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What is the digitisation service on demand?

With its digitisation service on demand, the German National Library gives you the option of digitising printed media in its collection and accessing them in line with copyright regulations.

Which media can I have digitised?

Our service encompasses all printed media. Many works in our collection are subject to copyright, so that digital copies of them can only be made available for use in our reading rooms. For the digitisation of non-printed media (for example audio materials), please contact digitalisierung@dnb.de.

How do I order a digital copy?

First, use our catalogue to find your desired work. Then send us a digitisation request via the order form (only available in German). We will check the condition of the work and its copyright status before informing you whether or not it can be digitised. If we are able to digitise it, you will receive a price quotation that also gives you information about the legal framework conditions under which the digital copy can be accessed and how long the digitisation process is likely to take. You can then decide whether to place a binding order.

What are the legal restrictions in terms of accessing digital copies?

Many of the works in our collection are protected due to legal reasons (such as copyright and ancillary copyright), so that their digital copies can only be made available for use in our reading rooms. When we receive a digitisation request from you, we therefore start by checking the legal status of the respective work.

  • Public-domain collection: We make the digital copy freely accessible via our catalogue. In addition, you will receive a PDF edition of the complete digital copy to download.
  • Legally protected collection: The digital copy can be used completely only in our reading rooms. In addition, you can also receive an excerpt of the work as a PDF file to download, in accordance with German law on copyright (Urheberrechtsgesetz § 60e (5)). Please note that it is not possible to order from abroad at the moment.
  • If you want to have digitised a work that you yourself have rights to, you can grant the German National Library a single right of use.
    Please add a comment to this effect during the order process and also complete, sign and send us the following form by post or as an e-mail attachment to digitalisierung@dnb.de:
    Form for granting user rights (only available in German) 132kB, PDF - Not barrier-free file.

How much does the digitisation service cost?

After conducting the legal check, we will send you a non-binding price quotation. By sending us your confirmation, you initiate the order and consent to bearing the cost of digitisation in line with the fee schedule of the German National Library.
Digitisation of printed works incl. OCR

  • Basic fee per media work (including 1- 20 pages) 15.00 EUR
  • per additional page 0.25 EUR

Our digitisation service will provide you with an invoice, which we ask you to settle by wire transfer. We cannot accept credit-card payments.

Please note: We comprehensively scan printed media from the front book cover to the back book cover, i.e. inclusive of endpapers, title page, table of contents, adverts, etc. The number of invoiced pages therefore differs from that of the numbered pages.

Example: A book contains 80 numbered pages and an additional four unnumbered pages of images. As the cover pages, title page and table of contents are also scanned, this results in a total of 93 scans. In this case, the cost is 33.25 EUR (15.00 EUR basic fee including 20 scans, plus 73 scans @ 0.25 EUR each).

Processing time and delivery

In our price quotation, we will inform you how long it is likely to take before we can provide you with access to the digital copy. In general, this can take between two weeks and two months. You will then receive an e-mail containing a link to the digital copy in our Bookviewer and – to the legally possible extent – a link to a PDF download.

Further information

Contact

Verena Henning
digitalisierung@dnb.de
Phone +49 341 2271-515

Last changes: 30.06.2021
Short-URL: https://www.dnb.de/digiservice
Contact: digitalisierung@dnb.de

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