Comprehensive catalogue enrichment -
digitisation of all tables of contents of books newly received by the German National Library
Press release: 7.3.2013
The German National Library has systematically and comprehensively expanded its catalogue enrichment in the form of digitised tables of contents in recent years. Full-text searches can be made of these and they can be included in Nationalbibliografie searches. Search results can be effectively evaluated online by checking the digitised tables of contents. This makes it possible to narrow down the selection of works ordered for use in the reading room much more accurately. Last month alone, 2.6 million tables of contents were consulted by users searching the catalogue.
Newly received publications from abroad including foreign publications about Germany and translations of German works have now been included in the scanning programme. All tables of contents of newly received books and journal titles in series A, B and H are now to be digitalised as a matter of course. The only exceptions are fiction and poetry, textbooks and children's and young people's literature. The format and design of the tables of contents are standardised (PDF with embedded text, 300 dpi bitonal, with logo and a link to the data record in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie). They are freely accessible via the catalogue of the German National Library and can be obtained in small or large batches, continually or retrospectively, via Datendienst.
In 2008 it was first the tables of contents of book and journals newly published by the publishing trade (Series A of the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie) which were digitised and made available via the catalogue and to data services worldwide. Further access groups were then gradually included in the catalogue enrichment activities from the middle of 2011. Books and journals not issued by the publishing trade (Series B of the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie) have been included since July 2011, printed dissertations and doctoral theses of bibliography Series H were added in August 2012, followed by the newly received publications from abroad including foreign publications about Germany and translations of German works in the middle of January 2013.
The German National Library currently offers more than 880,000 searchable tables of contents. It is estimated that roughly 100,000 tables of contents of newly received publications will be added in the present year. In addition to these, approximately 60,000 tables of contents of books from the 1980s are also being digitised in retrospective projects.
Further information
Contact person
Contact: s.jockel@dnb.de
