The uniqueness of observatory publications

TL;DR

This paper examines the unique characteristics and completeness of observatory publication collections worldwide, highlighting their rarity, irregularities, and the importance of digital accessibility for astronomical research.

Contribution

It provides a comparative analysis of observatory publication collections, emphasizing their uniqueness and the challenges in their collection and digital description.

Findings

Collections are often incomplete and irregular.

Notable collections include Woodman Library and Dudley Observatory.

Digital descriptions of collections are rare and valuable.

Abstract

Observatory publications comprise the work of local astronomers from observatories around the world and are traditionally exchanged between observatories through libraries. However, large collections of observatory publications seem to be rare; or at the least rarely digitally described or accessible on the Internet. Notable examples to the contrary are the Woodman Astronomical Library at Wisconsin-Madison and the Dudley Observatory in Loudonville, New York both in the US. Due to the irregularities in receiving material, the collections are generally often incomplete both with respect to the observatories included as well as volumes. In order to assess the unique properties of the collections, we summarize and compare observatories present in our own as well as the collections from the Woodman Library and the Dudley Observatory.