The Society of Friends of IRGO takes a stand for the Kempf Database Ostracoda (KDO)

History and relevance of the KDO

The KDO has its roots in 1974, when Eugen Kempf started to transform his bibliographic-taxonomic card index on marine and non-marine ostracods into a modern, relational database. Punch cards, magnetic tapes, long and lonely nights at the Cologne University Computation Center, cumbersome early personal computers and daisy-wheel-printers had to be overcome on the way to a platform- and project-independent taxonomic database. Regular spin-offs published as books and CD-ROMs give access to the handpicked data compiled in the KDO. For four decades, the database grew continuously, without financial support, just by the focussed work of a single, enthusiastic person.
Today, the KDO contains about 320,000 datasets, all controlled with highest scientific expertise. The source literature evaluated for the KDO now represents a library of more than 20,000 (physical) items. The KDO is THE source of information when it comes to queries related to ostracod taxonomy, biogeography and biostratigraphy.

After the sudden passing of Prof. Eugen Kempf in 2017, his family donated all available KDO software (incl. the rights to use it), as well as the entire library of 20.000+ items to the charitable SF*IRGO e.V., the board of which ever since works to secure the KDO for the scientific community and to create a sustainable accessibility to both, the database and the library.

For five years, the library has been stored inaccessibly in over 100 boxes at the University Greifswald until in March 2024, in a collaborative effort, these were moved to its final home. After two intensive days of unpacking and sorting, it now occupies roughly 40 shelf-meters in a branch of the Museum Mauritianum in Altenburg/Thuringia (Germany). As from now it is open for bibliographical research related to ostracods. Visits are possible and welcome by prior arrangement. Please contact Renate Matzke-Karasz or Peter Frenzel for more information.

matzke-karasz [@] lmu.de or Peter.Frenzel [@] uni-jena.de.

Plans for the future of the KDO

The SF∗IRGO takes a stand for the sustainable development of the Kempf Database Ostracoda. The SF∗IRGO will make every endeavor to raise funds for the rescue of this database and a stable, long-term continuation of the KDO at its well-known high quality standards.