The metadata provided by the German National Library includes current and retrospective bibliographic data for individual series in the German National Bibliography, authority data from the Integrated Authority file, metadata from the German Union Catalogue of Serials, and data on new releases. An overview of access options and the available export formats is available here.

Users can download metadata in the standard formats. 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. In addition to these basic services, we also provide individual, fee-based access to metadata via WWW or SFTP server. An overview of access options and the available export formats is available here.

Metadata is available in MARC 21 (also in XML structure) and RDF formats (various serialisations) and in some cases in BIBFRAME. The DNB Casual and CSV formats are available for bibliographic data only. All formats are offered in UTF-8 decomposed character encoding. Since 1 October 2015, the descriptive cataloguing of bibliographic data at the German National Library follows the “Resource Description and Access” (RDA) rules. The individual series of the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie (except for series O) and the New Release Service (ND) are also available in PDF format. An overview of access options and the available export formats is available here.

The German National Library uses different ways of metadata and catalogue enrichment in order to support users in their research.

The Integrated Authority File (GND) is the largest collection of cultural and research authority data in the German-speaking countries. Originally used as a work tool in libraries its importance as a central network hub is growing as the process of digital transformation progresses.