Here you can find out more about the acquisition and deposit procedures for physical media works. You will find the legal provisions governing the obligation to deposit works at the German National Library on the page Our collection mandate.

What are physical media works?

Physical media works are publications on a physical carrier. These mainly encompass printed books and periodicals but also include publications on microfiche, music and audio books on CD, records, and other types of media.

Mandatory deposit

As the German National Library, we exercise our right to claim deposit copies at federal level in Germany.

The following are subject to the legal deposit obligation:

• all publications issued in Germany, irrespective of their language,
• media works published abroad for which a publisher or a person who has a legal domicile, business premises or their principal residence in Germany has sold (licensed) the right to publish the work abroad.

Here it is irrelevant whether the media work has been published by a publishing company or privately, or whether it has been assigned an ISBN/ISSN.

Exceptions to these rules are specified in the Legal Deposit Regulation.

Legal basis

Who is obliged to make mandatory deposits?

The Law Regarding the German National Library (DNBG) states:
“Any party that is entitled to distribute or make publicly accessible a media work and has their legal domicile, any business premises or their principal residence in Germany shall be subject to the mandatory deposit requirement.”

This applies both to works subject to the legal deposit requirement that are published in Germany and to works that are published abroad by means of a license granted by a person or publishing company with a legal domicile, business premises or their principal residence in Germany.

Legal basis

How and where can you deposit physical media works?

Please make sure that the mandatory copies of physical media works you send to us are complete and in immaculate condition. They must be deposited free of charge and at your own expense. Each media work must reach us within a week of the date on which it was first distributed or made publicly accessible.

The following are deposited in Leipzig:

• Two copies each of publications from Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, two copies each of music recordings and sheet music
• Single copies of translations from the German language published abroad
• Single copies of sheet music available on loan or for hire

The following are deposited in Frankfurt am Main:

• Two copies each of publications from Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse, Lower Saxony, Rhineland Palatinate, Saarland and Schleswig-Holstein

How to get to the German National Library

What happens if you do not meet your legal deposit obligation?

Our collection mandate and the mandatory deposit requirement are regulated by law. If the mandatory deposit requirement is not met, we are entitled to issue a reminder. If the reminder meets with no response, the German National Library can acquire the media work through another channel and invoice the costs to the party subject to the legal deposit obligation. If this method is unsuccessful, we are entitled to initiate proceedings for the collection of a fine.

Section 14 Law Regarding the German National Library (DNBG) (only available in German)

Sections 6, 9-11, 13, 14 Administrative Enforcement (only available in German)

When can you apply for a subsidy?

The legislator permits applications for subsidies in certain circumstances. The criteria encompass factors such as circulation figures and production costs. The details are regulated in section 6 of the Legal Deposit Regulation. University publications are excluded from this subsidy provision.

If you would like to apply for a subsidy, please send us your publications together with your application. Please note that the publications must be delivered within the statutory deadline of one week following their release.

Section 6 Legal Deposit Regulation (only available in German)

Information about the subsidy application (only available in German)

Subsidy application form (only available in German)

Appendix for internal receipts (only available in German)

Foreign acquisitions

Our collection mandate also encompasses German-language media works and translations of German-language publications that are published abroad. Moreover, it includes so-called Germanica, foreign-language media works published abroad that relate to Germany. We collect one copy of each of these. Publications that fall under our collection mandate but which are not subject to the legal deposit obligation are acquired as gifts or by exchange or purchase. Information and offers from publishers, the book trade, editors and exchange partners help us complete our collections. Foreign music resources are not collected.

German language publications issued abroad

These include all works published in the German language and its dialects anywhere in the world.

We are delighted by the fact that we are often given free copies of these media works. Moreover, we have exchange agreements with organisations in other German-speaking countries. In addition we supplement our collections by making purchases.

Translations from the German language

All translations from the German language are collected.

We receive most of these as mandatory deposits. Other publications are acquired by donation, exchange or purchase.

Germanica

Germanica are foreign-language publications about Germany. Their content may for example relate to history, current politics, culture, economics, geography or even everyday life in Germany.

Germanica are important sources for academics and researchers. They reflect the perception of both historical and contemporary events abroad.

Along with our own research, we receive information about Germanica from publishers, the international book trade, editors, authors and lists of offers from our exchange partners.

Retrospective acquisitions

We are constantly endeavouring to close gaps in our collections. There are many reasons why such gaps can occur. Losses may for example be suffered as a result of war, media works can go out of print shortly after they were published, or we may not have been aware of their publication.

We will gladly accept corresponding information and are always delighted to receive both gifts and offers for purchase. This also applies to sheet music, musical recordings and historic sound carriers. Before making us an offer, please check our catalogue to find out whether the media work is already available in our collection.

Gaps can be ascertained as follows in our catalogue:

• Enter a term that predominates in the title.
• Go to "Finden". Depending on the search term entered, you will receive a list of the publications found. If the publication you are looking for is not included:
  
• Click on "Desiderata" in the right-hand column under „Alle Kataloge/Sammlungen“. This will display a list of the gaps in our collection that we know of. If the publication you are searching for is not on this list, it may be a previously unidentified gap in our collection or we are not actually collecting it.

Please ask us if you are not sure of the exact situation.

Please note that we can only accept media works that are not infested with pests and have no signs of heavy use.

Contact

erwerbmedien@dnb.de

Phone +49 341 2271-511