Who we are

The ZB MED is the world's largest library in its subject areas of medicine, health, and nutritional, environmental and agricultural science. As one of the country’s key pieces of information infrastructure, it plays a major part in maintaining Germany's status as a key player in the world of science and research.

Knowledge for life

Science and research in the ZB MED's chosen subject areas make a significant contribution towards protecting the health of people and the planet. In its role as one of the official German National Libraries, the ZB MED makes full use of its innovative infrastructure to support scientists, researchers, students and anyone else who wishes to make use of the services it provides. Its holdings of both print and digital scientific literature are unique among the world's libraries. As well as supplying full texts in its subject areas, it also works with national and international cooperation partners on innovative, application-oriented projects. The search portals MEDPILOT and GREENPILOT are examples of ZB MED's long-term commitment to new technologies.

From open access to multimedia

To improve its search portals and boost its capacity for innovation, the ZB MED actively participates in the fields of semantic search technologies, intelligent retrieval and open access. It runs its own <open access portal> in the form of German Medical Science, which enables it to operate as a publisher of online journals, congress publications and research reports. The ZB MED is also engaged in other ongoing areas of development, including long-term archiving, retro-digitalisation and non-textual materials (multimedia applications). Much of the impetus for ensuring the library continues to develop its core competencies while optimising its use of resources comes from Goportis, a cooperative venture undertaken by all three German National Libraries within the Leibniz Library Network for Research Information.