Changeover from MAB2 to MARC 21
Most title data free of charge and under CC0 licence from 1 July
Press release: 21.3.2012
On 1 July 2013 the German National Library will complete its scheduled changeover from MAB2 to MARC 21 in a project which has been coordinated with library networks in the German-speaking countries. MAB2-based data services will then no longer be offered.
Back in 2004, in a landmark decision for the German-speaking libraries, the Committee for Library Standards resolved to change from the existing MAB2 format to MARC 21. The cooperative project aimed at integrating the existing authority files – German Personal Name Authority File PND (Personennamendatei), Corporate Body Authority File GKD (Gemeinsame Körperschaftsdatei) and Subject Headings Authority File SWD (Schlagwortnormdatei) - to create the Integrated Authority File GND (Gemeinsame Normdatei) was based on this decision in favour of MARC 21. It also takes all foreseeable RDA (Resource Description and Access) regulations into consideration.
As of 1 July 2012 more than 11 million German National Library title sets will be available for use free of charge, regardless of the format in which they are issued.
Fees will still be payable for the title data of the current and previous bibliographic year. The prices for this data will, however, be lowered by a further 25 %. The new prices will be published on 1 April 2012. Each new year will then see this boundary shifted forward by one year. Authority and catalogue enrichment data has been offered free of charge ever since 2010, as have Series O title data (online publications) of the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie and title data in RDF and oai_de formats. These are part of the ongoing efforts to establish free access to authority and title data.
As of 1 July 2012 all free data will then - in a move representing a further step towards open data - be offered for unrestricted use under CC0 conditions. This system was already adopted for the German National Library's linked data services in February of this year.
Further information on current developments in data services
New developments in data services
Contact person
Contact: s.jockel@dnb.de
