In 1991, I joined ESO as Head Librarian. My professional activities include:

1. •manage library and collection development
   

2. •streamline access to information resources for ESO scientists and engineers with special focus on electronic access
   

3. •maintain the ESO bibliography including methods to derive statistics
   

4. •monitor evolving information retrieval systems in order to make informed decisions about their potential value for the ESO libraries
   

5. •coordinate operations in Garching and Chile libraries
   

6. •provide user assistance
   

7. •foster collaboration among librarians
   

During recent years, I got particularly involved in bibliometric studies (see some of the papers listed at www.eso.org/libraries/publications.html). Together with Chris Erdmann (now Head Librarian of the Wolbach Library, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA), and Silvia Meakins, my colleague since September 2010, I develop and maintain the ESO Telescope Bibliography (telbib) and FUSE, our semi-automated fulltext search tool. Both programs are used to track ESO-related papers, store metadata, and generate statistics and reports. More information about telbib and FUSE can be found at www.eso.org/libraries/telbib-FUSE.html.

I am a member of the IAU (International Astornomical Union) where I have been a Consultant to Commission 5 “Documentation and Astronomical Data” since 1994 and the co-chair of the Working Group on Astronomical Libraries (www.eso.org/libraries/IAU-WGLib/) from 1997 to 2008. In 2007, I became a member of the advisory section of the IAU Editorial Board. I have been a lecturer at the SWYA (Scientific Writing for Young Astronomers, www.swya.org) Schools in Blankenberge, Belgium, in 2008 and 2009. Since 1995, I have been actively involved in all LISA (Library and Information Services in Astronomy, www.eso.org/libraries/lisa.html) conferences.

Useful Links:

ESO Libraries home page

www.eso.org/libraries/

ESO Telescope Bibliography

telbib.eso.org (public interface)

www.eso.org/libraries/edocs/ESO/ESOstats.pdf (Basic ESO statistics)

Information about telbib and fuse

www.eso.org/libraries/telbib_info.html

ESO Libraries Publications

www.eso.org/libraries/publications.html

Last updated: September 21, 2012

Disclaimer: Any view or statement made is not part of an offical standpoint of ESO.