The Institute was established as a public foundation in 1980. The Foundation Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research includes the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven, the Potsdam Research Unit (1992), the Biologische Anstalt Helgoland (1998) and the Wadden Sea Station Sylt (1998). It is a member of the Hermann von Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres (HGF). In 1999 the library of the Biologische Anstalt Helgoland (BAH), which was mainly situated in Hamburg has been merged with AWI Library. The card catalogue of the BAH library has been converted into electronic form (2001). The library OPAC now is almost complete and accessible online via the internet.

The Library of the Alfred Wegener Institute Foundation for Polar and Marine Research is a special non-circulating library servicing the needs of the research scientists of the Foundation in Bremerhaven, Potsdam, and on Helgoland and Sylt. The collection comprises 38.000 Monographs und 109.000 periodical volumes. Currently there are 995 open serial titles, the majority are obtained through exchange agreements with other research institutions. The Library of the former Biologische Anstalt Helgoland is included in the collection. The AWI Library provide scientists with resources in the fields of biology, chemistry, geology, geophysics, glaciology, meteorology and oceanography, with a specialised focus on polar research of the Arctic and Antarctic regions.

The library was founded in 1928 and was a private library collecting polar and alpine literature. In 1959, the library was bought by the Geophysical Institute of the University of Münster/Germany, which is a centre of polar research in Germany. According to the number of books and periodicals the library is now the most important centre of polar and alpine literature in Germany.

The archives are included with the library of the Geophysical Institute.

DESCRIPTION OF POLAR COLLECTION: Geosciences and Polar Regions.