Navigation and service

Go to:

3 to 5 July 2024

Wednesday, 3 July 2024: The old technology reading room is closed due to the construction work.
On 4 and 5 July 2024, use of this reading room and WiFi access may be affected by construction work. The computers in the reading room are not available.

DNB Glossary

Have you ever been asking yourself what “Germanica” is? Or what is meant when we talk about “online publications”? With our glossary, we offer you the possibility to look up these and many other terms commonly used at the German National Library. Please note that the terminology collection is under construction and does not claim to be complete.

Are you missing a term? Then feel free to contact us at webredaktion@dnb.de.

Archival copy (of website)

We also say: snapshot
German: Zeitschnitt

A website harvested at a specific time which is identified by the harvest date and the web address (URL). As archival copies are merely momentary snapshots, there can be several archival copies of one website.

More about archival copy on our website

Authority data

We also say: authority records
German: Normdaten

Standardised data records that uniquely describe entities such as people, places or works in their semantic context. Authority data can be referenced using persistent identifiers and can also be linked with each other and with other data offerings.

More about authority data on our website

Authority file

German: Normdatei

A form of controlled vocabulary that consists of information on entities (e.g. persons, topics, geographic entities, works) which is amalgamated in authority records. Authority files ensure that the holdings of libraries, museums and archives can be catalogued (and consequently retrieved) using standardised name forms; however, they also perform other tasks, e.g. by serving as a knowledge base or linking authority data of different origins.

More about authority file on our website

Authority records

See also:

Automated cataloguing

Contact: webredaktion@dnb.de

to the top