteorology/climatology subdivision on by indexing catalogue records with key words, behalf of the FID. The National Meteorological UDC codes and detailed "abstracts" to facilitate Library still follows the recommendation issued selections from the literature found.

21 Since the acquisition of licensed access to the MGA database the number of journals analysed for METLIS has been reduced. This has eliminated the need for redundant work as the articles included in MGA no longer need to be evaluated by the DWD library staff.

The National Meteorological Library also creates selective dissemination of information services, i.e. literature searches in METLIS which provide monthly information about new items the library has recently acquired on particular topics.

The MGA database is due to be superseded at the end of 2009 by the Web of Science citation database which offers very wide search options (see Technical developments).

22 Technical developments

Old catalogue cards contain handwritten entries; way as contemporary databases, but far less from around the mid-1930s the cards were written quickly or easily - to search for literature in the by typewriter until the advent of information library's collection according to formal or subject technology in the DWD in the mid-sixties. search criteria. What is more, searches could not only be carried out in text fields, but also The library manager at that time, MAX according to subject areas using UDC codes after SCHLEGEL, heeded the sign of the times and, every single document had been subject indexed. from 1961, began developing a procedure for storing all the catalogue cards on data carriers The rapid pace of developments in the IT sector with the support of Central Data Processing meant that the library's data processing work Office in Frankfurt a. M. (ZMD). Punched tape needed to adapt continually to changing typewriters (similar to teleprinters) which stored technical standards. The first step was to replace catalogue card text on punched tape were used the punched tape typewriters with a data at the time. This punched tape was then collection system which worked with computer transferred to magnetic tape in the new workstations and dot matrix printers in 1985, computing centre at the DWD headquarters, although the computing centre continued to use making the library's bibliographic information the same storage techniques for the time being. available for further processing in machine readable form for the first time ever. This process When the computing centre stopped using tape had been perfected by 1965 and was used on a readers in 1987 and the DWD replaced its slow routine basis by 1966/67. This is why today over magnetic tape with hard drives and PCs it was 215,000 titles (going back 44 years!) can be time for the library to revamp its entire working searched in the DWD's METLIS database. routines once again. The challenging task of developing an entirely new procedure, including The data processing programmes were developed a database, was successfully tackled by two staff by the computing centre staff according to the members in the library's documentation section, concept developed by Schlegel. While the first supported by colleagues in the computing programmes were used to convert and store centre. Input and storage procedures were data, these were soon followed by retrieval changed first. However, setting up a bibliographic programmes which could be used - in the same database was a far more difficult task as the only

23 database management system available was and running smoothly before taking the risk of Control Data Corporation's IM/DM system. The switching the library's entire routines to the bibliographic legacy data which had been in the new system. same format since 1966/67 (a somewhat different category scheme) and was stored on magnetic By 1997 the problems were solved and the tape (and was in some cases marred by errors) METLIS data was converted to Version 2.1 of also needed to be thoroughly revised, i.e. checked, BIS-LOK. The difference between the new version corrected and converted. and the old, internally developed IM/DM version of METLIS was significant. While the IM/DM After one year of development work (starting database version could only be used to store in 1987) and two years of retrospective data and retrieve data (literature searches), BIS-LOK revision, the entire data stock from 1966 to 1990 is an integrated library system consisting of was finally available in 1990 in an internally numerous computer-assisted modules for all developed but well functioning database METLIS library activities, from book acquisitions through (METeorological Literature Information System) to data recording (descriptive cataloguing) and with improved and - above all - faster retrieval literature searches. programmes for literature searches. This procedure was retained until 1996 when the The system can also be used for accessions, library was able to acquire a professional binding management and the creation of programme package especially developed for . Work began first on installing library purposes: the BIS-LOK library management the cataloguing entry module and OPAC system created by the company DABIS in (Online Public Access Catalogue) for literature Hamburg. This system was not without its searches. Since 1997 DWD employees have teething troubles either, however. To begin with been able to use METLIS directly from their own all the library's legacy data needed to be desks as an intranet-based electronic search converted to BIS-LOK format in collaboration engine. In 2000 licenses for the WWW-OPAC with DABIS. This proved to be a difficult task (web catalogue) were acquired and METLIS and it was not possible to achieve the was subsequently available online, which hoped-for ideal 1:1 transfer. This meant that means that any external user can now search several versions of BIS-LOK needed to be up for literature in METLIS on the Internet.

24 By December 2003, after a lengthy test phase, all The National Meteorological Library has the library's computer-assisted work procedures participated with METLIS on the geophysical were running on Alephino, the successor system portal GEO-LEO via Alephino's Z39.50 interface to BIS-LOK 5.0 developed by the company Ex since 2007. This portal provides access to a Libris Deutschland in Hamburg. Alephino is number of (online) library catalogues, compatible with ALEPH, a library management predominantly in the entire field of solid earth system which is used by large library networks. sciences but also in oceanography. The system In addition to METLIS the National Meteorological provides geoscientists in Germany and beyond Library has, since 2004, provided all DWD access to the meteorological literature employees access to one of the biggest information in METLIS, thereby creating a new geoscientific databases in the world, the group of potential users in the process. Meteorological & Geoastrophysical Abstracts (MGA) created by the company ProQuest (see Subject indexing). At the end of 2009 the library responded to the requests of scientists to switch over from the MGA to the Web of Science international citation database which covers a very wide spectrum of journals, is highly up to date and contains comprehensive citations. With this service the DWD has joined other European and non- European Meteorological Services which already hold Web of Science licenses. The library uses selective dissemination of infor- mation (SDI) services to provide its users with regular information about new acquisitions. SDI services are recurring literature searches for accessions on specific topics which are stored in a 'user profile'.

25 Users

The first people to use the library were Since 1997, the OPAC has enabled DWD employees of the Prussian Meteorological employees to use the intranet to search METLIS. Institute, which was formerly a meteorological Some time later, in 2000, it also became department of the Prussian Statistical Office. available to external users via the Internet. DWD employees can simply send any inquiries they For many years it remained a reference library. have by e-mail. The alphabetic catalogue only Its primary task was to provide Institute needs to be used for inquiries about holdings employees with literature. This only changed dating back before 1966. after 1934 when the library became part of the Meteorological Office of the Reich since when it Given the importance of its collection the has been listed in the Yearbook of the German National Meteorological Library is a well known Libraries under the library identifier B23 and has name well beyond Germany's borders and taken part in inter-library loan service in regularly receives inquiries from abroad. These Germany (see History). may be sent by school or university students or scientists working in disciplines other than The library has been a reference library ever meteorology. But it is not only METLIS which is since the founding of the DWD and its main task used internationally; the services offered, has been to provide DWD employees with the particularly professional searches by library staff literature they require. Nonetheless, the library is for hard-to-locate items and rarities which also used by people outside the DWD, such as cannot be found in other databases, are also school and university students or professors, to used by people all around the world. name but a few. However, only DWD employees are able to borrow items directly. External users can borrow the literature held by the National Meteorological Library through any civic or university library taking part in Germany's inter-library loan system.

26 Co-operation and international relations

Co-operation with other libraries is and always The objective of this co-operative venture is to has been standard practice for all libraries promote the development of the libraries at the everywhere, and this applies equally to the National Meteorological Services in Europe and National Meteorological Library of Germany and to plan joint projects to improve access to its predecessors. Such co-operation is internationally available literature. particularly important in developing stocks by The library also takes part in numerous national exchanging literature with other scientific and international forums and mailing lists. institutions all around the world (see Library Networks such as these enable the library to stock). keep abreast of latest developments, to send complex literature search requests to all Current co-operation goes much further than participants and to speed up research and essential contacts with exchange partners. ordering processes enormously. Co-operation takes place in the field of information provision via Internet portals such as GEO-LEO, the geoscience portal which, since 2007, has enabled metasearches of the online catalogues of all participating libraries. Representatives of the libraries of Germany's government research institutions meet at regular intervals to exchange information and know-how about the latest developments in the entire professional library and publication field. Mailing lists and a joint website are used as modern communication channels for this purpose. At the international level the International Conference of Western European Directors (ICWED) has supported a working group of librarians from the Dutch, French, Swiss and German Meteorological Services since 2007.

27 Sources:

KIRCH, H.-D., 1997: Auch die Bibliothek des Deutschen Wetterdienstes wird 150 Jahre alt. In: Promet. - 26. 1997,1/2, p. 69 - 75

JAHRESBERICHT DES DEUTSCHEN WETTERDIENSTES = Annual report ... / German Meteorological Service. - Offenbach am Main : DWD, 1957ff.

KEIL. K., SCHLEGEL. M., GUTSCHE. A, ANIOL. R., 1954: Die Arbeit der Abteilung Bibliothek und Veröffentlichungen der Zentralstelle des Deutschen Wetterdienstes für die Allgemeinheit In: Beilage zur Wetterkarte / Deutscher Wetterdienst. - 1954,8,10,19 and 21

KIRCH, H.-D., 1983: Die Bibliothek des Deutschen Wetterdienstes : eine Chronik. - Offenbach am Main : DWD

KIRCH, H.-D., 1993: Bibliothek des Deutschen Wetterdienstes In: Handbuch der historischen Buchbestände / Hessen, M - Z, Rheinland-Pfalz, A - Z. - Hildesheim [u.a.]. - 6 (1993), p. 65 - 68

UNTERLAGEN UND SCHRIFTVERKEHR zur Geschichte der Bibliothek des Deutschen Wetter- dienstes 1939 - 1990. - Offenbach am Main : DWD, 1990

GOESCH, M., 2000: METLIS goes Internet! In: Mitteilungen der Deutschen Meteorlogischen Gesellschaft e. V. - 2000,3, p. 18

SCHLEGEL, M., 1987: Nachruf auf Karl Keil : [gest. am 22.03.1987 im Alter von 88 Jahren] In: Meteorologische Rundschau. - 40. 1987,5. - p. 129 - 130

SCHLEGEL, M., 1996: Die Entwicklung des staatlichen Wetterdienstes in Deutschland bis zur Schaffung des Reichswetterdienstes im Jahre 1934 : Übersichten und Chroniken. - Offenbach a. M.

GOESCH, M., 1999: METLIS : das Literaturinformationssystem des DWD In: Mitteilungen der Deutschen Meteorologischen Gesellschaft e. V. - 1999,1, p. 18 - 20

HELLMANN,G., 1914: Beiträge zur Geschichte der Meteorologie. - Berlin : Behrend. - (Veröffentlichungen des Königlich Preußischen Meteorologischen Instituts) 1 (1914) - 3 (1922) = Nr. 1 - 15

28