Title Deutsche Nationalbibliografie
Web site address https://www.dnb.de/EN/nationalbibliografie
Start date Began 1913
Period covered 1913-now
Current size 28.300.000 (2022)
Media covered Digital, online and printed books or serials, maps, printed music, and audio (collection mandate)
General selection criteria * works in various media published in Germany
* works in various media published abroad in German
* translations into other languages of German works published abroad
* “Germanica” – i.e. works in various media about Germany published abroad in other languages
* printed works written or published between 1933 and 1945 by German-speaking emigrants
Selection criteria for digital resources The collection field of online publications covers all text, image and sound-based works made available on public networks. The submission obligation covers both Internet publications with corresponding printed versions and also web-specific media works. Examples of online publications include electronic magazines, eBooks, university dissertations, digitised content, music files and also websites.
Generally only formats are accepted that allow a digital long term preservation.
Temporary pre-publications, pure software or application tools, and radio and TV programmes are not collected.
Online publications which only serve private or commercial purposes are not collected either. This basically means websites consisting e. g. of private photos and descriptions of holidays which are only of interest to private individuals, or presentations of a company’s goods and services which are only relevant for customers
Exclusions policies applied See above
Primary organisation responsible for national bibliographic control German National Library
Web site address of national bibliographic agency https://www.dnb.de 
Co-operative structures or relationships supporting the production of the national bibliography –
Single integrated or multiple categorised bibliographies The Deutsche Nationalbibliografie includes the following series:
* Series A – Monographs and periodicals from the publishers’ booktrade. Books, magazines, non-music recordings, further AV media, microfiches and electronic publications. Since Bibliography year 2004, it also contains the translations and Germanica previously indexed in Series G. Published weekly since 1972.
* Series B – Monographs and periodicals from outside the publishers’ booktrade. Books, magazines, non-music recordings, other AV media, microforms and electronic publications. Published weekly since 1972.
* Series C – Maps. Published quarterly since 1972.
* Series H – University Publications. Dissertations and postdoctoral theses from German universities and German-language dissertations and postdoctoral theses from abroad. Published monthly since 1972.
* Series M – Printed music and music publications. Published monthly since 1976.
* Series O – Online Publications. Published monthly since 2010.
* Series T – Recorded Music. Published monthly since 1974.
Sources of bibliographic metadata used to produce national bibliography The data is mostly created in house. The New Release Service (ND) provides information on advance announcements and new publications. It is based on reports sent by publishers to Verzeichnis Lieferbarer Bücher (VLB – German Books in Print).
Relationship to national legal deposit legislation or voluntary deposit arrangements The material is collected at the national library under legal deposit law.
Relationship to national Cataloguing in Publication (CIP) programme The New Release Service (ND) provides information on advance announcements and new publications. The New Release Service is not a part of the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie.
Form of publication used for the national bibliography The Deutsche Nationalbibliografie is provided over the library catalog, as online journal in PDF format and by the services for data files in MARC 21 (also in XML structure), Dublin Core, linked data and the data shop and also over SRU and OAI interfaces.
Access options to national bibliographic metadata Web catalogue, data shop, WWW or SFTP server, SRU and OAI interfaces
Online access options See above
Formats & media available for delivery of record sets from the national bibliography See above
Metadata enhancements offered via online services Table of contents, Integrated Authority File (GND) including cross-concordances, DNBLab
Web 2.0 services offered
Frequency of service updates
Target audiences for services Academic/public libraries, scientists, researchers, students, general public, book trade companies, publishers, search engines
Uses made of  services offered Advance notification of publications for acquisition in libraries and book stores, derived cataloguing, indexing for search engines.
Pricing policy for national bibliographic services Since 1 July 2015 all bibliographic data of the German National Library and the authority data of the Integrated Authority File (GND) is provided free of charge and can be freely used under “Creative Commons Zero (CC0 1.0)” terms. The German National Library provides the option of accessing free metadata via its online interfaces as well as via WWW or SFTP server. In addition, registered users can research metadata in the catalogue and download it for further processing in their own system via the data shop.
Provision charges will be applied by the German National Library for active provision of data via SFTP or WWW server which are not included in the basic service.
Under what conditions may the metadata be re-used for other products? All bibliographic data of the German National Library and the authority data of the Integrated Authority File (GND) can be freely re-used under “Creative Commons Zero (CC0 1.0)” terms.
Metadata formats MARC 21 (also in XML structure), Dublin Core (DNB Casual), linked data (RDF, various serialisations), CSV and PDF.
Cataloguing rules or code RDA
Levels of description offered Full, ISBD, Dublin Core
Subject standards
Classification DDC
Subject heading scheme or thesaurus Integrated Authority File (GND)
Name authority standards or Name authority file Integrated Authority File (GND)
Is NBA a member of the Bibliography Section? Yes
Date information submitted 05.01.2024
Information supplied by Florian Betz (Deutsche Nationalbibliothek)
Contact email metadatendienste@dnb.de