What is ZDB about?

The German Union Catalogue of Serials (ZDB) is a national cooperative network system with approximately 3,700 participating institutions throughout the German-speaking countries. The ZDB is operated and maintained jointly by Berlin State Library – Prussian Cultural Heritage and the German National Library. Berlin State Library is responsible for data processing and editorial design, while the German National Library is responsible for technical development and operation. Further developments are planned cooperatively.

Cataloguing instrument

In the German-speaking countries, the ZDB serves as a cataloguing instrument for serial publications – both printed and electronic. Along with libraries from Germany and Austria, archives and museums are also involved in the ZDB.

All of these catalogue title data directly in the ZDB. Information on holdings is either entered directly or gets imported from the ZDB update service. The central editorial office (ZRT) in Berlin is responsible for data quality control. The cataloguing instruments provided by the ZDB are WinIBW and the simplified cataloguing tool WebCat.

The German National Library has been participating in the ZDB since 1 March 2007 and enters all new periodicals and serial publications into the ZDB directly.

ZDB-Format (only available in German)

ZDB cataloguing withWebCat (only available in German)

ZDB data subscription

Data hub

The data in the ZDB can be widely used both locally and nationally. Due to the comprehensive information it contains and the trans-regional uniqueness of the identifier used (ZDB ID), the ZDB functions as a data hub for all kinds of serial resources.

• into which data is integrated (e.g. data from the Electronic Journal Library (EZB) or data from external systems) and
• from which data is exported to various systems (e.g. the library networks).

Bibliographic database

The ZDB is one of the world’s largest databases of bibliographic information for journals, newspapers, serial publications and other periodicals

• from all countries,
• in all languages,
• with no time restrictions,
• in printed, electronic or other formats.

The ZDB contains bibliographic information from around 3,700 libraries in Germany and Austria. It also contains license information.

Searches can be carried out in an online, freely accessible catalogue. This offers special visual displays for collection-based research (holdings comparison) and title-specific searches (e.g. predecessors and successors of certain titles).

ZDB catalogue

ZDB project

Visualisation of search results

The information in the German Union Catalogue of Serials (ZDB) can be searched online through the ZDB catalogue, which is modern in design and can be used intuitively. It is available in two languages (German and English) and optimised for mobile terminal devices. Particularly notable are the various visualisation options that make it possible to view search results in context.

Video: The Journal Database – Cooperative Management Instrument for Digitisation (YouTube 2017)

(only available in German)

Services for libraries

The ZDB provides services for regional as well as for trans-regional library networks:

• Data delivery service
  The data delivery service guarantees that regional networks, local library catalogues and document delivery services are supplied with current data from the ZDB.
• Data selection and machine-based data updates
• Interfaces
  ZDB data can be obtained through SRU and OAI. The bibliographic data is also available as linked open data.
• Full copies.

You will find more detailed information about ZDB services here:

ZDB services (only available in German)

ZDB data subscription

Services provided by EZB and ZDB

The ZDB offers the following services in cooperation with the Elektronische Zeitschriftenbibliothek (Electronic Journal Library – EZB):

• Joint ZDB and EZB data delivery service
  This service is a convenient way of obtaining holding and license information pertaining to periodicals from both systems through the ZDB.
• Journal Online & Print (JOP) interface
  The availability of journals in the EZB and ZDB can be ascertained through the interface. This availability information can then be integrated into user portals/research platforms.

JOP service (only available in German)

Joint data delivery service ZDB and EZB

EZB

Further information

• ZDB – homepage
  
• Lieder, Hans-Jörg: 50 Jahre Zeitschriftendatenbank – Kontinuität und Wandel, DNB Blog (10. März 2022) (only available in German)
  
• Polak-Bennemann, Renate: 20 Jahre Kooperation zur ZDB, DNB Blog (14. März 2022) (only available in German)
  
• Hubrich, Jessica: Die Zeitschriftendatenbank – Kooperatives Steuerungsinstrument für die Digitalisierung [The Journal Database – Cooperative Management Instrument for Digitisation]. Presentation given on 19 October 2017 at the conference “ZUGANG GESTALTEN! Mehr Verantwortung für das kulturelle Erbe” [SHAPING ACCESS! More responsibility for digital heritage]. YouTube-Video (only available in German)
  
• Hubrich, Jessica: Visualisierung von Titelzusammenhängen. Titelhistorie und Netzwerkgraph im neuem ZDB-Katalog. [Visualising Title Contexts. Title History and Network Graphics in the New ZDB Catalogue] In: Offen(siv)e Bibliotheken: Neue Zugänge, neue Strukturen, neue Chancen. [Open Libraries – New Approaches, New Structures, New Opportunities] 32nd Österreichischer Bibliothekartag [Austrian Librarian Day] Vienna, 15.–18. September 2015. Hrsg. v. Bruno Bauer, Andreas Ferus und Josef Pauser. Graz-Feldkirch: Neugebaur, 2016, S. 269–282. (only available in German)
  
• Hubrich, Jessica und Lieder, Hans-Jörg: Die Zeitschriftendatenbank und die Digitalisierung historischer Zeitungen in Deutschland. [The German Union Catalogue of Serials and the Digitisation of Historic Newspapers in Germany] In: Dialog mit Bibliotheken 28 (2016) 2, S. 22–28. (only available in German)
  
• Hubrich, Jessica: Visual representation of newspaper information. Conference paper 2016 IFLA International News Media Conference
  
• Bauer, Bruno, Ferus, Andreas und Pauser, Josef (Hrsg.): OFFEN(SIV)E BIBLIOTHEKEN: Neue Zugänge, neue Strukturen, neue Chancen. [OPEN LIBRARIES – New Approaches, New Structures, New Opportunities] 32nd Österreichischer Bibliothekartag [Austrian Librarian Day], Vienna, 15.–18. September 2015. Official link to book presentation (only available in German)
  
• Hubrich, Jessica und Lieder, Hans-Jörg: Zeitungssuche interaktiv – Der neue ZDB-Webkatalog. Kongressbeitrag. [Interactive periodical searches – the new ZDB web catalogue]. congress presentation. Published in o-bib 1 (2014), pp. 305–311. (only available in German)
  
• Gehrhardt, Timon und Hubrich, Jessica: Neue Zugänge zum Medium Zeitung: Projekt „Relaunch des ZDB-Katalogs". [New access to the medium of newspapers: the ZDB catalogue relaunch project]. In: Dialog mit Bibliotheken 26 (2014) 2, pp. 47–51 (only available in German)
  
• Selection of literature about the ZDB (only available in German)